Informative notes
Brief explanatory information on the presentation of certain information.
Form 290. Reminder about updating the FAQS
New IRS (Internal Revenue Service) criteria regarding: TIN (US NIF) and its completion.
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Notice (Notice 2023-11) provides flexibility to financial institutions that have not been able to obtain a U.S. TIN for certain pre-existing accounts that are reportable U.S. accounts.
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Main purpose: that the failure to declare the US TIN does not give rise to considering that financial institutions have incurred in material breaches of their obligations under the FATCA Agreement.
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This flexibility is applicable to presentations made in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
The FAQs have been expanded to include the relaxation criteria for financial institutions when the US TIN has not been obtained, if the procedures indicated in the Notice are followed (Notice 2023-11) .
Section 3.05 of Notice 2023-11 also carries a number of implications for the Tax Agency , affecting financial institutions and account holders :
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Financial institutions must not discriminate against US citizens who provide a US TIN.
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US citizens residing in Spain must provide their US TIN to financial institutions upon request.
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Financial institutions that have been identified by the competent US authority as potentially non-compliant will be subject to appropriate control measures by the Tax Agency in order to ensure compliance with FATCA regulations.
Updated FAQ:
Yes, the US TIN (NIF) is mandatory according to the provisions of Royal Decree 1021/2015, Third Additional Provision, so all efforts must be made in accordance with Due Diligence to obtain it.
Accordingly, the US TIN of the Account Holder or, where applicable, the persons in control (Substantial Owners) must be reported.
The TIN of the Account Holder or Substantial Owner must follow the US format. If you do not have it, you must put the “TIN” tag in the XML and you can complete the TIN with some of the numerical codes provided by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) if the reason for your absence corresponds to any of the specified circumstances by this organization (note the question: How is the TIN field completed when it is not available?).
In this sense, it is recommended to consult the frequently asked questions Q3 and Q6 published by the IRS (FATCA-FAQs General-Reporting), at the following links:
US TIN format
The content of the TIN label when it is American must conform to the following formats:
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Nine consecutive digits without hyphens or other separations (e.g., “123456789”)
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Nine digits with two dashes, a dash after the third digit and another dash after the fifth digit (e.g., “123-45-6789”)
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Nine digits with a hyphen after the second digit (e.g., “12-3456789”)
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It will not be accepted when completed in the following way: 000000000 or when certain numerical patterns such as 123456789 and 987654321 are entered.
Consequences of non-completion
Regarding the consequences (FAQ Q3 published by the IRS (FATCA-FAQs General-Reporting), failure to complete the US TIN does not automatically lead to a determination of material non-compliance with the FATCA Agreement; although the IRS will take into account the facts, circumstances and causes that have determined the non-completion of the TIN, and whether the financial institution has adequate procedures and the efforts made to obtain said information.
However, if it is finally concluded that said situation constitutes a significant breach of the FATCA Agreement, and said errors are not corrected before the IRS adopts the appropriate measures, such as the withdrawal of the Intermediary Identification Number of the financial institution (GIIN) before the IRS, from that moment on, the 30% withholding will apply to payments of US origin made to the financial institution
In May 2021, the IRS published FAQ Q6 Reporting, including a list of codes detailed below.
In January 2023, this frequently asked question has been modified by updating the aforementioned list of codes, which are also included in this FAQ.
Without prejudice to the detail explained below, it must be taken into account that, with respect to the codes to be used to complete the TIN label:
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During the year 2023, submissions that use both the codes prior to Notice 2023-11 (published in May 2021 FAQ 6 Reporting) and those updated after Notice 2023-11 (published in January 2023 FAQ 6 Reporting update) will be accepted.
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As of 01/01/2024, only submissions will be accepted with the codes updated after Notice 2023-11 (published in January 2023 update FAQ 6 Reporting).
In the event that the US TIN of the Account holder or the person exercising control (Substantial Owner) could not be obtained, and said TIN is mandatory, the following numerical codes provided by the IRS, provided that any of the circumstances listed below occur:
1.2.1 Preexisting Accounts:
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Preexisting account of a natural person whose indications of being American are only the place of birth United States: “222222222“/ “222-22-2222“ / “22-2222222“.
