Liechtenstein's intergovernmental agreement with the USA
On May 16th, 2014, the government of Liechtenstein had signed the intergovernmental agreement on the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with the USA, according to so-called model 1 approach concluded.

IGA with annex 1 and annex 2

Fund status as non-reporting financial institutions
The special regulations from annex 2 to the intergovernmental agreement state that investment funds from Liechtenstein are effectively excluded in certain cases from their reporting obligations. These regulations are found in sections IV. E. and F. of annex 2 under the headings „E. Collective Investment Vehicles (CIV)“ and „F. Special Rules“. All investment funds from Liechtenstein, which comply with the conditions set forth in these sections, are considered, according to the agreement, to be so-called non-reporting financial institutions. These in turn are considered to be FFIs 'deemed compliant' and already excluded from the reporting obligations according to IRS provisions.

Final regulations of the IRS (unofficial PWC version – purposefully formatted)

The legal result is that on the part of investment funds from Liechtenstein – be it an AIF, UCITS or IU – no FATCA-related reports are to be drawn up. Instead, it is important for the relevant W8-BEN-E form of the IRS to be filled in. The relevant 'instructions' of the IRS were published on the IRS website.

IRS instructions
W8 BEN-E form

Investment funds with investment fund share register as exception
An exception are such investment funds, for which on the level of the administration company, a share register is kept. These are subject to the full extent to obligatory FATCA reporting duties.

Management companies
Just as for investment funds, for management companies there stems from the agreement itself no obligation to register with the IRS. However, management companies tend to register voluntarily, in order to receive as a result a GIIN number, which may bring advantages on the international market.

Implementation act
In order to create the legal basis for the reports due according to model 1 to the tax authority of the Principality of Liechtenstein, as well as for the information exchange taking place directly between this tax authority and the IRTS, an implementation act is required. A draft of such an implementation act is already available.