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Since the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) took effect on 1 January 2015, the full extent of global compliance with the legislation that is designed to combat offshore tax evasion is becoming clear from some staggering numbers.

A total of 147,044 foreign financial institutions (FFIs) from 225 jurisdictions took the first steps towards FATCA compliance and registered with the US Internal Revenue Service¡¯s (IRS) FATCA FFI registration system by January 1, 2015.

This long list of ¡°deemed compliant¡± FFIs no doubt includes hundreds of Chinese offshore investment entities operating in jurisdictions such as British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, who have been galvanised to fall in line due to FATCA¡¯s far-reaching nature and the huge risks of non-compliance.

Peter Stafford is a director and technical lead of the tax information services team of DMS Offshore Investment Services. Niaz Khan is an executive director of DMS Offshore Investment Services in Hong Kong