International ACH Transactions, or IATs, are an important part of the ACH Network. And even if your bank or credit union doesn’t originate IATs, it’s obligated to receive them, which means you still need to know about some relevant Nacha Rules changes on the horizon. A June 9 session at Smarter Faster Payments Remote Connect 2026 helped bring those into focus.

Starting Jan. 1, 2027, all financial institutions must enter IAT contacts into the ACH Contact Registry. As with the current mandatory Registry fields, you’ll need a phone number and email that are monitored—and responded to—during normal business hours. And rather than wait to do this, Amy Morris, Nacha Senior Director, ACH Network Rules, said you can enter the information today.

“The IAT contact field in the ACH Contact Registry has been available for years. It was an optional contact that’s been there. And we have already thousands of them in there,” said Morris. If your information is in there on New Year’s Day, Morris said, “You’ll be good to go.”

On March 19, 2027, a new field will be added to the IAT format to include the birth date for people involved in an IAT payment. It applies to both origination and receipt, so while it is optional to populate the field, all financial institutions will need to be prepared to receive this field. Why is this change being made?

“We know that at least 20% of IATs are kicked out for some sort of manual review,” said Morris. “Date of birth seems to be the most effective piece of information that allows for the completion of that review.”

March 17, 2028, is when a new Return Reason Code, R90, will become the one to use when returning an entry to comply with sanctions obligations. Morris said the new code will help with “unbundling the existing Return Reason Code of R16,” which currently can mean the account is frozen or there’s an issue with sanctions. 

“These are very different things,” said Morris, adding that breaking out these issues into separate codes will be “beneficial for the [ACH] Network.” When the new R90 code takes effect, R16 will be exclusively for frozen accounts.

In 2025, the ACH Network handled about 120 million IAT transactions valued at almost $375 billion. While that is not a huge ACH Network component, Debbie Barr, Nacha Associate Managing Director, ACH Network Rules, Process and Communications, said it shouldn’t be overlooked. 

“I think it’s important to note that as you look over 10 years, you see that the volume really has been pretty consistent, not a lot of huge spikes,” said Barr. “But looking at the value, that value has grown tremendously over those 10 years.”

Learn more about all of the upcoming IAT Rules changes on Nacha.org.