The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a new set of regulations from the US authorities that seeks to ensure that US individuals report all income earned outside the US.  It will affect financial institutions that interact with US clients and US markets.  However, it will also affect multinational non-financial enterprises that may have payment interactions with US clients.  Basically, a 30% withholding tax will be imposed on certain US source payments made to foreign enterprises  that are unable to satisfactorily identify US investors.

Detailed aspects of FATCA remain to be finalized, and, as with much regulation, future changes can be expected.  However, the prospect of such a high withholding tax requires that enterprises start planning for FATCA now. There will be a significant impact for data management.