Is Your Mutual Fund Account Blocked Over FATCA Rules? What To Do

The Income Tax Department had set a deadline of April 30 for financial institutions to get accounts complaint with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA. The deadline pertains to accounts opened between July 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015. The tax department had said that the accounts should be blocked if self-certification from account holders is not provided by April 30. News agency IANS said in a report citing mutual fund industry officials that in the case of mutual funds, the blocking kicked in automatically after the April 30 deadline ended.

“As per the mutual fund industry data, the total number of folios that were not FATCA compliant were between 8-9 lakh. Subsequently some of the investors may have submitted the self-certification forms," the report quoted Gaurav Nagori, senior vice president-head of customer service and operation, DSP Blackrock Mutual Fund, as saying.

Much like a bank account number, a folio number is your account number in a mutual fund scheme, under which yours unit holdings in a mutual fund scheme are recorded in the unit holders' register.

In case of FATCA non-compliant (mutual fund) folios, an investor will not be able to redeem unless the account gets compliant, said A Balasubramanian, chairman of Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), a mutual funds industry body. Once the investor gives the declaration, the folio gets compliant and redemptions can be done, he added.

So if you have opened a new account or folio with any mutual fund between July 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015 (with whom you had not invested prior to July 1, 2014), you need to provide a self-certification about your tax residency to the respective mutual funds for compliance with FATCA.

FATCA allows automatic exchange of financial information between India and the US. India had entered into an agreement with the United States for implementation of the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with effect from August 31, 2015.

You can check your mutual funds' FATCA status online. According to AMFI's website, you can check as well as submit the FATCA self-declaration form to the registrar or any of your mutual fund houses online. Once the self-declaration is submitted or had been submitted earlier, it is updated across participating funds.

- Mutual funds serviced by registrar CAMS, as per Amfi's website:

Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund; DSP BlackRock Mutual Fund; HDFC Mutual Fund; HSBC Mutual Fund; ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund; IDFC Mutual Fund; IIFL Mutual Fund; JP Morgan Mutual Fund; Kotak Mutual Fund; L&T Mutual Fund; Mahindra Mutual Fund; PPFAS Mutual Fund; SBI Mutual Fund; Shriram Mutual Fund; Tata Mutual Fund; and Union KBC Mutual Fund.

- Mutual funds serviced by Karvy:

AXIS Mutual Fund, Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund, BOI AXA Mutual Fund, Canara Robeco Mutual Fund, Deutsche Mutual Fund, Edelweiss Mutual Fund, Goldman Sachs Mutual Fund, IDBI Mutual Fund, Indiabulls Mutual Fund, JM Financial Mutual Fund, LIC Nomura Mutual Fund, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund, MotilalOswal Mutual Fund, Peerless Mutual Fund, DHFL Pramerica Mutual Fund, Principal Mutual Fund, Quantum Mutual Fund, Reliance Mutual Fund, Religare Invesco Mutual Fund, Sahara Mutual Fund, Taurus Mutual Fund, UTI Mutual Fund

- Mutual funds serviced by Sundaram BNP Paribas Fund Services:

Sundaram Mutual Fund and BNP Paribas Mutual Fund

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund

(With agency inputs)