Ipes and KPMG team up to extend FATCA services

Ipes and KPMG are strengthening ties in order to increase services for clients, such as private equity firms, affected by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

The fund administrator and business services provider are working together to provide investor relations services, client due diligence and tax information reporting ahead of key FATCA reporting deadlines for US and UK investors in May and June of this year.

FATCA may also expand into the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), a multinational effort for financial information exchange still being developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which KPMG and Ipes said they are preparing for.

Around 56 countries have signed up to the CRS, which requires financial information held by overseas investors to be reported to their domestic tax authorities.

In advance of these new reporting frameworks, IPES and KPMG said the partnership was built to bring together “Ipes’ skills in administration and technology development and KPMG’s expertise in tax and assurance services to form a credible solution for investors,” said Chris Merry, chief executive at Ipes.

The companies also worked together on a FACTA offering last year, when KPMG verified Ipes’ clients in relation to FATCA entity classifications. In 2013, KPMG also collaborated with Ipes to help develop their depositary service governed by the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.