The Internal Revenue Service Aug. 27 unveiled eagerly awaited guidance on the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which imposed a host of new requirements on foreign banks to report and disclose accounts with U.S. owners, garnering measured praise from practitioners.

In Notice 2010-60, IRS addressed a wide range of priority issues under the new law, including the scope of obligations exempt from withholding, the definition of a foreign financial institution (FFI), requirements for identifying and reporting U.S.-owned accounts, and the information that must be reported by foreign banks.

The government set out different rules for banks to use in identifying existing and new accounts in the 62-page notice. It also identified some carveouts for entities—such as holding companies and hedging and financing centers of nonfinancial groups—that would not be required to report and withhold under the statute.

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