Responsible Officer (RO) or Authorizing Individual

 

The term RO or authorizing individual means an individual who is authorized under local law to consent on behalf of the FI to the disclosure of FATCA-related tax information to third parties. 

A POC is an individual authorized to receive from the IRS FATCA-related information regarding the FI and to take other FATCA-related actions on behalf of the FI.

Note: If an FI is a lead FI, the FI’s RO will automatically be treated as a POC for the FI and any member FI. As a result, the RO for a lead FI may receive correspondence related to its member FI’s FATCA information. Such correspondence may include requests from FI's to transfer into the lead FI's expanded affiliated group.

The authorizing individual identified in the field next to the check box is providing the IRS with written authorization to release the FI’s FATCA-related tax information to the POC.  This authorization specifically includes authorization for the POC to complete the FATCA Registration (except for Part 4), to take other FATCA-related actions, and to obtain access to the FI’s tax information. Once the authorization is granted, it is effective until revoked by either the POC or an authorizing individual of the FI.

Form 8957 means IRS Form 8957, Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Registration, and includes the online version of the form on the FATCA registration website available at IRS.gov/fatca