The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (the “BEA”) requires U.S. financial institutions to file a benchmark survey – the BE-180 – once every five years. Although the BE-180 survey is not new, the BEA recently revised its reporting criteria to include certain U.S. financial service providers dealing with offshore funds. The BE-180 survey must be filed by each U.S. person who is a financial services provider or intermediary who (i) had combined sales to or purchases from foreign persons, of financial services in excess of $3 million for fiscal year 2014, or (ii) has been contacted by the BEA to file the BE-180 survey. The term “financial services provider” includes investment advisers as well as private investment funds and other financial vehicles.

The types of financial services covered by the survey include brokerage services, debt and equity underwriting and private placement services, financial management services, credit card and credit-related services, financial advisory and custody services, securities lending services, and electronic funds transfer services. Forex transactions as well as interest and dividend receipts and payments are excluded. Most notably, the following scenarios would trigger the requirement to file a BE-180 survey: (i) a U.S. fund manager or sponsor that has received more than $3 million in fees from a foreign fund for advisory services in 2014, or (ii) a U.S. fund that has paid more than $3 million in fees to a foreign investment adviser or sponsor in 2014.

U.S. financial services providers that have not met the $3 million threshold and have not been contacted by the BEA are not required to file the BE-180 survey; however, such providers may choose to voluntarily file.

The deadline to file the BE-180 survey was originally October 1, 2015; however, the BEA has imposed an automatic filing extension until November 1, 2015, if the U.S. person was not notified of the BE-180 survey by the BEA and does not have a BE-180 identification number, or if the U.S. person was notified by the BEA and has a BE-180 identification number below 140012490. U.S. persons with a BE-180 identification number above 140012490 have until December 1, 2015, to file. Certain U.S. persons may also qualify for an additional extension of up to 60 days.

Instructions for filing the BE-180 survey can be found here.

If you have questions about filing the BE-180 survey or whether you should file, please contact the authors of this Alert, or the Reed Smith attorney with whom you usually work.

Client Alert 2015-254