The U.S. Department of Commerce has an agency called U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) that tracks the international commerce and publishes leading indicators of the economy like GDP. The economic statistics prepared by BEA help in gauging the performance of the U.S. economy and the role of the U.S. in the global economy. In relation to this, the agency collects the data of inbound and outbound U.S. investments. In order to collect the data, the BEA conducts 7 mandatory surveys on a quarterly, annually or five-yearly period.

Who Must Report?

For the mandatory reporting obligations, BEA collects data from;

• Any person or business of U.S. origin holding a 10% or greater interest in a foreign business.
• Any person or business of foreign origin holding a 10% or greater interest in a U.S. business.
• U.S. subsidiaries of foreign businesses.
• Foreign subsidiaries of U.S. businesses.
• U.S. or foreign-owned businesses that have transactions with the U.S. service sector.

Cross-border investment whether it is direct or indirect with ownership interests requires reporting under BEA obligations. Any failure to comply with any of the BEA norms attracts both civil and criminal penalties.

The BEA has made is mandatory for all foreign people who are making investments in the U.S. to give transactional reporting. The reporting has to be made within 45 days of acquisitions, expansions and business formation.

Reporting Obligations and Timeframe

• If the company makes a U.S. direct investment abroad then the compliance includes quarterly, annual and quinquennial i.e. 5 years reporting obligations.
• If the company makes a foreign direct investment in the US then the compliance includes quarterly, annual, quinquennial i.e. 5 years and transactional reporting obligations.

Reporting Obligations for Non-U.S. Person or Business Owing Business in the U.S. 

The reporting obligation for a non US person or business owning a business in the U.S. can be divided into four parts; Transactional Survey, Quarterly Survey, Annual Survey and 5 Year Benchmark Survey.

• Transactional Survey

Transactional survey of the foreign direct investment in the U.S. is compulsory for every acquisition, formation and expansion of U.S. business. It must be filed within 45 days of the transaction. However, there is an exemption for filing if the transaction is below the threshold limit of $3 million.

• Quarterly Survey

Quarterly survey of the foreign direct investment in the U.S. is mandatory for every foreign person owning 10% or more of a U.S. business enterprise. The reporting must be done upon request from BEA, 30 days after each quarter or 45 days after year-end.

• Annual Survey

Annual survey of the foreign direct investment in the U.S. is mandatory for every foreign person owning 10% or more of a U.S. business enterprise. The reporting must be done upon request from BEA or 150 days after year-end.

• 5 Year Benchmark Survey

5 year benchmark survey of the foreign direct investment in the U.S. is required of all parties where a foreign person owns 10% or more of a U.S. business enterprise. The reporting has to be done within 150 days after year-end.

Reporting Obligations for a U.S. Person or Businesses having Ownership Interest in a Foreign Business 

The reporting obligation for a US person or business owning a business in the U.S. can be divided into three parts; Quarterly Survey, Annual Survey and 5 Year Benchmark Survey.

• Quarterly Survey

Quarterly survey of the U.S. direct investment in abroad is for U.S. persons who owns 10% or more of a foreign business enterprise. The reports must be filed upon request from BEA or 30 days after each quarter or 45 days after year-end.

• Annual Survey

Quarterly survey of the U.S. direct investment in abroad is for U.S. persons who owns 10% or more of a foreign business enterprise. The reports must be filed upon request from BEA or 150 days after year-end.

• 5 Year Benchmark Survey

5 Year Benchmark Survey of the U.S. direct investment in abroad is for U.S. persons who owns 10% or more of a foreign business enterprise. It is the most comprehensive survey required by all the parties. The parties must file report within 150 days after the year-end.

Reporting Obligations for a U.S. Service Sector Business Transacting with Non-U.S. Parties

Reporting obligations for a U.S. service sector business are compulsory regardless of the fact that the ownership belongs to the U.S. or foreign ownership. The BEA services surveys track the foreign trade in services by U.S. companies. The BEA surveys apply to U.S. service sector companies regardless of the ownership.

The BEA surveys can be divided into three parts; quarterly survey, annual survey and benchmark survey.

