The Tribune

KPMG (Bahamas) has announced that two members of its staff have completed specialist training for the implementation of Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Annie Chinafat, a principal in its audit practice, and Kendell Pierre, an associate director in its advisory practice, have successfully completed KPMG's FATCA Academy. KPMG said it has been investing in specialist training for its staff to prepare for the impact of the legislation on its clients. It added that FATCA is "undoubtedly one of the most significant pieces of extra-territorial legislation to impact the Bahamas' financial services businesses in recent years". FATCA, which was brought into law in March 2010, is a set of rules set out by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), designed specifically to limit tax evasion by US persons living abroad. KPMG's head of advisory and partner, Simon Townend, said: "The FATCA Academy has been established to ensure that our audit and advisory professionals around the world have detailed knowledge of FATCA and its implications, in order to assist our clients with the operational impact of this complex and far reaching legislation. "I am delighted that Annie and Kendell have achieved accreditation in this important area of our work and that they are now accredited members of KPMG's global FATCA team. I am sure that this accreditation will be of significant benefit to our clients." Compliance with FATCA will include entering into a Foreign Financial Institution (FFI) agreement with the IRS, if the business concludes that it needs to become a participating FFI. In order to enter into this agreement, confirmation needs to be given to the IRS that appropriate client on-boarding procedures are in place to capture certain US indicators, such as residential address. Bahamian financial institutions therefore will need to make changes to their withholding and reporting engines, and remediate millions of customer accounts globally. Post agreement, there will be additional work to do to ensure that all existing clients have been reviewed for US indicators, and that appropriate annual reporting is being undertaken to the IRS.