A new online portal to help simplify the form exchange between US insurance brokers and foreign insurers is now open and available for worldwide use.
The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers (CIAB) unveiled its W-8BEN-E Portal on 1 July, coinciding with the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
The portal is an easy-to-use solution for brokers and insurers to obtain the W-8BEN-E forms they need to meet the new Internal Revenue Service reporting requirements.
“We’ve worked hard over the past few months to develop this portal in a way that would make this massive change in business process as easy and seamless as possible,” said Ken Crerar, president and CEO of the council.
“Insurers and brokers who sign up for the website will be able to exchange forms quickly with minimal impact to their normal business process.”
FATCA, which passed US Congress in 2010, requires brokers to document that every foreign entity they do business with is FATCA-compliant or FATCA-exempt.
Demonstrating compliance requires a certificate to be collected and stored from every foreign entity involved with a policy with even the slightest exposure to US risk.
The W-8BEN-E Portal is complete with a searchable catalog of participating global insurers’ W-8s, as well as contact information for (re)insurers’ W-8 administrators.
It also offers immediate and safe document access and secure W-8 uploading, while allowing foreign insurance carriers to make rolling changes to their forms as needed.
The portal also offers various educational resources such as a set of FAQs, news articles and downloadable CIAB webinars laying out the impact of the new law.