• Quarterly Surveys

Quarterly surveys are for financial services, insurance services, U.S. ocean carriers, U.S. and foreign airline operators, selected services and intellectual property.

• Annual Surveys

Annual surveys are for foreign ocean carriers.

• Benchmark Surveys

Benchmark surveys are for financial services, intellectual property trade, insurance service and services like consulting, advertising, etc.

Bureau of Economic Analysis Compliance for Sample Organization Structures, Parent/ Subsidiary Relationships and Business Ownership Interests

• A U.S. business ownership abroad requires BEA reporting if it holds 10% or more ownership stake in such company. For example, U.S. Company holding 10% or more stake in a South African company requires BEA reporting.

A Foreign company having 10% or more stake in a U.S. business requires BEA reporting. For example, the South African company holding a 10% stake in a U.S. company is eligible for BEA reporting.

Reporting Obligations for Indirect Cross-Border Investment and Business Ownership

Any U.S. business that holds indirect business interest due to cross-border investment or business ownership requires BEA reporting.

About us

IMC Group is one of the leading firms that provide global compliance services. With our consulting services, we ensure that our clients from varied industry sectors comply with the complex BEA requirements in full and in a timely manner. Our experienced and expert team fulfils the burdensome mandatory reporting obligations of BEA in a smooth and simplified manner so that you can focus on running your business without any stress.

We guide you in implementing the best practices for collecting and retaining data, reporting processes and procedures as well as guide you on the response practices.

  Our BEA Compliance Services

Few of our services include;

• BEA compliance assessment.
• Identifying when the business requires BEA reporting obligation.
• Effective and efficient maintenance of routine procedures, monitoring, collection of data, etc. to the BEA.
• Analysing complex BEA data requests and keeping a track of them.
• Gathering, retaining and reporting information in the prescribed manner.
• Completion and filing of BEA report.

To utilise our services you can reach us via email or phone.

The UK is aiming to pump up about £8 billion of investment in both public and private sectors in Africa to create more opportunities and jobs so as to advance development in the coming four years.

• The UK’s Development Finance Institution or the CDC Group plans to put in about £3.5 billion in Africa to support thousands of new opportunities and jobs.
• The UK also aims to pump up additional private investment of £4 billion only for African nations, especially from the City of London.

The UK is coming up with many steps to improve the investment in various enterprises and infrastructure all across Africa. This includes raising an additional £4 billion investment from the private sector by collaborating closely with the City of London.

The Prime Minister also has set a new target for the UK to be known as one of the biggest G7 foreign direct investor in Africa by the year 2020.

As per statistics, Africa will see its population doubling by 2050 and to cater to that, approximately 18 million additional jobs every year would be required. It is of utmost importance that the private and public investments give rise to improved opportunities in this country to avoid the future generation to face poverty, instability or mass migration, which could impact Britain in a huge manner.

This development also implies that the level of this opportunity across Africa is humungous. As per IMF data, Africa’s GDP is going to touch $3.2 trillion in the coming five years and this is also the right time for company formation in Africa.

International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt was of the view that Africa’s promising markets pose as a huge and unexploited potential to the UK. There is a huge scarcity of investment, required infrastructure and also jobs in here and the City of London is well-positioned to assist in filling this gap and also reaping benefits for the economy of UK.

Some mutually-beneficial collaborations are being built, which will help in enhancing long-term revolutionary growth and also create more and more superior jobs, while also enabling the investors in UK to reap benefits of this opportunity.

In addition to the announcement of a huge investment coming through CDC and PIDG, the UK is also aiming to pump up another £4 billion of private investments, especially from the City of London. So, it would sum up to about £8 billion (around $10 billion) of investment aiming to assist the African countries from the year 2018 till 2021.

This collaboration aims to mobilise more capital out of pension funds, other investors, and insurance companies so as to help the City to take on a bigger role as Africa’s partner of choice in terms of financial services as the UK leaves the EU.

This will also generate the prospect to advance the returns out of investments for the UK’s pension pot, while boosting the important long-term investment for all African businesses, thus transforming the poorest nations of the world into the UK’s trading partners.