USC in Canada and W9

[Frankd1]

I have a question regarding USC filling out W9's

My wife is a USC and PR of Canada, lives and works in Canada.
She is up to date on all CRA filings and she is up to date on all IRS filings: yearly return, FinCen/FBAR, 8891 when it was required. She does not file 8938 due to being under threshold.

She has a spousal RRSP (I make the contribution and get the tax break due to my higher income) and she also has day to day bank accounts. All of these are reported on FinCen 114 every year.

I met with my financial advisor today to go over last years RRSP portfolio performance.
At the end of our session we had to sign some documents to verify information on file with the brokerage - securities regulations requiring accurate information etc.

When I looked at my wife's documents it showed her as a Canadian Citizen, which is incorrect. Where it asked if you are a US person for tax purpose it said NO, which is also incorrect. The next box said: if yes you must provide SSN and complete W9.

So, the brokerage has some incorrect info on their file even though when we first opened the account it shows USC on that paperwork...

My question:
1. is there any issue with my wife filling out this W9 as far as extra paperwork is concerned for her yearly IRS filings?

2. is the purpose of USC's in Canada filling out these W9's so that the institutions, whether they are banks or brokerages, can be compliant with there end of FATCA?
eg. Bank or brokerage has a USC client, client fills out W9, institution sends W9 to CRA, CRA sends to IRS, IRS can then see who is reporting and who is not.

3. Is the fact that she has not filled out any W9's (for this brokerage and TD Canada Trust) an issue? She has been reporting every year with FinCen

[nelsona]

1. No, but she should file the w-9. The firm should have asked for this years ago. The W-9 actually absolves the firm from collecting withholding for IRS.
2. No, its been required for years. See 1. CRA has nothing to do with this.
3. No. See 1. Its the brokerage's issue.

[Frankd1]

Thanks for the reply.

I will ask the advisor to correct her citizenship information in his system and have my wife fill out the W9 for the brokerage, which handles her spousal RRSP.

We opened the RRSP for her in 2008 with the correct info regarding her US Citizenship and PR status in Canada. in 2014 the brokerage changed ownership and when they transferred client info into the new computer system, they input her info incorrectly. I discovered the error today when reviewing and updating signatures on their client information sheets. But like you said, they should have asked for it when she opened the account in 2008.

one more question, sorry if I missed this earlier:

1. is the W9 also required for the bank that holds her day to day bank accounts?
- we bank with TD Canada Trust, she has one checking account in her name and the rest are checking accounts joint with me.
Again, we set these up years ago with her US passport and Canada PR card and no W9 was asked for...

As always, thank you

[nelsona]

Yes, you missed my answer. C'mon people.

[Frankd1]

Thank you