Mega difficult form requested by HSBC

Mishomeister

Could someone be that kind and help me with the completion of the [FONT=&quot]W8-BENE [/FONT]form
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]http://www.fatca.hsbc.com/~/media/fatca/pdfs/w8-ben-e-form.pdf[/FONT]

They provide a so called instruction [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]http://www.fatca.hsbc.com/~/media/fatca/pdfs/w8-ben-e-form-guidance.pdf[/FONT][FONT=&quot]

which I find absolutely useless as for example instruction is saying that in section A I need to write down the details of the beneficial owner but there is no explanation what is the mmaning of the beneficial owner>
Is it myself as an individual or the name of my company?


Or the question on line 3 asking for the name of disregarded entity. The instruction is saying that I must check one box only.

How about explaining what is the disregarded entity firts of all?

Do they expect people being born knowing this sort of thing?


All I am trying to do is to open HSBC business account for a limited company I have just set up.

I will be operating in UK only, pay UK tax and have no dealings with USA whatsoever.

Someone please help.[/FONT][/FONT]

agrinnall

Could you make an appointment to go into a branch and fill it in with their assistance?

Mishomeister

agrinnall wrote: »

Could you make an appointment to go into a branch and fill it in with their assistance?

They are refusing to help

eskbanker

Mishomeister wrote: »

which I find absolutely useless as for example instruction is saying that in section A I need to write down the details of the beneficial owner but there is no explanation what is the mmaning of the beneficial owner>
Is it myself as an individual or the name of my company?

Seems clear to me, the wording on box 1 of the form asks for "Name of organization that is the beneficial owner" so it's your company name, i.e. the entity that'll be owning the account.

Mishomeister wrote: »

Or the question on line 3 asking for the name of disregarded entity. The instruction is saying that I must check one box only.

How about explaining what is the disregarded entity firts of all?

A quick Google suggests that it's the US equivalent of what we'd call self-employed, i.e. where there's effectively no distinction between personal and business revenue, as per https://www.pntax.com/faq-what-is-a-disregarded-entity/

What made you choose HSBC? They've obviously had their fingers burned in the past and may now be overcompensating, but I opened business accounts with Santander with no such complexity....

Do you have an accountant to assist perhaps?

Thrugelmir

Mishomeister wrote: »

All I am trying to do is to open HSBC business account for a limited company I have just set up.

Seems that the incorrect form has been sent to you for completion in that case.

gt94sss2

Ask HSBC why they are asking you to complete the form. If operating in the UK in GPB only then you shouldn't need to complete it.

The form they are asking you to sign is designed and issued by the US Internal Revenue Service - their version of HMRC - not by HSBC themselves

Mishomeister

eskbanker wrote: »

What made you choose HSBC? They've obviously had their fingers burned in the past and may now be overcompensating, but I opened business accounts with Santander with no such complexity....

Do you have an accountant to assist perhaps?

Their deal is the most competitive available.

An accountant wants to charge a fee for helping with the form

Ballard

Is it mandatory for you to complete the form or have HSBC simply sent you a pack and you only need fill out what is necessary? As has been mentioned, this form is only used for dealing with the USA and from what you’ve said that doesn’t apply to you.

That said, HSBC are known to be awkward about such things so it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if you do need to complete it.

Mishomeister

Ballard wrote: »

Is it mandatory for you to complete the form or have HSBC simply sent you a pack and you only need fill out what is necessary? As has been mentioned, this form is only used for dealing with the USA and from what you’ve said that doesn’t apply to you.

That said, HSBC are known to be awkward about such things so it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if you do need to complete it.

This is email I had from them

Dear <>

Thank you for your recent application. In order to progress, we need to obtain some further information from you about your tax status.

Why are we asking you for this information?
There are a substantial number of changes to information collection and reporting being made by financial regulators, governments and financial institutions to help fight against tax evasion and protect the integrity of tax systems. The changes include the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).

Governments are introducing legal requirements for financial institutions such as HSBC to comply with the obligations of both FATCA and the CRS. Under these regulatory regimes we are required to gather information from you to help establish your tax status. Completing the attached forms will ensure that we hold accurate and up to date information about your tax residency.

Under the legislation which enacts FATCA we are required to identify and report information about US persons, and details of your account(s) to our local tax authority. For example in the UK we are required to report this information to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). This information will then be shared by HMRC with the US Internal Revenue Service.

Under the CRS national laws require us to determine the tax residency of all our customers. If you are tax resident outside the country where we maintain your account, and in a country that is also participating in the CRS then we will again report this information, and details of your account(s), to the local tax authority. This information will then be shared with other national tax authorities in countries that are participating in the CRS.

What you need to do now
Please complete the forms on the attached links.

For FATCA, we have attached a link to the W8-BENE Form as we believe you are not a US person based on the information we hold for you. Guidance to help you complete the form can be found by clicking this link http://www.fatca.hsbc.com/~/media/fatca/pdfs/w8-ben-e-form-guidance.pdf

If you consider that the enclosed form is not appropriate for you, you can obtain alternative FATCA documentation by visiting our FATCA microsite at http://www.fatca.hsbc.com/en/cmb/uk for the UK or https://www.fatca.hsbc.com/en/cmb/channel-islands for the Channel Islands and Isle of Man.

W8 BENE Form - http://www.fatca.hsbc.com/~/media/fatca/pdfs/w8-ben-e-form.pdf

We would be most grateful if you could send these as a PDF document by replying to this email within the next 30 days. If we do not receive your response by 08/05/2018, we will be unable to process your application further.

The UK Government has implemented the requirements of FATCA and the CRS through The International Tax Compliance Regulations 2015.
The Governments of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man have introduced similar local legislation.

If you have any queries, we would be pleased to discuss this further by telephone. Please call our business account opening team on 0800 032 1770 should you need to discuss further*.

Our lines are open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm (subject to planned and emergency maintenance periods).



*1 If you have a speech or hearing impairment, you can call our textphone service on 0345 712 5563 (Minicom device required) or +44 207 088 2077 if you're calling from abroad.

To help us improve our services, and in the interest of security, we may monitor and/or record your calls.





Yours sincerely

_______________________________________________________________
HSBC Online Business Account Opening

HSBC BANK PLC HBEU
Business Banking Customer Support Centre, Leicester

HSBC Bank plc Registered in England and Wales number 14259. Registered Office: 8 Canada Square, London E14 5HQ.

Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Our firm registration number is 114216.

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mgdavid

Mishomeister wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]........[/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
Do they expect people being born knowing this sort of thing?
..........[/FONT][/FONT]

No but they seem to expect that an adult who is capable of starting and running a Limited Company should know this sort of thing.
Not unreasonable IMO.

Or you could pay for professional help i.e. an accountant. You would be wise to get used to that concept if you are going to make a success of your company. I wouldn't jeopardise my company by depending on 'some bloke on the internet'.