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FATCA Discussion Thread (Ask your questions) Part Two

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Please ask your questions here about FATCA.

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3,498 thoughts on “FATCA Discussion Thread (Ask your questions) Part Two”

  3. I see even Robert Wood at Forbes is now using the word ‘Jihad’ in relation to FATCA and IRS offshore search for taxes or something!

    Wonder where he got that? 🙂

    FATCA Registration Goes Online

    FATCA has its roots in the IRS jihadfor foreign income and offshore account disclosures.

  4. @just me. If we are going to be criminals, we need to act like criminals. The Scandinavian model seems to be to go ahead with the IGA even though the bank has no right to demand your nationality — and it seems to be written into the Norwegian regs (don’t have the patience to wade through it all, but it looks that way). My friend the CFO at a newly registering bank says that the Swedish law is the same — they are registering as an FFI but they have no right to demand answers.

  5. “Skattedirektoratet kan bestemme at oppgaven skal inneholde utenlandsk identifikasjonsnummer. ”

    It looks like they changed Norwegian law to give the state the right to demand foreign identification numbers from the financial institutions

  6. @Just Me,
    was hoping that he would also start referring to the FATCA-fication of our accounts as
    ‘strip-searching’ – which I think truly conveys the intrusion without cause, without evidence, without due process…

  8. An older one about the mideast–get your money out of USA.
    “Morcos added that Gulf and Arab investors in the U.S. are worried about their investments and looking to pull out, especially if American citizens or Green Card holders”
    http://backinbeirut.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html

    Also, that the symposiums are backed by Treasury
    “A U.S. Treasury backed FATCA symposium hosted in January by the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) for Gulf officials and financial institutions was intended to provide further information on the act and IGAs. The opening speech by the QCB governor, Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud al-Thani, touched on the UK having signed an IGA, indicated that Qatar and other GCC countries are likely to go along with FATCA for reputational risk reasons, and ended by saying there is still a way to go to address legislative issues. Qatar itself will have to work out reporting and oversight as the country has two financial regulators – the QCB and the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) – that oversee financial institutions conducting domestic business”

    And the FATCA symposium, where the speaker lists which included US treasury officials can no longer be found
    http://www.gulf-times.com/qatar/178/details/338602/-qcb-governor-addresses-fatca-symposium
    http://www.qatarisbooming.com/2013/01/10/doha-hosts-fatca-us-tax-legislation-symposium/

    Fighting terrorism, by getting Islamic banks to store information about US citizens, the Obama way.

  9. http://www.qatarisbooming.com/2013/01/14/speech-of-sheikh-abdulla-bin-saoud-al-thani-from-todays-fatca-symposium/

    “I would like to thank Ms. Danielle Rolfes and Mr. Jesse Eggert of the U.S. Treasury, and Mr. Housden from the UK Treasury who have kindly travelled to participate in this Symposium. I would like to welcome all the representatives of the GCC Central Banks and Ministries of Finance, as well as tax experts and the audience for their participation in the Symposium. I would like to extend my thanks as well to the representatives of Deloitte and Touche, Ernst & Young, KPMG, and PriceWaterhouse Coopers, for their participation, support and sponsorship of our initiative.”

  10. @Badger

    Good article. It’s becoming more and more apparent that the US will have to make a choice between CBT and FATCA, unless of course they’re ok with Americans as individuals no longer having any involvement with the rest of the world.

  11. Fate in Sweden and europe:

    Starving governments stealing from the people. Today’s Metro has a long article about how they did it to him (he’s dead now), but just an example as to how it is done to thousands of others.

    http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/webservices/content/pdf/003-4445116-5349178

    Rousk v. Sweden (no. 27183/04)
    The applicant, Jim Rousk, is a Swedish national who was born in 1950. He died in June
    2011 and his wife and sole heir, Julia Rousk, decided to pursue the application. She lives
    in Hässelby (Sweden). The case concerned Mr Rouk’s complaints that his rights under
    Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property), as well as under Article 8 (right to
    respect for private and family life and home), had been breached by the national
    authorities when, to collect an enforceable tax debt, they had sold his property/home
    and then evicted him and his wife, without taking into account on-going proceedings
    relating to, among other things, an appeal against the writ of execution and a request
    for stay on sale of the property. He considered that the measures had been completely
    disproportionate since he had been granted extra time to pay most of his tax debt on the
    same day that his property had been sold by public auction, and his enforceable tax debt
    thereafter had only amounted to approximately EUR 800.
    Violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1
    Violation of Article 8
    Just satisfaction: EUR 65,000 (pecuniary damage), EUR 15,000 (non-pecuniary
    damage) and EUR 8,300 (costs and expenses)

  13. IRS FATCA Videos? Less Fun Than IRS Dancing And Star Trek

    But this time in a more serious vein, the IRS has New ‘How-to’ videos Released to Assist Financial Institutions with FATCA Registration.

    FATCA, the law everyone loves to hate, has its roots in the IRS jihad for foreign income and offshore account disclosures. It requires foreign banks, investment funds and insurance companies to report American offshore accounts worth more than $50,000. And now the first IRS “How-to” videos for financial institutions and their staff have been added to the FATCA Registration Resources and Support page. The current videos are:

    Creating a FATCA account for online registration
    Logging into a FATCA Account
    Recovering a FATCA ID or resetting a FATCA Access Code
    Registration System Common Features and Navigation

  16. The premier of the British Virgin Island’s trying to sell a FATCA IGA as good for US persons living in the Virgin Islands:

    “It is important for the BVI public to know and understand that, contrary to what the Member of the House of Assembly is alleging, the BVI Government’s role with FATCA is merely to facilitate the reporting obligations of US persons resident in the BVI and thus reduce any costs to them associated with any direct reporting to the United States tax authorities.”

