Category: FATCA

IRS Plans to Shift Risk of Withholding Agent Fraud to the Taxpayer for Foreign Withholding

Chapter 3 of the Internal Revenue Code requires payors (and recipients) of certain types of U.S. source income to withhold tax if the beneficial owner or recipient is a non-U.S. person for income tax purposes. Chapter 4 also imposes similar withholding under FATCA for payments to foreign financial institutions and… – Continue reading

It’s FATCA time in Luxembourg

A year after the signing of the intergovernmental agreement regarding FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) between Luxembourg and the United States, the bill of law was finally introduced on 27 March 2015 to the Luxembourg Parliament. The bill of law relates to the exchange of tax information between the… – Continue reading

Truth Be Told: International Pension Plans in Bermuda

With its enviable reputation in offshore trusts, pensions and insurance, Bermuda is an ideal jurisdiction for employers to establish international pension and employee benefit plans (IPPs). Global organisations may consider establishing Bermuda IPPs for employees who work outside their home country or the home country of both the employees and… – Continue reading

The Growing Role for IFCs in a World of Increasing Transparency

The debate around transparency, information exchange and beneficial ownership continues to evolve and has demanded a real focus for those working in International Finance Centres (IFCs), which frequently find themselves in the frame when it comes to ill-considered accusations relating to secrecy and illicit financial flows. In fact, Jersey and… – Continue reading

Barbados: Its Systems Validated

During 2014, Barbados again produced strong evidence of the underlying strength of its financial system. All of the financial stability indicators and stress tests performed for the financial system strongly indicate that the system remains stable with the capacity to withstand a wide variety of severe economic shocks. It is… – Continue reading

FATCA Compliance Deadline Reminder – Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands investment entities that have been classified as “Reporting Cayman Islands Financial Institutions” for purposes of FATCA should make every effort to enroll with the Cayman government by the April 30, 2015 deadline in order to comply with their obligations under FATCA, regardless of whether they will be required… – Continue reading

April 30th Cayman Islands FATCA notification deadline

The regulations require reporting FIs to notify TIA if they have reporting obligations under US FATCA and/or UK CDOT. With respect to US FATCA, Reporting FIs have until tomorrow (April 30th) to file their notification with an initial reporting deadline May 31st. With respect to UK CDOT, Reporting FIs have… – Continue reading

Cayman Fatca portal preparation tests industry

Mitsubishi UFJ Fund Services warn managers are up against a time crunch ahead of the April 30 registration deadline The upcoming April 30 deadline for registration on the Cayman Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) portal marks another milestone but could prove a significant test for the industry, according to… – Continue reading

Americans abroad need tax justice too

“Why are we doing this to folks? Why are we tormenting them in this way?” IRS Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson asked in an address to Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association FATCA Policy Symposium in Washington last year. These “folks” are Americans living abroad: NGO workers, English teachers, physicians, taxi… – Continue reading

Canada: Canada’s 2015 Federal Budget: Updates On BEPS, Exchange Of Tax Information

The April 21, 2015 Federal budget released by the Conservative Government includes updates on Canada’s involvement in the BEPS project and how Canada intends to fulfill its obligations to implement an automatic exchange of tax information with the G-20. Notably (with the exception of the common reporting standard discussed below),… – Continue reading

The FBAR tax plight: The maddening implications of when Uncle Sam deems you have signing authority

One million American citizens in Canada face double tax troubles. Max Reed explores these challenges in a spring series. The United States has two tools with which to collect information on accounts held by its citizens, FATCA and FBAR. Lots of attention has been paid to FATCA, less so to… – Continue reading

Mauritius Sets FATCA Reporting Deadline

The Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) has informed Mauritius-based financial institutions (MFIs) that the filing deadline for submitting their US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) data for the 2014 reporting year is July 31, 2015. FATCA requires all FIs outside of the United States to submit regular information on financial… – Continue reading

British Virgin Islands Government Launches FATCA & AEOI Portal with Vizor Software

British Virgin Islands through its International Tax Authority (BVI ITA), went live last week with the Vizor for FATCA & AEOI solution, the “BVI Financial Account Reporting System”. Today, Vizor Ltd. announced that BVI went live with the Vizor for FATCA & AEOI solution. The British Virgin Islands Government (BVIG)… – Continue reading

