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Frequently Asked Questions

FATCA

The FATCA legislation is currently due to become effective from 1 July 2014. RAKBANK is committed to becoming fully FATCA compliant as per the UAE Central Bank guidelines.

No. All banks and other financial organization’s will be affected by FATCA.

In countries that sign an agreement with the U.S. regarding FATCA, financial institutions will be required to comply with new local regulations related to FATCA.

FATCA legislation will impact both Personal and Business customers who have a relationship with RAKBANK.

Personal Accounts
If the information you have provided indicates that reporting may be required for your accounts, we will ask you to provide additional information — possibly in the form of new documentation regarding your U.S. tax status. We will then review the information you provide against the applicable requirements to determine whether or not your accounts are reportable.
 

Non-personal Accounts
If your business is of a type for which we are required to obtain additional documentation, we will ask you to provide that documentation. We will then review the new documentation against the applicable regulations to determine if your accounts are reportable.

No, the currency of an account has no impact on whether or not it is treated as a “reportable account.

No. If an individual’s account holds any of the following seven criteria, RAKBANK may request further information / documentation to determine if you are a US person under FATCA.

  • US citizenship or US residence
  • US place of birth
  • US mailing or residence address including US PO boxes
  • US telephone number
  • Standing instructions to transfer funds to an account maintained in the United States;
  • Current Power of Attorney or signatory authority granted to a person with a US address;
  • In care of or hold mail address which is the sole address for the account holder

If you are considered a US person , you may be asked to supply RAKBANK with additional information/documentation. You may also wish to visit the IRS website to determine if you need to complete and submit any additional IRS forms.

If you are a US person under FATCA, RAKBANK will be required to report information about you and your account on an annual basis.

While we will correspond with affected customers in due course, RAKBANK cannot offer any advice relating to FATCA, and we recommend you contact a professional tax adviser to discuss your personal tax situation.

For most customers, FATCA will have minimal impact, and there will be no action required. However, RAKBANK may still contact you to confirm your status as a non-US person.

If at least one of the joint owners qualifies as a U.S. person, any required reporting would treat the U.S. person as the owner of the entire account.If more than one of the joint owners are U.S. persons, any required reporting would treat each U.S. person as the owner of the entire account.

No. The impacts of FATCA are wider than just US companies. RAKBANK will be reaching out to many business customers to determine their status under FATCA. The aim of this exercise is to identify customers which are reportable under FATCA. We will be communicating with customers who need to take further action.

In order to establish your tax status under FATCA, we may need you to provide additional information / documentation. This documentation could be an RAKBANK declaration or a US tax form from the IRS. We will be communicating with affected customers that need to complete these forms, detailing when they will need to be completed by.

The way in which banks and financial organization’s collect information from their customers in order to confirm their tax status under FATCA may vary. This may mean that in some instances you are asked for different documentation from RAKBANK than another bank.

RAKBANK cannot offer advice on your FATCA tax status or classification. If you need further support you should visit the IRS website or contact a professional tax adviser.

FATCA is an ongoing process. If your account information changes, we may be required to contact you to obtain additional information/documentation so that we are able to update your account classification under FATCA.

We will be communicating with the affected customers and provide full details of the information / documentation RAKBANK needs for FATCA purposes. Documents may include US tax forms (also referred to as withholding certificates or W forms) or self-declarations of FATCA status.

RAKBANK is committed to be fully compliant with FATCA.

RAKBANK may chose not to open new accounts or offer additional products and services to customers who choose not to comply with RAKBANK’s requests for documentation to establish a customer’s status under FATCA..

RAKBANK may also need to report information about customers who do not provide the required documentation to us.

Each of RAKBANK’s business lines will need to obtain FATCA-related client documentation. Despite our best efforts to streamline this process, you may be contacted by more than one business line regarding this documentation. We apologize for any resulting inconvenience, and we greatly appreciate your patience.

If you want advice on how to respond to questions and requests related to FATCA, we suggest that you speak with a professional tax advisor. Detailed information on FATCA can be found at www.irs.gov/FATCA.

Disclaimer: 

The information on this website is based on the Bank's interpretation of the FATCA regulations and we make no claims about its accuracy, completeness, or up-to-date character. The information contained on this website does not constitute any form of legal advice or tax advice.

Nothing on this website should be viewed as tax advice nor as a substitute for the advice of a competent attorney. The information on this site is not intended to be used for the purpose of avoiding compliance with the FATCA regulations.