BEA is conducting a survey that tracks transactions between U.S. financial services providers and foreign residents. Data from this survey will be used to produce international and national economic statistics that aid decision-making by businesses and policymakers and provide the American public with a deeper understanding of the United States’ trade relationships around the globe.
Here’s what potential filers need to know about the BE-180 Benchmark Survey of Financial Services Transactions between U.S. Financial Services Providers and Foreign Persons:
Do I need to file? If you are a U.S. financial services company with covered transactions in fiscal year 2014, you are required to file. (Information on the types of financial services covered by the BE-180 survey can be found in Table 1 on page 3 of the survey form.) Companies that have an existing BE-180 identification number should have received a letter from BEA in June announcing the upcoming survey and/or in August announcing the availability of the survey forms and related materials.
- If your company’s sales or purchases of financial services were greater than $3 million, you must provide detailed data by type of service, by type of affiliation of the counterparty, and by country—even if BEA didn’t contact your company about the survey.
- If sales and purchases were each $3 million or less, you must report only if your company was contacted by BEA about the survey; in this case, you must provide aggregate data, although you may voluntarily submit more detailed information.
- If sales and purchases were each $3 million or less, and your company was NOT contacted by BEA, reporting is voluntary.
- If your company was contacted by BEA about the survey but it has no transactions of the types of services covered, you must complete pages 1-3 of the survey.
When is the BE-180 survey due? BEA encourages filers to complete the survey by Oct. 1, 2015, the stated due date on the form. However, we recognize the burden imposed by various filing deadlines and have laid out extensions as outlined below.
Extensions requiring requests:
- If the automatic extension described in 1 or 2 above applies, and you need to request time beyond the automatic extension, you may contact BEA at (202) 606-5588 or be-180extension@bea.gov. We will consider extensions of up to an additional 30 days if a request is submitted by Nov. 1, 2015.
- If the automatic extension described in 3 above applies, and you need to request time beyond the automatic extension, you may request an extension of up to 60 additional days by following the instructions at www.bea.gov/ssb/be180 and by providing the information requested by Nov. 1, 2015. Following the instructions referenced above will enable us to assign your company an identification number, which can also be used to access BEA’s eFile system.
How do I file? We encourage filers to report electronically through our eFile system at www.bea.gov/efile using their BE-180 identification number.
Surveys can also be submitted through mail or fax according to the instructions on page 1 of the form. PDF and Excel versions of the survey form and instructions are available at www.bea.gov/ssb/be180.
Where can I find more information? More information, including a list of frequently asked questions, is available at www.bea.gov/ssb/be180. If you have other questions please call (202) 606-5588.