What is the IRS FFI List?

Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), withholding agents must withhold tax on certain payments to foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that do not agree to report certain information to the IRS about their U.S. accounts or accounts of certain foreign entities with substantial U.S. owners.

FATCA FFI List Process

  1. Submit Registration
    Financial institution completes and submits FATCA registration
     
  2.  Approval & GIIN Assignment
    Financial institution receives approval
     
  3. Publish on FFI List
    Financial institution is included on the next monthly FFI list
     
  4. Search or Download
    Search for financial institutions, download partial or complete list
     
  5. Follow Reporting and Withholding Guidelines
    Comply with any reporting or withholding requirements

What are the FFI List Search and Download Tool’s Capabilities?

The FFI List Search and Download Tool enables the public to create and download a partial list of FFIs or to download the entire list in CSV and XML formats. No login or password is required to use this Tool.

An updated FFI List is posted on the first day of each month, and will only include FIs, branches, direct reporting non-financial foreign entities, sponsored entities, and sponsored subsidiary branches that are in approved status on the first day of the month and have been approved at least 5 business days prior to the first day of the month.  The date of the last updated list is displayed on the FFI List Search and Download Tool page. 

The FFI List Schema and Test Files page has additional information on how to import the downloaded file into a database.

For detailed instructions on how to use the FFI List Search and Download Tool, please review the FFI List Search and Download Tool User GuidePDF and related Frequently Asked Questions (updated 01-11-2021).