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Do the West Bank and Gaza need separate IGAs from the State of Palestine?

Posted by William Byrnes on July 8, 2014


Quick update Tuesday night, July 8th.  Besides Brazil being decimated this afternoon 7 to 1 by Germany (leading to a very unhappy spouse and mother-in-law)  …

Anguilla and Uzbekistan entered the Model 1 IGA list Monday (albeit dated June 30).  Thus, 101 countries and jurisdictions have IGAs and 143 do not, based on the IRS’ revised country list published July 1.  Approximately 95% of the 87,993 registered FFIs are from these IGA countries.  Only 13 of the IGAs are Model 2, with 15,239 FFIs registered. The remainder 88 are Model 1 IGAs.

Curious if the IRS intends to treat the West Bank and Gaza as dependencies of the State of Palestine with each requiring a distinct IGA – being that all three are included on the IRS list (and yet not on the US State Department list as discussed in my early June articles).  Or whether, a “Palestine” IGA will cover all three territories.  If any readers know, please comment below and inform me.

I am also curious of the following: in Treasury’s opinion, IGAs do not require either Congressional approval or Senatorial consent.  That we all know.  Is it also Treasury’s opinion that it can enter into an IGA with Palestine and Cuba?     What is State’s perspective of the IRS including the “State of” Palestine, as well as Gaza and the West Bank, on the FATCA country and jurisdiction list.  Enough cynicism.

My previous articles on this subject of the IRS versus State department include my June 17 State Department listing and my June 8 discussion of the FFI GIIN List of June.

Model 1 IGA – 34 

  1. Australia (4-28-2014)
  2. Belgium (4-23-2014)
  3. British Virgin Islands (6-30-2014)
  4. Canada (2-5-2014)
  5. Cayman Islands (11-29-2013)
  6. Costa Rica (11-26-2013)
  7. Denmark (11-19-2012)
  8. Estonia (4-11-2014)
  9. Finland (3-5-2014)
  10. France (11-14-2013)
  11. Germany (5-31-2013)
  12. Gibraltar (5-8-2014)
  13. Guernsey (12-13-2013)
  14. Hungary (2-4-2014)
  15. Honduras (3-31-2014)
  16. Ireland (1-23-2013)
  17. Isle of Man (12-13-2013)
  18. Israel (6-30-2014)
  19. Italy (1-10-2014)
  20. Jamaica (5-1-2014)
  21. Jersey (12-13-2013)
  22. Latvia (6-27-2014):
  23. Liechtenstein (5-19-2014)
  24. Luxembourg (3-28-2014)
  25. Malta (12-16-2013)
  26. Mauritius (12-27-2013)
  27. Mexico (4-9-2014)
  28. Netherlands (12-18-2013)
  29. New Zealand (6-12-2014)
  30. Norway (4-15-2013)
  31. Slovenia (6-2-2014)
  32. South Africa (6-9-2014)
  33. Spain (5-14-2013)
  34. United Kingdom (9-12-2012)

Jurisdictions that have reached agreements in substance:

Model 1 IGA – 54 (followed by number of registered FFIs)

