Whereas, the Government of New Zealand and the Government of the United States of America (each, a “Party,”
and together, the “Parties”
) have a longstanding and close relationship with respect to mutual assistance in tax matters and desire to conclude an agreement to improve international tax compliance by further building on that relationship;
Whereas, Article 25 of the Convention between the United States of America and New Zealand for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, together with a related Protocol, done at Wellington on July 23, 1982, as amended by a Protocol, done at Washington on December 1, 2008 (the “Convention”
) authorizes exchange of information for tax purposes, including on an automatic basis;
Whereas, the United States of America enacted provisions commonly known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”
), which introduce a reporting regime for financial institutions with respect to certain accounts;
Whereas, the Government of New Zealand is supportive of the underlying policy goal of FATCA to improve tax compliance;
Whereas, FATCA has raised a number of issues, including that New Zealand financial institutions may not be able to comply with certain aspects of FATCA due to domestic legal impediments;
Whereas, the Government of the United States of America collects information regarding certain accounts maintained by U.S. financial institutions held by residents of New Zealand and is committed to exchanging such information with the Government of New Zealand and pursuing equivalent levels of exchange;
Whereas, the Parties are committed to working together over the longer term towards achieving common reporting and due diligence standards for financial institutions;
Whereas, the Government of the United States of America acknowledges the need to coordinate the reporting obligations under FATCA with other U.S. tax reporting obligations of New Zealand financial institutions to avoid duplicative reporting;
Whereas, an intergovernmental approach to FATCA implementation would address legal impediments and reduce burdens for New Zealand financial institutions;
Whereas, the Parties desire to conclude an agreement to improve international tax compliance and provide for the implementation of FATCA based on domestic reporting and reciprocal automatic exchange pursuant to the Convention and subject to the confidentiality and other protections provided for therein, including the provisions limiting the use of the information exchanged under the Convention;
Now, therefore, the Parties have agreed as follows:
Article 1
Definitions
2. Any term not otherwise defined in this Agreement shall, unless the context otherwise requires or the Competent Authorities agree to a common meaning (as permitted by domestic law), have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of the Party applying this Agreement, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that Party prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that Party.
Article 2
Obligations to Obtain and Exchange Information with Respect to Reportable Accounts
1. Subject to the provisions of Article 3 of this Agreement, each Party shall obtain the information specified in paragraph 2 of this Article with respect to all Reportable Accounts and shall annually exchange this information with the other Party on an automatic basis pursuant to the provisions of Article 25 of the Convention.
Article 3
Time and Manner of Exchange of Information
1. For purposes of the exchange obligation in Article 2 of this Agreement, the amount and characterization of payments made with respect to a U.S. Reportable Account may be determined in accordance with the principles of the tax laws of New Zealand, and the amount and characterization of payments made with respect to a New Zealand Reportable Account may be determined in accordance with principles of U.S. federal income tax law.
4. Notwithstanding paragraph 3 of this Article, with respect to each Reportable Account that is maintained by a Reporting Financial Institution as of June 30, 2014, and subject to paragraph 4 of Article 6 of this Agreement, the Parties are not required to obtain and include in the exchanged information the New Zealand TIN or the U.S. TIN, as applicable, of any relevant person if such taxpayer identifying number is not in the records of the Reporting Financial Institution. In such a case, the Parties shall obtain and include in the exchanged information the date of birth of the relevant person, if the Reporting Financial Institution has such date of birth in its records.
