The Government of the Virgin Islands, through the International Tax Authority (ITA) of the Ministry of Finance is informing all financial institutions that the British Virgin Islands Financial Account Reporting System (BVIFARS) is now open and ready to accept enrolment applications from financial institutions required to submit information to the Government under the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the British Virgin Islands and the United States of America. 

To ensure compliance with the terms of the Intergovernmental Agreement which was incorporated into the Laws of the Virgin Islands by way of Statutory Instrument No. 75 of 2014, gazetted on the 23rd October, 2014, for 2015, financial institutions are required to enrol with BVIFARS no later than June 1. The reporting deadline for financial institutions to submit their filings for 2014 is June 30.  

Financial institutions are asked to note that they are not obligated to file a “Nil Report”. As such, if there is nothing to report, there is no mandatory requirement to enrol with BVIFARS.  However, BVIFARS has the capability to accept Nil Reports and if a financial institution chooses to submit a Nil Report, then that financial institution will have to enrol.

Financial institutions are only required to enrol one time with BVIFARS and their account details will remain valid for subsequent years.  

Any financial institution that has not obtained their Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN) from the Government of the United States, Internal Revenue Service (IRS), are encouraged to register immediately with the IRS, as the GIIN is required to enrol with BVIFARS.

To assist financial institutions in using BVIFARS, the Government has produced a User Guide for the System. This User Guide is accessible via the Government’s Website:  www.bvi.gov.vg/fatca.

To access BVIFARS, visit the Government’s Website at www.bvi.gov.vg/fatca. For further information please telephone the International Tax Authority at telephone   1 (284) 468-4415 or 1 (284) 468-2144. Alternatively they may be emailed at bvifars@gov.vg or bviita@gov.vg.