Efforts led by the U.S. Treasury to crack down on U.S. tax evaders are slow, complicated and only the initial steps in a years-long strategy to recapture $100 billion in lost offshore tax revenue, according to remarks at a recent New York tax conference.
Attempts to implement the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) have repeatedly stalled, partly because the sweeping law raises privacy and diplomatic concerns.
@WhiteKat
What bugs me is not one word about the tax havens in the USA and that the house rep Posey already has said that banks will not be allowed to report on their customers to overseas governments.
What about Delaware, Nevada and Florida?
not one word.
Sickening.
I’ll just transfer my comment from the thread where this article came up …
The IB Times article states:
“Already, dozens of firms from more than 150 countries have started registration.”
Okay, if you stop using “dozens” after perhaps 200 then that’s a far, far cry from the hundreds of thousands of FFIs the IRS expects to register. I suppose though, in the delusional minds of the IRS prognosticators those dozens will magically escalate into hundreds of thousands in just a matter of a few months. Dream on!
Oh but wait, Setzer of the IRS says there could be one million, maybe even five million FFIs out there (only his hairdresser knows for sure). Most definitely — Dream on!
Interesting comment by Elvis:
“FATCA is painstakingly easy to avoid, you could hold 10 individual US accounts at $49,999 in different banks, they only check on 1 date what the balance is (30th June 2014), after which each account can hold $999,999, and even then the checks are only once a year on dec 31 (so feasibly hold any value up till dec 30, and $999,999 just for dec 31). I work with companies trying to implement FATCA, and it is obvious in the industry that it really won’t make much of a difference to US revenue.”
Em, I thought that line and a few others were quite enlightening. Clearly, FATCA compliance is not happening at any kind of pace that will allow it to begin next summer and it could even be surmised that there are many, many countries (Canada probably one of them) that are doing their level best to drag out the process for as many years as it takes – maybe in an effort to stall it to death?
It was quite an interesting read.
@all
Look our Walden tidwell is commenting on this article just 11 minutes ago. Just above you White Kat..
Gad, the lawyer…Lesperance is so “tit’s the law”..
Em
They may check on the daily balance.
Meanwhile, the IRS doesn’t know where a quarter of its IT assets are:
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/10/tigta-irs-cannot-.html
Pay your FBAR fines! Buy a new computer for an IRS employee who already took one home!
@Northernstar,
Yes Lesperance keeps repeating his ‘thou must comply message’ over and over again.
Did you all see this on CNN Money…
U.S. expats cry foul over tax system
If you think filing your taxes is a pain, try talking to one of the 6 million Americans living abroad.
@JUSTME
Great article. Thanks for posting. I love reading the comments. I saw atticusincanada and WhiteKat. ? That one comment about th new form 1080 -FU gave me a good chuckle.
@northernstar
I think Joe Blow posted that first somewhere else on IBS, but I couldn’t find it after a quick search.
I’m getting tired of dialoguing (is that a word?) with David Lesperance. I don’t want to come off as attacking him, but his fear mongering is concerning. Anyone else want to add something helpful for other ‘US persons’ who might read there, and get worried about what the lawyer is saying?
Oh I’m so sorry Mr John Staples tax lawyer that countries are allowing their privacy laws to impede FATCA’s progress, but don’t let that stop you from looking forward to GATCA with glee. Certainly don’t let the fact that the US can’t process the information dampen your enthusiasm, you pathetic parasite!