Overview – Qatar – Retail Banking and Wealth Management

FATCA overview

Retail Banking and Wealth Management – Qatar

There are a number of substantial changes being made by financial regulators, governments and banks, to ensure the protection and long-term safety of both the financial system and our customers’ interests.

One of these regulations is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), effective as of 1 July 2014. This is a new piece of legislation by the United States Department of Treasury (Treasury) and the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to counter tax evasion in the US.

FATCA will affect many of HSBC’s personal and business customers. The degree to which customers will be affected will vary across the bank, depending on the type of account, policy or agreement they hold with HSBC.

Impact to HSBC and our customers

HSBC is proud of our commitment to being fully FATCA compliant in all countries where we operate. Other banks and financial organisations will also be affected. However, their approach to adopting FATCA may differ to that of HSBC.

We are currently reviewing the effect of the legislation for our customers in order to identify where we need to report information to the IRS or local tax authority. We may be contacting you to request further information or documentation in order to verify your tax status under FATCA.

Please note that you may receive more than one request for information if you have multiple relationships with different members of the HSBC Group. Therefore, it is important that you respond to all requests, even if you believe you have already supplied the requested information.

Additional information

W-9 form: Download PDF: Link opens in a new window: This is the withholding certificate referred to as a ‘W-9’ on the IRS website. This form is completed to confirm US tax status.

W-8 forms: External site: Link opens in an overlay: This is a link to the withholding certificates referred to as ‘W-8s’ on the IRS website. This is a series of forms that are completed to confirm non-US tax status.

In order to provide customers with further support when completing IRS W forms, we have provided some additional customer guidance for the forms W-9: Form customer guidance: Download PDF: Link opens in a new window and W-8BEN: Form customer guidance: Download PDF: Link opens in a new window.

Explanation of US address/phone number: Download PDF: Link opens in a new window: This is an HSBC document which you may be able to sign to provide a written explanation for any US address or US territory address and/or US phone number found on your account.

(Page last updated July 2014)