For those of us trying to make sense of FATCA and GATCA — the OECD CRS, this is a good read …
OECD CRS (Common Reporting Standard)
FURTHER GUIDANCE
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Bloomberg BNA – September 26, 2016 “Finish Line Unclear for Some FATCA Pacts as Banks Worry”
Sept. 23 — A bumpy path may lie ahead for crucial agreements to ease the process for foreign banks to report their U.S.-owned accounts under a controversial law—even as IRS pressure grows for countries to get their pacts in force quickly.
Some countries face legal challenges to agreements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, while others may not be moving quickly. The lack of agreements in force is raising big concerns among global banks with operations in some jurisdictions that have fully functioning pacts and some that don’t.
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The alternative—directly reporting individual accounts to the U.S. or potentially facing a 30 percent withholding tax—is a major concern for cross-border financial institutions as difficulties continue in countries that haven’t managed to get an IGA in legal force. According to Sept. 23 Treasury Department data, 113 countries have agreements, but 49 still need to reach the finish line.
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Tax attorneys said the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s common reporting standard may be draining energy and legislative resources in some jurisdictions. The CRS is a separate multinational system designed to allow financial information exchange across many borders.
More than 100 countries have signed on for that exchange. The U.S. can’t fully adopt the CRS because of legal challenges. Some of those 100 countries have implemented CRS statutes before finalizing FATCA agreements.
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Even if banks want to register for direct reporting, in many cases they still face the legal prohibitions that led to the creation of IGAs, she said. In another challenge, financial institutions that have already made huge efforts to document all their U.S. accounts under their agreements would have to redocument them to comply with FATCA, said Ferris, now a financial services principal with Ernst & Young LLP.
etc.
Related:
I don’t think anything has changed as far as the US-UK FATCA IGA is concerned. I think perhaps that exchange was a tongue in cheek dig at the US. I could be wrong.
@Charl The UK instituted its own version of FATCA on its crown dependencies:
http://www.out-law.com/topics/tax/tax-for-entrepreneurs/uk-fatca—the-disclosure-to-hmrc-of-information-about-reportable-accounts-held-by-uk-taxpayers-in-the-crown-dependencies-and-overseas-territories-/
@notthatTara, now I remember THAT FATCA Tara. Wasn’t she the one giving ‘guidance’ to UK bankers in a Q&A webcast https://youtu.be/HMqGRip5bWk ? Particularly remember her tone, and theirs.
Round and round the revolving door between the IRS and the compliance industrial complex. FATCA – a make work project benefiting those with career ambitions in the US government and the private sector compliance industry. And paid for by the governments, taxpayers and accountholders of all the rest of the world.
FATCA Tara Ferris at 3:32 is so delightful:. “We are human, after all…”
US not on any portion of this list
http://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/international-framework-for-the-crs/exchange-relationships/
Sin of deliberate OECD omission – omitting the US is a pretense that it isn’t uncooperative and nonreciprocal.
“Sin of deliberate OECD omission – omitting the US is a pretense that it isn’t uncooperative and nonreciprocal.”
I don’t think that’s what it means, because Ukraine and Pakistan aren’t there either. I don’t know the actual meaning though.
I think they are pretending (after being forced to accept by threat of withhold) that FATCA is an alternative and equal agreement in its own right.