Article 4
Application of FATCA to New Zealand Financial Institutions
1. Treatment of Reporting New Zealand Financial Institutions.
Each Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution shall be treated as complying with, and not subject to withholding under, section 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code if New Zealand complies with its obligations under Articles 2 and 3 of this Agreement with respect to such Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution, and the Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution:
d) to the extent that a Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution is (i) acting as a qualified intermediary (for purposes of section 1441 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code) that has elected to assume primary withholding responsibility under chapter 3 of subtitle A of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code; (ii) a foreign partnership that has elected to act as a withholding foreign partnership (for purposes of both sections 1441 and 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code); or (iii) a foreign trust that has elected to act as a withholding foreign trust (for purposes of both sections 1441 and 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code), withholds 30 percent of any U.S. Source Withholdable Payment to any Nonparticipating Financial Institution; and
e) in the case of a Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution that is not described in subparagraph 1(d) of this Article and that makes a payment of, or acts as an intermediary with respect to, a U.S. Source Withholdable Payment to any Nonparticipating Financial Institution, the Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution provides to any immediate payor of such U.S. Source Withholdable Payment the information required for withholding and reporting to occur with respect to such payment.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, a Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution with respect to which the conditions of this paragraph 1 are not satisfied shall not be subject to withholding under section 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code unless such Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution is treated by the IRS as a Nonparticipating Financial Institution pursuant to subparagraph 2(b) of Article 5 of this Agreement.
2. Suspension of Rules Relating to Recalcitrant Accounts.
The United States shall not require a Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution to withhold tax under section 1471 or 1472 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code with respect to an account held by a recalcitrant account holder (as defined in section 1471(d)(6) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code), or to close such account, if the U.S. Competent Authority receives the information set forth in subparagraph 2(a) of Article 2 of this Agreement, subject to the provisions of Article 3 of this Agreement, with respect to such account.
3. Specific Treatment of New Zealand Retirement Plans.
The United States shall treat as deemed-compliant FFIs or exempt beneficial owners, as appropriate, for purposes of sections 1471 and 1472 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code New Zealand retirement plans described in Annex II. For this purpose, a New Zealand retirement plan includes an Entity established or located in, and regulated by, New Zealand, or a predetermined contractual or legal arrangement, operated to provide pension or retirement benefits or earn income for providing such benefits under the laws of New Zealand and regulated with respect to contributions, distributions, reporting, sponsorship, and taxation.
4. Identification and Treatment of Other Deemed-Compliant FFIs and Exempt Beneficial Owners.
The United States shall treat each Non-Reporting New Zealand Financial Institution as a deemed-compliant FFI or as an exempt beneficial owner, as appropriate, for purposes of section 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code.
5. Special Rules Regarding Related Entities and Branches That Are Nonparticipating Financial Institutions.
If a New Zealand Financial Institution, that otherwise meets the requirements described in paragraph 1 of this Article or is described in paragraph 3 or 4 of this Article, has a Related Entity or branch that operates in a jurisdiction that prevents such Related Entity or branch from fulfilling the requirements of a participating FFI or deemed-compliant FFI for purposes of section 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code or has a Related Entity or branch that is treated as a Nonparticipating Financial Institution solely due to the expiration of the transitional rule for limited FFIs and limited branches under relevant U.S. Treasury Regulations, such New Zealand Financial Institution shall continue to be in compliance with the terms of this Agreement and shall continue to be treated as a deemed-compliant FFI or exempt beneficial owner, as appropriate, for purposes of section 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, provided that:
c) such Related Entity or branch does not specifically solicit U.S. accounts held by persons that are not resident in the jurisdiction where such Related Entity or branch is located or accounts held by Nonparticipating Financial Institutions that are not established in the jurisdiction where such Related Entity or branch is located, and such Related Entity or branch is not used by the New Zealand Financial Institution or any other Related Entity to circumvent the obligations under this Agreement or under section 1471 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, as appropriate.
7. Coordination of Definitions with U.S. Treasury Regulations.
Notwithstanding Article 1 of this Agreement and the definitions provided in the Annexes to this Agreement, in implementing this Agreement, New Zealand may use, and may permit New Zealand Financial Institutions to use, a definition in relevant U.S. Treasury Regulations in lieu of a corresponding definition in this Agreement, provided that such application would not frustrate the purposes of this Agreement.
