The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) was passed by the U.S. government on March 18, 2010 and became effective on July 1, 2014. This legislation requires U.S. persons to report their assets held in offshore accounts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It also requires non-U.S. financial institutions to report annually on the accounts of U.S. persons.
On February 5, 2014, the Canadian and U.S. governments signed an agreement with provisions to make sure FATCA’s reporting requirements do not violate Canadian privacy laws. Instead of Canadian financial institutions reporting directly to the IRS, all relevant information is sent to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA then exchanges the information with the IRS through the existing safeguards of the Canada-U.S. tax convention.
If you are considered a U.S. person and you have a Questrade account (either self-directed or Questwealth), as a non-U.S. financial institution Questrade is required to provide certain information to the CRA. This information is in turn exchanged with the IRS.