Tsai Hong-tu of Taiwan’s Cathay Financial Holdings has brought up the issue of FATCA in the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Business Advisory Council, and suggested the establishment of a working group to formulate a response to the issue. It’s rather ambiguous exactly what Tsai’s goal is for his proposed multilateral FATCA discussions, but at least it’s more encouraging than the craven surrender by Taiwan’s Bankers Association.
Possibly of interest to the Canadians in the audience: ABAC is not just an Asia-focused organisation — its membership list includes representatives from a number of countries on the western eastern side of the Pacific Rim, including Chile, Mexico, Peru. and Canada (as well as the U.S. itself). And even though it ABAC is not a finance-specific organisation either, two out of Canada’s three representatives to ABAC are in the finance industry:
- Mrs. Isabelle Courville, President of Hydro-Québec Distribution
- Mr. V. Paul Lee, Managing Partner of VanEdge Capital Partners Ltd.
- Mr. Philip Leong, Vice President & Director, Chairman’s Council, RBC Dominion Securities
Maybe this will be a roadblock, or at minimum a speedbump, in the way of the U.S’ “divide-and-conquer” FATCA strategy. I translated a radio report about Tsai’s proposal after the jump.
| 台ABAC代表 盼成立小組因應美肥咖條款 | Taiwan’s ABAC representative hopes to establish working group on U.S. FATCA law |
| http://news.rti.org.tw/index_newsContent.aspx?nid=374172 | |
| 來源：中央廣播電臺 | Source: Radio Taiwan International |
| 時間：2012/8/28 18:03 | Time: 28 August 2012, 18:03 |
| 撰稿‧編輯：陳林幸虹 | Copywriting & editing: Chen Lin Hsing-hong |
| 美國通過「外國帳戶稅收遵從法」(Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act，簡稱FATCA)，要包括台灣在內的全球金融機構向美國國稅局通報海外美國人的金融資料。代表台灣出席APEC企業諮詢委員會(ABAC)代表團團長、國泰金控董事長蔡宏圖今天(28日)表示，將在大會上建議組成特別小組因應。 | With the U.S.’ passage of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance act (FATCA), global financial institutions, including those in Taiwan, are required to report financial information of Americans abroad to the U.S.’ Internal Revenue Service. Tsai Hong-tu, the head of Taiwan’s delegation to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and Cathay Financial Holdings’ chairman of the board, today (28 August) stated that he will suggest the establishment of a dedicated working group to deal with the issue at the general meeting. |
| 美國在2010年通過「外國帳戶稅收遵從法」，也就是俗稱的「肥咖(FATCA)」法案，要求全球各地的金融機構須提供具有美國國籍的納稅義務人相關帳戶金額和收益明細。金融機構如果不簽這項合約，這些金融業往後在美國的所得都將被課徵3成的懲罰性稅金。這項法案將在2017年生效。 | The U.S.’ 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known for short as FATCA, requires global financial institutions in every location to supply account balances and income details relating to persons obliged to pay tax who have U.S. citizenship. Financial institutions which do not sign an agreement will face a 30% punitive withholding tax on their future U.S. income. The law is set to come into effect in 2017. |
| 代表台灣出席APEC企業諮詢委員會(ABAC)代表團團長、國泰金控董事長蔡宏圖28日在行前記者會表示，美國此舉涉及商業機密和客戶隱私，牽涉範圍廣泛且複雜，因此台灣代表團主張ABAC應該組成特別小組討論因應。蔡宏圖說：『(原音)與會國家，包括我們提出，以及其他像是泰國和馬來西亞，對於這樣的議題便捷化，會不會影響或受限於經濟體法律的限制(而)無法達成，大家都對這個議題非常重視，所以我們也建議成立一個小組來討論這個議題。』 | Tsai Hong-tu, the head of Taiwan’s delegation to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and Cathay Financial Holdings’ Chairman of the Board, today (28 August) at a press conference before the event, stated that the U.S.’ move touched on commercial confidentiality and customer privacy, involving a wide range of complex issues. Because of this, the Taiwan delegation recommends that ABAC organise a special working group in response. Tsai stated, “Member countries including ourselves, as well as others such as Thailand and Malaysia, with regards to the facilitation of this topic [are concerned] whether or not it will be affected or restricted by economic and legal limitations and so cannot be worked out. Everyone places great emphasis on this issue, and so we are suggesting the establishment of a working group to discuss the topic.” |
| 除了美國肥咖條款將成為今年ABAC的重頭戲，今年ABAC的主題為「從願景到現實」，希望在歐債等全球經濟環境動盪的時刻，呼籲APEC各經濟體在推行貿易自由化、維持經濟成長的同時，也能進一步採取行動，防範金融危機和保護主義發生。 | Aside from the U.S.’ FATCA becoming one of the main issue at ABAC this year, ABAC’s theme this year is “from vision to reality”, which in the face of global economic turmoil due to Euro debt and the like, urges APEC economies to carry out trade liberalisation and maintain economic growth, while at the same time take steps to avoid a financial crisis and the outbreak of protectionism. |
It’s interesting that Tsai brings up Thailand — one would think that Thailand would be paying close attention to FATCA, given that their current king Bhumibol Adulyadej was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but judging from a Google search no one in Thailand is even thinking of it.
@Eric, Being a king, Bhumibol Adulyadej will likely have relinquished his US citizenship, if ever he was considered one. That is, if he has entered the US on any except a US passport and has not paid his taxes, he is likely candidate for relinquishment, as the State Department will consider him no longer US as a high official in another country.
*@Eric – newsflash – the western rim of the Pacific Ocean does not include the countries you list – they comprise the Eastern rim of said ocean. LOL 🙂 None the less – it is good that multiple countries are banding together to discuss this oppressive law. I hope that they have testicular fortitude.
@Eric, you know Chinese too?!
Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore should have no interest in a reciprocal FATCA agreement because they do not tax the foreign income of individuals.
@Petros: to be clear, Tsai and the king of Thailand are two different people
@nervousinvestor: oops, thanks 🙂 in my defense (apologies to Randall Munroe):
@Eric: Thanks. Oops, misread that. I changed my comment to say Bhumibol Adulyadej. I thought you were living in Hong Kong.
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