The Treasury and Resources division of the Channel Island of Jersey has recently issued a notice to registered financial institutions offering a consideration of leniency on the approaching FATCA account reporting deadline:

“… as this is the first reporting period for the Jersey-US FATCA Agreement, it is appreciated that a Reporting Financial Institution may have been faced with matters outside its control which may be a good reason why the June deadline cannot be met.  Accordingly, providing a Reporting Financial Institution has registered on the Jersey AEOI online portal, if a reasoned request is made for an extension of the reporting period until 31st July 2015, then such an extension can be expected to be sympathetically considered.”

The States of Jersey does, however, suggest that financial institutions submit their reports as early as possible to avoid any unforeseen technical problems nearer the reporting deadline.

This notice comes off the back of an announcement by the French Competent Authority that French Financial Institutions have been granted an extension, albeit a small one, of the FATCA reporting deadline.  In addition, French Financial Institutions are no longer required to file “nil” reports where the French Financial Institution does not have a Reportable Account.  French Financial Institutions now have three options available:

1. No data transmission
2. Ticking “nil return” on the TELE-TD portal
3. Filing a nil return

if you have any questions regarding the reporting requirements surrounding FATCA or US taxes in general, contact us.