Article 5
Collaboration on Compliance and Enforcement
1. Minor and Administrative Errors.
Subject to any further terms set forth in a competent authority arrangement concluded pursuant to paragraph 6 of Article 3 of this Agreement, the Competent Authority of the United States may make an inquiry directly to a Reporting Financial Institution in New Zealand where it has reason to believe that minor or administrative errors may have led to incorrect or incomplete information reporting or resulted in other infringements of this Agreement. The competent authority arrangement may provide that the Competent Authority of the United States shall notify the Competent Authority of New Zealand when it makes such an inquiry of a Reporting Financial Institution in New Zealand regarding the Reporting Financial Institution’s compliance with the conditions set forth in this Agreement. The Competent Authority of New Zealand shall notify the Competent Authority of the United States where it has reason to believe that minor or administrative errors may have led to incorrect or incomplete reporting or resulted in other infringements of this Agreement. The Competent Authority of each Party shall apply its domestic law to obtain corrected and/or complete information or to resolve other infringements of this Agreement.
3. Reliance on Third Party Service Providers.
Each Party may allow Reporting Financial Institutions to use third party service providers to fulfill the obligations imposed on such Reporting Financial Institutions by a Party, as contemplated in this Agreement, but these obligations shall remain the responsibility of the Reporting Financial Institutions.
4. Prevention of Avoidance.
The Parties shall implement as necessary requirements to prevent Financial Institutions from adopting practices intended to circumvent the reporting required under this Agreement.
Article 6
Mutual Commitment to Continue to Enhance the Effectiveness of Information Exchange and Transparency
2. Treatment of Passthru Payments and Gross Proceeds.
The Parties are committed to work together, along with Partner Jurisdictions, to develop a practical and effective alternative approach to achieve the policy objectives of foreign passthru payment and gross proceeds withholding that minimizes burden.
3. Development of Common Reporting and Exchange Model.
The Parties are committed to working with Partner Jurisdictions and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on adapting the terms of this Agreement and other agreements between the United States and Partner Jurisdictions to a common model for automatic exchange of information, including the development of reporting and due diligence standards for financial institutions.
4. Documentation of Accounts Maintained as of June 30, 2014.
With respect to Reportable Accounts maintained by a Reporting Financial Institution as of June 30, 2014:
a) The United States commits to establish, by January 1, 2017, for reporting with respect to 2017 and subsequent years, rules requiring Reporting U.S. Financial Institutions to obtain and report the New Zealand TIN of each Account Holder of a New Zealand Reportable Account as required pursuant to subparagraph 2(b)(1) of Article 2 of this Agreement; and
b) New Zealand commits to establish, by January 1, 2017, for reporting with respect to 2017 and subsequent years, rules requiring Reporting New Zealand Financial Institutions to obtain the U.S. TIN of each Specified U.S. Person as required pursuant to subparagraph 2(a)(1) of Article 2 of this Agreement.
Article 7
Consistency in the Application of FATCA to Partner Jurisdictions
1. New Zealand shall be granted the benefit of any more favorable terms under Article 4 or Annex I of this Agreement relating to the application of FATCA to New Zealand Financial Institutions afforded to another Partner Jurisdiction under a signed bilateral agreement pursuant to which the other Partner Jurisdiction commits to undertake the same obligations as New Zealand described in Articles 2 and 3 of this Agreement, and subject to the same terms and conditions as described therein and in Articles 5 through 9 of this Agreement.
2. The United States shall notify New Zealand of any such more favorable terms, and such more favorable terms shall apply automatically under this Agreement as if such terms were specified in this Agreement and effective as of the date of the signing of the agreement incorporating the more favorable terms, unless New Zealand declines in writing the application thereof.
Article 8
Consultations and Amendments
Article 9
Annexes
The Annexes form an integral part of this Agreement.
Article 10
Term of Agreement
3. The Parties shall, prior to December 31, 2016, consult in good faith to amend this Agreement as necessary to reflect progress on the commitments set forth in Article 6 of this Agreement