Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 5 of 11 (Year 2018)

1,714 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 5 of 11 (Year 2018)”

1. I don’t think it’s terribly common, and I certainly don’t think it’s required by a Model 2 IGA. I think it’s paranoia on the part of certain banks, particularly in a certain alpine country famous for its cheese and clocks.

2. No it’s not required by the IGA Model 2.

   And in any case, I realised after posting, if same-country accounts weren’t reportable, banks in IGA 2 countries wouldn’t have a reason to demand compliance.

   So if same-country accounts weren’t reportable, citizens and residents of non-US countries would not be quizzed about birthplace when opening an account. A good outcome, IMO.

3. In fact, if the IRS had not chosen to interpret “foreign account” as applying to domestic accounts of USCs living outside the US, I’d never have heard of FATCA. I expect that’s probably the case for a lot of people.

   It’s that designation that leads to USCs being treated as suspected tax evaders.

4. @nononymous
   Thst alpine country which is famous for its cheese and ‘clocks’ is a model 1 iga.
   The few American citizens that I know there say they have only been asked for copies of their Fbars not tax returns.
   Cheese and chocolate is more apt.
   Cukoo clocks actually come from the Black Forest region of Germany not Switzerland. That was Harry Lyme’s big mistake quote in the Third Man. 🙂

5. KPMG says Switzerland’s IGA is Model 2.
   https://blog.kpmg.ch/fatca-model-ii-agreement-for-switzerland-published-expectation-met/

   Not that it matters.

6. @plaxy
   Same counrty exeption would still make US citizens prisioners of their resident country.
   They couldn’t live in one country or work in another without being asked about birthplace (as I belive does Fred). Some I know work in Switzerland but live in France as it’s cheaper.
   It prevents them from buying a holiday home elsewhere or keeping a bank account elsewhere (to help manage aging parents).
   The banks

7. @plaxy
   Then they may have recently been moved from model 1 to model 2 after paying all their fines.
   It matters as the onus is still on the Swiss banks for them to prove compliance from their customers.

8. Heidi – the KPMG link is 2013. And if they’re asking customers about FBARS, that can only be because they’re reporting accounts direct to the IRS. Which doesn’t happen under IGA 1.

9. Switzerland has a Model 2 IGA, but is contemplating on switching to Model 1.

   http://www.swissbanking.org/en/topics/current-issues/fatca-foreign-account-tax-compliance-act

10. “Same counrty exeption would still make US citizens prisioners of their resident country.”

    How?

    “They couldn’t live in one country or work in another without being asked about birthplace”

    CRS doesn’t enquire about birthplace. It only reports non-resident accounts to the country of residence.

11. Sorry, I got model 1 and 2 numbers mixed.
    CRS doesn’t ask about birthplace but if SCE is in place but still with CBT then Amercans will still be asked about birthplace if they try to open accounts that are not in their resident country.

12. CBT doesn’t enquire about birthplace.

13. “CBT doesn’t enquire about birthplace.”

    LOL. If only.

    I should have said:

    CRS doesn’t use birthplace as an indicator that an account should be reported. CRS does allow birthplace to be used for identification purposes.

14. YES, I know CRS doesn’t require birthplace. The US isnt considering joining CRS.
    I thought there was a proposal for SCE or territorial taxation, which would require banks outside an Americans resident country to report not only to resident country but also the US ( with the fear of a 30%withold). So determining citzenship and birthplace is essential, rather than CRS which just needs customer residence.

15. That’s not in the FAWCO position as quoted upthread. FAWCO recommends same-country accounts should be exempted from reporting, as per Taxpayer Advocate recommendation.

16. Plaxy
    We seem to be talking cross purposes again. I am talking about Americans living abroad but who would be limited to having accounts only in their resident country. Banks outside of that would not want to take the risk of having them as customers.
    I am off to prune my roses….

17. Heidi – yes, I agree, exempting same-country accounts from FATCA reporting would not exempt cross-border accounts from FATCA reporting.

    The point is, it would help USCs with only local accounts, and would not cause fresh harm. So I can’t see why people don’t want it.

18. USCs with cross-border accounts gain nothing by opposing exemption of same-country accounts, since presumably most USCs with cross-border accounts also need local accounts.

19. I don’t think safe harbor/SCE would make it harder to have an account in a third country than it already is. I think it’s not easy to open a US account without a US address, it’s probably hard to open an account in Switzerland if you live in France, and harder as a US person. But it won’t get worse, … (hopefully).

    Ideally SCE would apply to the whole EU, but that would be counter to CRS, which is a pain within the EU. It’s ridiculous, but a fact of life, that you can move freely among countries, but your money is tracked and double taxed (won’t get into this, but there’s double taxation going on between EU countries, on interest earned on savings accounts — taxed in both countries, that of residence and that of account). The way things are going, they’ll put up borders again before they drop CRS.

20. Fred – I think you’re right there. The EC is not going to let go of CRS short of dissolution of the EU.

21. Plaxy.
    It would help in some way, but many dont want it because they would still be second class citizens. They want to be treated the same way as their countrymen and not to be limited to only banking in their country of residence.
    A Swiss/American friend of mine living and working in France has an elderly Mother in Switzerland, he cannot have his name on her accounts or help in her affairs.
    When he inherits her chalet after her death he would not be able to keep it unless he moved back there because of lack of banking access. It has been in his family for generations.

22. http://www.mondaq.com/caymanislands/x/678982/tax+authorities/Mr+Moscovici+And+His+EU+Lists+Of+Many+Colours

23. Heidi – I don’t see how exemption of same-country accounts would cause fresh problems for your friend.

24. @plaxy It won’t cause fresh problems, it’s just if this is agreed and passed, it would be classified in the US as problem solved and CBT will be in place forever.

25. I think Heidi’s right — that’s quite a potential problem. SCE would “solve” the problem. NOT.
    Again, this is a discussion we’ve had for a while. TTFI, SCE, FATCA repeal, bla bla bla. All wuold help a bit but only simple true full RBT resolves the issue. Question is, will this Congress implement RBT?

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