After a month-long delay, the Internal Revenue Service unveiled Aug. 19 the online registration portal for foreign financial institutions to register with IRS under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

The opening of the registration website marks another milestone in the U.S. government's efforts to implement the program, which is intended to help crack down on offshore tax evasion and secret foreign accounts held by U.S. citizens.

Foreign financial institutions that are not exempt from FATCA must both register and agree to perform information reporting, or else pay a 30 percent withholding tax on certain U.S.-source payments made to them.