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Pre-existing account of a legal or natural person whose indications of being American are other than the place of birth United States: “444444444“ / “444-44-4444“ / “44-4444444“, with any of the following events also occurring:
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A change in circumstances has occurred that determines that the self-certification or other documentation initially obtained is considered incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained.
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The account initially did not exceed the declaration threshold and has subsequently exceeded it, without having obtained a self-certification or other documentation.
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Specific cases for pre-existing accounts:
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Pre-existing account of a legal entity with a balance greater than $1,000,000 for whose foreign ENFP holder no self-certifications have been obtained, and no US evidence has been identified in relation to its controlling persons. “666666666“ / “666-66-6666“ / “66-6666666“.
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Pre-existing accounts for which the TIN is not available and the account has been inactive or “dormant” but is still above the reporting threshold, also known as “dormant accounts”: “777777777“ / “777-77-7777“ / “77-7777777“.
For reference, the United States defines “dormant account” in US Treasury Regulation §1.1471-4(d)(6)(ii).
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1.2.2 New Accounts:
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New account of a natural person whose place of birth is the United States: “333333333“ / “333-33-3333“ / “33-3333333“, with any of the following events also occurring:
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A change in circumstances has occurred that determines that the self-certification initially obtained when opening the account is considered incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification has not been obtained.
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At the time of its opening, the account did not exceed the declaration threshold and has subsequently exceeded it, without having obtained a self-certification.
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New account of a legal or natural person whose indications of being American are other than the place of birth United States: “555555555“ / “555-55-5555“ / “55-5555555“, with any of the following events also occurring:
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A change in circumstances has occurred that determines that the self-certification or other documentation initially obtained is considered incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained.
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The account at the time of its opening did not exceed the declaration threshold and has subsequently exceeded it, without having obtained a self-certification or other documentation.
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The use of these numerical codes provided by the IRS does not exempt the entity from continuing to develop the efforts that are necessary in order to obtain the US TIN. For example, you must contact the account holder annually to request the US TIN.
In any other case, the code AAAAAAAAA can be used.
Additionally, entering any of the above codes will not prevent the IRS from reporting an error indicating that the entered value is invalid for a particular record, given that the US TIN will still not be properly completed.
NEW for 2023 and following years:
The IRS in its recent Notice (Notice 2023-11) offers flexibility to Financial Institutions, which have not been able to obtain the US TIN, in relation to certain pre-existing accounts that are reportable US accounts, if they follow the procedures indicated in said notification. (See questions What is the purpose of Notice 2023-11 published by the IRS? Does it apply to all types of accounts? and What obligations must a financial institution comply in order to benefit from the flexibility permitted by Notice 2023-11 published by the IRS? ).
Likewise, the IRS has updated frequently asked question Q 6 Reporting in January 2023, with the updated numerical codes to complete on the TIN label.
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During the year 2023, submissions that use both the codes prior to Notice 2023-11 (published in May 2021 FAQ 6 Reporting) and those updated after Notice 2023-11 (published in January 2023 FAQ 6 Reporting update) will be accepted.
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As of 01/01/2024, only submissions will be accepted with the codes updated after Notice 2023-11 (published in January 2023 update FAQ 6 Reporting), which are detailed below.
The use of these codes will allow the IRS to better understand the facts and circumstances underlying the failure to complete the US TIN. The update of the TIN (US NIF) field codes and their requirements and conditions are as follows:
1.2.1 Preexisting Accounts:
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“222222222“/ “222-22-2222“ / “22-2222222“: Pre-existing account of a natural person whose indications of being American are only the place of birth United States, different from an account declared with the code “000222111”. This code takes priority if any other code (other than 000222111) would also be applicable.
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“000222111” / “000-22-2111” / “00-0222111”: Pre-existing depositary account of a natural person whose indications of being American are only the place of birth, United States. Additionally, the FI must determine that the account holder is a resident of the jurisdiction where the account is held for tax and anti-money laundering purposes. For reference, “deposit account” is defined in the Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America (FATCA (BOE-A-2014-6854)). This code takes priority if any other code could also be applicable.
