Client onboarding software provider Fenergo has released a FATCA self-certification tool allowing firms to automate the collection of W-8 (which grants exemption to foreigners from some reporting and withholding regulations) and W-9 (which is sent to self-employed individuals to request taxpayer identification numbers) forms.
Fenergo says its FATCA Self-Certification solution helps financial institutions expedite the data collection process, reduce the cost of compliance and ensure more accurate compliance reporting.
Under FATCA, foreign financial institutions must report to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with information about U.S. clients so that the correct withholding tax rate is applied to them.
Fenergos solution automated the collection of some of this information through an online submission process, whereby clients with a FATCA-compliance requirement will be guided through a step-by-step form-filling process. The firm says the solution performs automatic form validation in real-time against pre-defined IRS rule setsfor instance, the solution automatically validates the IRS tax identification number (TIN) to ensure that it exists and is valid before enabling the form to be submitted.
It also automatically generates a PDF version of the completed W-8 and W-9 forms, which is then appended to the client’s record.
The FATCA Self-Certification solution integrates with other Fenergo products, including the FATCA Compliance and Client Onboarding solutions.
“We are entering a period of unprecedented regulation in the financial services industry, says Marc Murphy, CEO of Fenergo. All of these upcoming regulations promise to have a significant impact on banking operations and the ability to provide a consistently high level of service to clients. FATCA is just one of these new regulations, which will place onerous demands on financial institutions. We developed the FATCA Self-Certification solution to provide FFIs with a faster and more efficient way of collecting and processing this additional data, while helping to improve compliance and reduce the costs associated with it.
(CG)