Macau and the United States on Wednesday signed an agreement that will require that local financial institutions directly inform the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about the bank accounts of American taxpayers.

A Macau government statement said the agreement will facilitate compliance with the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act” (FATCA) by financial institutions operating in Macau.

According to the document signed on providing information to the US IRS it can be “supplemented by a request for information by the organization, by group, for the purpose of information exchange, at government level, on certain American taxpayers.”

Under the signed document, “financial institutions operating in Macau need to register and enter into individual agreements with the IRS (…) and obtain the consent of the account holders who are US taxpayers for the purpose of providing information about these accounts on an annual basis.”

The requirements of the measure are “aimed at specific American taxpayers, including US citizens, US resident individuals and certain entities established in the United States or controlled by American people.”

The agreement was signed by the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Leong Vai Tac, and the Consul General of the United States to Hong Kong and Macau, Kurt Tong, and follows negotiations on the issue that ended in November 2014 . (macauhub)