The Internal Revenue Service in the United States requires non U.S. investors to supply Forms W-8 in order to establish their non U.S. status. U.S. status vel non determines whether investment income payments are subject to U.S. withholding taxes and reporting.

With the integration of the CTI E-W8 application within Markit Document Exchange, financial institutions will be able to store, review and exchange W-8 tax forms from a single platform.

"Markit and CTI have developed industry standard platforms for the financial services community. Given the number of mutual clients we have and the complementary nature of our product offerings, the synergies created by our relationship will be very beneficial for the financial services industry," said Dan Burt, Executive Director and co-founder of CTI.

"By partnering with CTI, we are helping our clients cut the workload associated with exchanging and reviewing W-8 tax forms. This fits neatly with Markit Document Exchange's goal to make collecting counterparty documentation more efficient and we are delighted to benefit from CTI's proven tax expertise," said Penny Davenport, Managing Director and Head of Markit Document Exchange.

Markit Document Exchange provides a secure platform for buy- and sell-side institutions to exchange, store and access regulatory and compliance documents. The service enables institutions to comply with regulatory requirements and industry best practice whilst operating more efficiently, reducing documentation risk and saving costs.

CTI's E-W8 software automates the solicitation, renewal and validation of electronic Forms W-8 and W-9. This software captures the requisite tax certification information the IRS expects from customer's accounts, thereby reducing delays, costs and risk or errors, particularly during the re-solicitation process.