    Under the proposed IGA, Premier Smith said, Government would merely serve as a conduit in transmitting information provided to it by persons complying with their reporting obligations. “It is not and will not be the duty of the Government to collect ‘information on their citizenship, and immigration status with the United States’ as alleged by the Member,” Premier Smith emphasised.

    “Nobody is acting as the policeman for the United States; we are doing merely what a responsible government should do (where it can) to alleviate burden on its citizens. And I reiterate the point I made on 20th August, 2013: ‘the BVI is not being forced or coerced into finalizing an IGA, but instead we are of the opinion that this is what is best for the British Virgin Islands.'”

    http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/update-reporting-obligations-under-fatca-on-us-persons-not-vi-govt-premier

  17. “we are of the opinion that this is what is best for the British Virgin Islands.’”

    Yea, right! Tell them anything, and they will buy it.

  18. Foreign Retirement Plans Seen Scrutinized in U.S. Effort: Taxes

    The U.S. has been pushing banks and individuals to report overseas assets, making it tougher to hide money abroad with new rules and penalties rolling out under the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as Fatca. The next wave of scrutiny will cover retirement accounts, Bloomberg BNA reported.

    “The retirement community has been a little slower to catch up,” said Russell E. Hall, a senior consultant at Towers Watson.

    Foreign retirement plans generally must agree to report their U.S. account holders to avoid a 30 percent withholding tax on U.S.-sourced interest, dividends and proceeds from the sale of securities beginning July 1. Global companies with programs overseas will need to catalog their funded retirement plans to figure out which ones may be exempt, Hall said.
    …
    ‘Helpful Exceptions’

    “There are a number of helpful exceptions contained in the regulations,” Bloom said. If there is an agreement between the U.S. and the location where the retirement plan is treated as a resident, there may be additional exceptions, he said.

    Some items still may not be exempt. Whether the exemptions outlined in the final rules will apply to offshore deferred compensation plans or to offshore equity-based compensation will depend on specifics of the arrangements, Bloom said.
    …
    Modified Rules

    The intergovernmental agreements essentially modify the general requirements of the regulations, Bloom said. They provide a list of entities, including certain retirement plans, to be exempted or deemed compliant, he said.

    Under the rules, financial institutions formed under the laws of the U.S. territories generally are treated as “foreign,” Bloom said. Some, such as U.S. Virgin Island pension funds, may be eligible for treatment as nonfinancial foreign entities, so compliance with Fatca will be relatively easy, he said.

    Determining whether Fatca exemptions will apply to specific offshore deferred compensation and equity-based compensation will require more work, said Andrew L. Oringer, a partner in the New York office of Dechert.

    “It won’t be one-size-fits-all. It won’t be an easy answer,”

  20. http://www.kpmg.com/Ca/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/TNF/Pages/tnfc1332.htm

    “..FATCA Registration — Canadian FIs Should Stand Pat

    August 28, 2013

    No. 2013-32

    Canadian banks and certain other non-U.S. entities have to comply with new withholding rules and information gathering requirements that take effect June 30, 2014 under the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). These rules include registering as participating foreign financial institutions, among other things. Although the IRS has just opened a FATCA registration website, Canadian financial institutions (Canadian FIs) may want to wait to do their FATCA registration until an expected Canada-U.S. intergovernmental agreement (IGA) is released. …”

  22. Canadian article describing why NON-US citizens and Canadian residents in Canada will be forced to comply, or be reported to the US under FATCA.

    http://www.bcbusiness.ca/finance/no-ones-exempt-from-the-us-tax-man
    ‘No One’s Exempt From the U.S. Tax Ma
    Brad Chapman | Aug 27, 2013

    ……”…Even if you aren’t a U.S. citizen or resident, expect your financial institutions to start asking questions about any possible ties to the U.S….”….

    I question how the US can force non-US citizens resident in Canada, and who have zero US tax obligation to satisfy the IRS as to their NON-US status?

    I can foresee legal challenges when non-US citizens born and living in Canada, are forced to prove that they have NO US connection.

    What Canadian government could get elected again after forcing Canadian citizens who ARE NOT and have never been US Duals to identify and explain themselves to the IRS inside their own sovereign autonomous homeland?

  23. @badger

    “Failure or refusal to provide such documents or information under FATCA will deem you a U.S. person. As a result, your Canadian financial institution will be forced to withhold and send to the IRS 30 per cent of any U.S. payment received by your account.” More likely they’ll close your account, but it doesn’t hurt our efforts to have others induce extra outrage and panic.

    Good to see Don Whiteley’s previous article linked there.

  24. @bubblebustin, you’re right. Anything that stokes righteous indignation and anger at FATCA from Canadians is welcome.

  25. This article is not intended to provide advice, recommendations or offers to buy or sell any product or service.

    I’m not buying that BS. This article IS intended to scare the beejeebers out of you and send you screaming into the jaws of the compliance industrial complex. This time next year will there be a new term being bandied about — FATCA fugitive? Someone living in a cave with paper bags full of unbankable cash.

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