Uzbekistan – United States FATCA Agreement Signed

On 3 April 2015, Uzbekistan and the United States signed a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Agreement. FATCA seeks to obtain information on accounts held by U.S. taxpayers in other countries. It requires U.S. financial institutions to withhold a portion of certain payments made to Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs)… – Continue reading

How Gilded Ages End

Americans have overcome oligarchy before — and there’s no reason we can’t do it again. Rising inequality seems to pose an insurmountable political problem. If the underlying causes are technological change and globalization, the forces appear to be unstoppable. Alternatively, if the causes are primarily political and involve the power… – Continue reading

Cayman FATCA portal registration a significant test for industry

Tim Thornton, Chief Data Officer, Mitsubishi UFJ Fund Services comments on the upcoming deadline for registration on the Cayman FATCA portal… The upcoming 30 April deadline for registration on the Cayman FATCA portal is another milestone in the implementation of FATCA. The relatively short window from the portal being available,… – Continue reading

Pots of stashed cash in tax havens ‘a myth’

The world’s high and ultrahigh net worth families are run much like businesses these days, with family governance in place as well as fund structures in favourable tax jurisdictions that allow for consolidated reporting across diversified assets. That is the way the world is moving, with global tax authorities grouping… – Continue reading

British Virgin Islands: FATCA – Impending Deadlines For BVI Financial Institutions

On 20 March 2015, the British Virgin Islands Government issued revised guidance notes regarding the Intergovernmental Agreements between the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) and the United States of America (the “US”) and the United Kingdom (the “UK”) to improve international tax compliance (the “Guidance Notes”). The Guidance Notes confirm that… – Continue reading

BSI Provides Road Map For Future Swiss Bank Agreements

On March 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had entered into a nonprosecution agreement with BSI SA, the first Swiss bank to reach resolution with the U.S. government as to its potential criminal exposure for assisting its U.S. clients in engaging in tax evasion.[1] As part… – Continue reading

CONFERENCE PREVIEW: Succession, Cross-Border Tax And Trusts Under Spotlight In Geneva

Moves to create a supposed level playing field for succession issues in Europe, along with more established themes around automatic exchange of information and US extra-territorial tax powers make their appearance in a major Geneva-based conference later in April. Figures from the world of wealth management will gather at the… – Continue reading

The Prosperity Corps: Millions of Americans Selling Products and Services Abroad | Commentary

On Oct. 14, 1960, President John F. Kennedy made an impassioned plea to University of Michigan students, exhorting them to move abroad and assist nations struggling under the weight of underdeveloped economies. Kennedy was convinced American talent is a unique, effective export commodity. That speech laid the foundation for the… – Continue reading

Jersey: Funds Quarterly Legal And Regulatory Update – 1 January 2015 To 31 March 2015

FATCA 1. New FATCA IGA guidance notes On 3 February 2015, the Jersey Chief Minister’s Department published the latest version of the Guidance Notes on the Taxation (International Tax Compliance) (Jersey) Regulations 2014 in relation to the implementation of obligations arising under the intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) with the US and… – Continue reading

UK: Weekly Tax Update – Monday 20 April

1 General news 1.1 HMRC organisation chart HMRC has published its latest organisation chart showing the names of senior management. One point to note is the number of senior people now in roles such as change management as opposed to being in pure technical roles. This clearly demonstrates the direction… – Continue reading

Malta Extends FATCA Reporting Deadline

The Inland Revenue Department has announced an extension to the deadline for financial institutions to comply with the reporting deadlines under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act framework. The deadline for FIs to submit FATCA data has been moved forward to June 15, 2015. FATCA requires all FIs outside of… – Continue reading

Canada: 2015 Federal Budget: Tax Highlights

As has been widely predicted, today’s federal budget (Budget 2015) delivered a handful of tax “goodies” in the lead-up to the coming election. It also includes a number of important proposed changes to the corporate tax rules. They are noteworthy, although not as extensive as the corporate tax changes proposed… – Continue reading

