How to Access FATCA Messages

You registered your Financial Institution in the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) FATCA portal. You received a Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN). At some future date, you receive a random email from the IRS with the title “Your FATCA account update” or something similar. You open the email and the email from the IRS states:

“You have a new message on your Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) message board. You must log into your FATCA account ending in 9ZZ to read the message.”

What is your next step? Your next step is not to hit reply on the email because the IRS message comes from the email address “FATCADoNotReply@irs.gov”. Instead, your next step is to access your FATCA account to read the new message.

Log in to FATCA Account

Click this link to access your FATCA account.

For those of you who have not logged into your account since October 2024, it may be news to you that your Account Access Code and challenge questions have been eliminated. To access your IRS FATCA account, you must create a Login.gov or ID.me profile.

Login.gov is an account created, maintained, and secured by the U.S. government. ID.me is an account created, maintained, and secured by a technology provider. The verification goal behind these systems is that the email address used to access the FATCA portal must match the Responsible Officer (RO) email address or one of the Points of Contact (POCs) email addresses in the FATCA GIIN registration.

Message Board

On the home page of your account, the Message Board is on the right side of the page. Each of the message links on your home page will allow you to open the message to see whether there is an action item for you to resolve or whether the message is simply information. Some examples of messages are:

• Account Created

• Registration Submission successful

• Approved

• Certification of Preexisting Accounts is due

• Periodic Certification is due

• Agreement cancelled

IRS Resources

FATCA Registration System User Guide (PDF)

Frequently asked questions (FAQs) - FATCA registration system

Financial institution (FI) technical support

For assistance, please contact me via my contact page or at elizabeth@elizabethmcmorrowlaw.com.