Proposed Chapters 3 and 4 Regulations
Summary
SIFMA provided comments to the IRS and Treasury on the December 30, 2016 final, temporary, and proposed Chapter 3 and 4 regulations.
Excerpt
June 2, 2017
Ms. Julia Tonkovich
Associate International Tax Counsel
Department of the Treasury
1400 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224
Mr. Daniel Winnick
Associate International Tax Counsel
Department of the Treasury
1400 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224
Mr. John Sweeney
Office of Associate (Chief Counsel),
International
Branch Chief, Branch 8
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20224
Ms. Nancy Lee
Senior Technical Reviewer (International Tax
Affairs)
Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20220
Re: Final, Temporary, and Proposed Chapters 3 and 4 Regulations
Dear Ladies & Gentleman:
Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (“SIFMA”)1 members manage nearly 80 percent of all United States broker-dealer client assets and more than 50 percent of investment advisor assets under management. A subset of our members who participated in a recent SIFMA survey for this letter maintain nearly 4 million foreign accounts and they pay well over $1 trillion per year of gross income and broker proceeds to such accounts in a typical year as explained further below. As such, our members have a strong interest in these regulations, and we greatly appreciate the opportunity to submit comments on the final, temporary, and proposed regulations (TD 9808, TD 9809, REG-134247-16, and REG-103477-14, collectively, the “Regulations”) under Chapters 3 and 4 of the Internal Revenue Code (the “Code”).
Our members greatly appreciate and acknowledge the significant effort that went into the drafting of these regulations and the continuing efforts of the Treasury Department (“Treasury”) and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) to clarify issues related to the implementation of FATCA and coordinate the regulations under Chapters 3 and 61. The Regulations present several operational challenges for withholding agents and since they affect tax documentation, reporting and withholding for the 2017 taxable year, it is important to obtain clarification promptly so that member firms may adequately implement the Regulations. SIFMA is making the following comments to seek clarification on these matters and request guidance that is operationally administrable.
1 SIFMA is the voice of the U.S. securities industry. We represent the broker-dealers, banks and asset managers whose nearly 1 million employees provide access to the capital markets, raising over $2.5 trillion for businesses and municipalities in the U.S., serving clients with over $18.5 trillion in assets and managing more than $67 trillion in assets for individual and institutional clients including mutual funds and retirement plans. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.