  1. Algeria (6-30-2014)
  2. Anguilla (6-30-2014)
  3. Antigua and Barbuda (6-3-2014)
  4. Azerbaijan (5-16-2014)
  5. Bahamas (4-17-2014)
  6. Bahrain (6-30-2014)
  7. Barbados (5-27-2014)
  8. Belarus (6-6-2014)
  9. Brazil (4-2-2014):
  10.  Bulgaria (4-23-2014)
  11. Cabo Verde (6-30-2014)
  12. China (6-26-2014)
  13. Colombia (4-23-2014)
  14. Croatia (4-2-2014)
  15. Curaçao (4-30-2014)
  16. Czech Republic (4-2-2014)
  17. Cyprus (4-22-2014)
  18. Dominica (6-19-2014):
  19. Dominican Republic (6-30-2014)
  20. Georgia (6-12-201)
  21. Greenland (6-29-2014)
  22. Grenada (6-16-2014)
  23. Guyana (6-24-2014)
  24. Haiti (6-30-2014)
  25. India (4-11-2014)
  26. Indonesia (5-4-2014):
  27. Kosovo (4-2-2014)
  28. Kuwait (5-1-2014)
  29. Lithuania (4-2-2014)
  30. Malaysia (6-30-2014)
  31. Montenegro (6-30-2014)
  32. Panama (5-1-2014)
  33. Peru (5-1-2014):
  34. Poland (4-2-2014):
  35. Portugal (4-2-2014):
  36. Qatar (4-2-2014):
  37. Romania (4-2-2014):
  38. St. Kitts and Nevis (6-4-2014)
  39. St. Lucia (6-12-2014):
  40. St. Vincent and the Grenadines (6-2-2014)
  41. Saudi Arabia (6-24-2014):
  42. Serbia (6-30-2014)
  43. Seychelles (5-28-2014)
  44. Singapore (5-5-2014):
  45. Slovak Republic (4-11-2014)
  46. South Korea (4-2-2014)
  47. Sweden (4-24-2014)
  48. Thailand (6-24-2014):
  49. Turkey (6-3-2014)
  50. Turkmenistan (6-3-2014)
  51. Turks and Caicos Islands (5-12-2014):
  52. Ukraine (6-26-2014)
  53. United Arab Emirates (5-23-2014)
  54. Uzbekistan (6-30-2014)

Model 2 IGA – 5

  1. Austria (4-29-2014)
  2. Bermuda (12-19-2013)
  3. Chile (3-5-2014)
  4. Japan (6-11-2013)
  5. Switzerland (2-14-2013)

Jurisdictions that have reached agreements in substance:

Model 2 IGA – 8

  1. Armenia (5-8-2014)
  2. Hong Kong (5-9-2014)
  3. Iraq (6-30-2014)
  4. Moldova (6-30-2014)
  5. Nicaragua (6-30-2014
  6. Paraguay (6-6-2014):
  7. San Marino (6-30-2014)
  8. Taiwan (6-23-2014)

FATCA by the Numbers….

Haydon Perryman, FATCA Compliance expert of Strevus, and I are undertaking an analysis of this July 1st FATCA FFI list release by country, by IGA, by EAG – already published in earlier articles July 1 and July 2nd.  Check out Haydon Perryman’s blog at http://haydonperryman.wordpress.com/

IRS Registered FFI List (Sum of Registrations) July ’14# County #
Model 1A IGA 48,265 85
Model 1B IGA 19,580 2
Model 2 IGA 15,239 13
US 620 1
US Territory 61 5
No IGA 4,228 144
Total 87,993 250
Non IGA 4,228 143
Non IGA% 5%
IGA 83,084 101
IGA% 94%
US and US Territories 681 6

This entry was posted on July 8, 2014 at 22:31 and is filed under FATCA. Tagged: , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Do the West Bank and Gaza need separate IGAs from the State of Palestine?”

  1. Nathan Newman said

    July 9, 2014 at 11:40

    Maybe the IRS read your early June articles. The country list published July 1 which you cite replaces Appendix E of the Online Registration User Guide. The latter indeed included “State of Palestine” but the former does not; it only lists “West Bank and Gaza.” The US does not recognize Palestine as a State, but it does refer to the Palestinian Authority as a government with jurisdiction over the Occupied Territories. E.g. 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom: Israel and The Occupied Territories – The Occupied Territories, http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2012/nea/208394.htm.

    Since the IGA is an agreement between governments and not an agreement between states, it seems Treasury has dodged your bullet. Keep shooting at them, though, it’s important to keep them honest.

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  2. williambyrnes said

    July 9, 2014 at 14:05

    Thank you for the citation to the US State Department 2012 Report on International Religious Freedom. Haydon Perryman posted an interesting look at the IRS country codes on the July list that I reblogged today.

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