Free forever · no account · nothing uploaded
FATCA XML validator
Drop a FATCA submission file in and get a line-by-line report against FATCA XML Schema v2.0. The parser runs in this tab: the file is never transmitted, never stored, and you do not need an account to see the whole report.
FATCA looks like CRS and is not. It has no MessageTypeIndic, it distinguishes an amendment from a correction, and its identifier is a GIIN rather than a national TIN. Each of those departures is checked explicitly, because each one is a way a CRS exporter quietly produces an invalid FATCA file.
Drop a FATCA XML file here
It is parsed in this browser tab. No upload, no account, no size limit beyond what your machine can hold.
What it checks
Schema validity is the easy half. What actually generates an IRS error notification is a well-formed file with a malformed GIIN, a missing substantial owner or a correction that does not say which transmission it corrects — so those are checked too, each citing the section of the user guide it comes from.
Schema structure
Every element, its cardinality, its order and its datatype against FATCA XML Schema v2.0, including the elements FATCA shares with CRS but names differently.
No MessageTypeIndic
FATCA has none: the intent of a record lives entirely in its DocTypeIndic. A MessageTypeIndic in the header is the clearest sign a file came from a CRS exporter, and it is reported as an error.
GIIN format
The dotted 19-character form, with a real category code in the third block. A GIIN is what routes the file, and one wrong character is the difference between a filing that arrives and one that does not.
Void, correct and amend
FATCA has four intents where CRS has three. Amendments and voids must carry CorrMessageRefId as well as CorrDocRefId, test codes FATCA11–14 must not mix with live data, and a voided Reporting FI cannot leave live account reports behind it.
Substantial owners
An account holder typed FATCA101 or FATCA102 exists to report its U.S. owners, so at least one SubstantialOwner must follow. Owners reported against an individual holder are rejected, and FATCA106 is reserved for U.S. Government use.
Filer category and pools
Sponsoring-entity categories placed on the ReportingFI rather than the Sponsor, pool reports with a zero account count, and the pool type that applied only to the 2015 and 2016 tax years.
Source: IRS Publication 5124, FATCA XML Schema v2.0 User Guide. Findings quote it; they are not tax advice.
FATCA code lists
The full enumerations, for when a report names a code you have not seen before.
DocTypeIndic
- FATCA1
- New Data
- FATCA2
- Corrected Data — in response to a record-level error notification
- FATCA3
- Void Data — withdraws a previously filed record
- FATCA4
- Amended Data — replaces a record you have found to be wrong
- FATCA11
- New Test Data
- FATCA12
- Corrected Test Data
- FATCA13
- Void Test Data
- FATCA14
- Amended Test Data
AcctHolderType
- FATCA101
- Owner-Documented FFI with specified U.S. owners
- FATCA102
- Passive Non-Financial Foreign Entity with substantial U.S. owners
- FATCA103
- Non-Participating FFI
- FATCA104
- Specified U.S. Person
- FATCA105
- Direct Reporting NFFE
- FATCA106
- For U.S. Government use only — restricted, do not use
FilerCategory
- FATCA601
- PFFI, other than a Reporting Model 2 FFI
- FATCA602
- Registered Deemed-Compliant FFI, including a Reporting Model 1 FFI
- FATCA603
- Limited Branch or Limited FFI
- FATCA604
- Reporting Model 2 FFI
- FATCA605
- Qualified Intermediary, Withholding Foreign Partnership or Trust
- FATCA606
- Direct Reporting NFFE
- FATCA607
- Sponsoring Entity of a Sponsored FFI
- FATCA608
- Sponsoring Entity of a Sponsored Direct Reporting NFFE
- FATCA609
- Trustee of a Trustee-Documented Trust
- FATCA610
- Withholding Agent
- FATCA611
- Territory Financial Institution treated as a U.S. person
Payment Type
- FATCA501
- Dividends
- FATCA502
- Interest
- FATCA503
- Gross Proceeds/Redemptions
- FATCA504
- Other
Pool Report Type
- FATCA201
- Recalcitrant account holders with U.S. indicia
- FATCA202
- Recalcitrant account holders without U.S. indicia
- FATCA203
- Dormant accounts
- FATCA204
- Non-participating foreign financial institutions (2015 and 2016 only)
- FATCA205
- Recalcitrant account holders that are U.S. persons
- FATCA206
- Recalcitrant account holders that are passive NFFEs
Validating is free. Producing the file is what we sell.
The validator will keep telling you what is wrong with a hand-built file. The paid product collects the self-certifications, chases the account holders who ignore them, generates the file with stable DocRefIDs and handles the voids and amendments afterwards — from EUR 59 a month, priced on the page.