Gov’t creates FATCA reporting system

The Virgin Islands government has created an Internet-based reporting system to help the territory’s banks, trust companies and other financial institutions comply with their obligations under a United States tax law. The system, called the BVI Financial Account Reporting System, will allow VI firms to pass along information about their… – Continue reading

Budget 2015: striking a balance in an election year

Finance Minister Joe Oliver faced formidable challenges, both economic and political, in delivering his first Budget. In a time of depressed oil prices, and mere months ahead of the next federal election, it appears he felt it was imperative to follow through with prior commitments to balance the budget, provide… – Continue reading

Ireland: Private Client Tax Ireland

1. NON-TAX ISSUES 1.1 Domestic law 1.1.1 Briefly describe your legal system and its origins The legal system of the Republic of Ireland is a common law system. In order to ensure consistency, a legal principle developed whereby courts were generally required to follow earlier relevant decisions. This doctrine of… – Continue reading

Taxpayer Advocate Urges IRS to Ease FATCA Rules for Americans Abroad

Doing so would get rid of ‘overlapping and duplicative disclosure requirements,’ says advocacy group for Americans abroad The IRS’ taxpayer advocate is urging the tax service to simplify rules for Americans living overseas. Currently, foreign bank accounts must be reported both to the Treasury, in a Report of Foreign Bank… – Continue reading

Our disappearing sovereignty

U.S. guards at Canada’s rail hubs? April 20 If years from now, we discover that Prime Minister Stephen Harper turned out to be working for the U.S. government, who could be surprised? He almost had Peter MacKay indenture us to Lockheed Martin for 65 ruinously expensive F-35s. When he isn’t… – Continue reading

Taxpayer Advocate Recommends Merging FATCA and FBAR Reporting Rules

The National Taxpayer Advocate has recommended that the reporting rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and for foreign bank account reports in effect be merged to simplify the duplicative disclosure requirements that make it difficult for American expatriates to have bank accounts in the foreign countries where they… – Continue reading

Effects of (FATCA) on U.S. Citizens make Wyoming Asset Protection a Rival to Offshore Tax-Havens

CHEYENNE, WY, April 17, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ — OUTPOST PROVISIONING LLC today announced the launch of its “Wyoming…the Offshore Alternative” campaign alongside release of its Wyoming Paymaster Purpose Trust product. “Wyoming…The Offshore Alternative” touts Wyoming as being the Offshore-equivalent for wealth protection without the inconvenience, scrutiny, compliance costs and risks involved… – Continue reading

Tax Traps & Retirement Planning Opportunities for American Entrepreneurs Abroad

It has never been easier for Americans to start businesses while living outside the U.S. If you are an American entrepreneur operating abroad, however, be aware of U.S. tax reporting obligations on non-U.S. businesses operated by Americans and make sure you are leveraging the value of U.S qualified retirement accounts… – Continue reading

Portal for BVI FATCA Reporting Launched

The British Virgin Islands International Tax Authority (ITA) has launched its BVI Financial Account Reporting System (BVIFARS). The portal was opened yesterday and is ready to accept enrolment applications from BVI Reporting Financial Institutions (FI) which are required to submit information under the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the BVI and… – Continue reading

DOJ Announces First Non-Prosecution Agreement Under the Swiss Bank Program

On March 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that it reached the first non-prosecution agreement under the Swiss bank program with BSI, S.A. (BSI). BSI, one of Switzerland’s ten largest banks, has agreed to pay $211 million in fines and cooperate in any related civil or criminal… – Continue reading

FATCA: Upcoming Compliance Deadlines for Non-U.S. Financial Institutions

During the multi-year build-up to FATCA,1 the primary focus was on entity classification and registration, and less attention was paid to the compliance obligations of U.S. and non-U.S. entities affected by FATCA. Withholding and information reporting responsibilities under FATCA were generally known, but with the numerous deadline postponements and references… – Continue reading

Bahamas to be ready to comply to FATCA

NASSAU, Bahamas — The Ministry of Financial Services is doing everything necessary to ensure the full compliance of The Bahamas with established international norms and standards, as the Ministry prepares the country to be ready to comply with the United States Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The Ministries of… – Continue reading