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“444444444” / “444-44-4444” / “44-4444444” : Pre-existing account of a legal or natural person whose indications of being American are other than the place of birth in the United States and in addition any of the following facts occur:
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A change in circumstances has occurred that has resulted in one or more US indicia being associated with the account or the self-certification or other documentation initially obtained being deemed incorrect or unreliable, with no valid self-certification or other documentation after the change of circumstances.
- The account did not exceed the declaration threshold on the determination date provided for in the Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America (FATCA) and developed in the Order creating model 290, and, subsequently, it has exceeded it, not having obtained a self-certification or other documentation.
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Specific cases for pre-existing accounts:
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“ 666666666 “ / “ 666-66-6666 “ / “ 66-6666666 : Pre-existing account of a legal entity with a foreign ENFP holder with one or more controlling persons with respect to which no self-certifications have been obtained, and no US indicia have been identified in relation to any of the controlling persons.
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“777777777” / “777-77-7777” / “77-7777777”: Pre-existing inactive or “dormant” account. A pre-existing account for which a TIN is not available and which has been inactive or “dormant” but is still above the reporting threshold, also known as a “dormant” account. A “dormant account” is one that meets the definition set forth in US Treasury Regulation §1.1471-4(d)(6)(ii) and has not had any financial activity for three years, except for interest accounting. If several TIN codes could be applicable to an account, the other applicable code will take priority.
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1.2.2 New Accounts:
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“333333333” / “333-33-3333” / “33-3333333”: New account of a natural person whose place of birth is the United States, and any of the following facts also occur:
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A change in circumstances has occurred that determines that the self-certification initially obtained when opening the account is considered incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification has not been obtained.
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At the time of its opening, the account did not exceed the declaration threshold and has subsequently exceeded it, without having obtained a self-certification.
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“555555555” / “555-55-5555” / “55-5555555”: New account of a legal or natural person whose indications of being American are other than the place of birth in the United States, and any of the following facts also occur:
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A change in circumstances has occurred that determines that the self-certification or other documentation initially obtained is considered incorrect or unreliable, and a new self-certification or other documentation has not been obtained.
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The account at the time of its opening did not exceed the declaration threshold and has subsequently exceeded it, without having obtained a self-certification or other documentation.
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1.2.3 Other cases different from the above:
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“999999999” / “999-99-9999” / “99-9999999”: This code will be used for any account for which the FI cannot obtain the TIN and none of the other codes described above are applicable. Use of this code implies that the FI has completed its review of accounts without US TINs and has applied TIN codes to records where appropriate in good faith.
The use of these numerical codes provided by the IRS does not exempt the entity from continuing to develop the efforts that are necessary in order to obtain the US TIN.
Additionally, entering any of the above codes will not prevent the IRS from reporting an error indicating that the entered value is invalid for a particular record, given that the US TIN will still not be properly completed.
The error notification will provide 120 days to correct the incidents, in accordance with Article 5.1 “Minor errors and administrative errors” of the Agreement between the Kingdom of Spain and the United States of America (FATCA) (section 4.2.2 of the Authorities Agreement Competent between the United States and Spain). Consistent with the FATCA Agreement (and ACC if applicable), if the TIN is not provided within 120 days, the United States will evaluate the data received (including whether the FI meets the conditions set out in Notice 2023-11) and if there is a significant non-compliance based on the facts and circumstances (See question Reporting FAQ #3 where the procedure for significant non-compliance is detailed).
In the event that the legal entity account holder type is FATCA101, FATCA102 or FATCA103 (XML AccountHolderType tag) the holder may not be US.
In that case, you must complete the non-US TIN in the XML “TIN” tag in the format of the country that issued it, as well as the country that issued it in the “Issuedby ” tag.
In the case of FATCA104 account holder type, the holder is always American.
Thus, we distinguish between the following cases:
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If the account holder is a legal entity type FATCA 101 or FATCA 102 . In this case, the owner may not be American, but the person who exercises control must be (substantial owner)
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For the account holder when they are not US , they must complete the non-US TIN in the format of the country that issued it, as well as the country that issued it. If you do not have this information, you must complete the value “NA” (Not Available) as your TIN and ES in the issuing country.
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For the person who exercises control (substantial owner) , must complete the US TIN. If you do not have it, you can justify your absence with some of the numerical codes provided by the IRS, to the extent that you fall into any of the circumstances defined by the IRS.
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In the event that the account holder is a legal entity type FATCA103 . In this case, the owner may not be American. For the account holder, the non-US TIN must be completed in the format of the country that issued it, as well as the country that issued it. If you do not have this information, you must fill in the value NA as your TIN and ES in the issuing country.
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In the event that the account holder is a legal entity type FATCA104 , the US TIN of the holder must be completed. If you do not have it, you can justify your absence with some of the numerical codes provided by the IRS, to the extent that you fall into any of the circumstances defined by the IRS.
Reminder for Cancellation Submission Messages. DocTypeIndic FATCA3:
It is important to note that the above will only apply to FATCA1, FATCA2 and FATCA4 records. THE FATCA3 record must contain the exact same data that was originally submitted, otherwise you will receive a non-identical deletion notification from the IRS. Therefore, in the case of FATCA3, the TIN will be presented again in exactly the same way that it appears in the record that you want to delete.
You can obtain more information about the correct structure of the US TIN at the following link on the AEAT website:
Regarding the date of birth of the holder of the financial account (or, where applicable, of the persons who exercise control), if it is not completed leaving said field blank, A warning message will be displayed indicating this circumstance, so that you can take the appropriate actions to try to obtain said information. The aforementioned notice will be displayed regardless of whether or not the US TIN is completed.
The IRS in its recent Notice (Notice 2023-11) offers flexibility to Financial Institutions, which have not been able to obtain the US TIN, in relation to certain pre-existing accounts that are US accounts subject to reporting. The main purpose of Notice 2023-11 is that the failure to declare the US TIN does not give rise to financial institutions being considered to have incurred significant breaches of their obligations under the FATCA Agreement. To do this, financial institutions must follow the procedures indicated in the Notification.
(See question What obligations must a financial institution meet in order to benefit from the flexibility allowed by Notice 2023-11 published by the IRS?) .
This flexibility is applicable to presentations made in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
For more information, you can consult the full content of the Notification (Notice 2023-11) at the following link:
Foreign Financial Institution Temporary US Taxpayer Identification Number Relief (irs.gov)
In accordance with the provisions of sections 3.03 and 3.04 of Notice 2023-11, a financial institution may report a pre-existing account without a US TIN and no significant non-compliance will be determined if it meets the following conditions:
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Declare the date of birth of the individual holder and controlling person for whom the US TIN has not been obtained.
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Make an annual request to the holder, regarding any TIN not provided, with the conditions indicated below. To satisfy the annual requirement requirement, the financial institution may choose the form of communication that it considers most appropriate to contact the owner.
In the request or communication to the owner, the financial institution must necessarily include any of the following two contents:
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the IRS website address with the link to the IRS FAQs ( https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/while-abroad/Joint-Foreign-Account -Tax-Compliance-FATCA-FAQ.html )
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a copy of the above FAQs and either a copy of the IRS's relaxed procedures for such citizens, or the following address for such procedures ( https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international -taxpayers/relief-procedures-for-certain-former-citizens ).
This obligation will begin to be enforceable for the presentations of the year 2024 .
In any case, the financial institution must keep records of the policies and procedures applied to comply with these annual requirements until the end of 2029.
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Conducts an annual electronic search of its databases for missing US TINs. This obligation will become enforceable for filings in 2024.
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Declare, if the US TIN is not provided, with the explanatory codes included by the IRS in its frequently asked question Q6 Reporting (see question How is the TIN (US NIF) field completed when it is not available? ?) .
It is noted that this notification does not prevent the competent US authority from finding significant non-compliance for not satisfying obligations other than those of obtaining and declaring the US TIN of pre-existing accounts.
For more information, you can consult the full content of the Notification (Notice 2023-11) at the following link:
Foreign Financial Institution Temporary US Taxpayer Identification Number Relief (irs.gov)