Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced
that it is engaged with more than 50 countries and jurisdictions around the
world to improve international tax compliance and implement the information
reporting and withholding tax provisions commonly known as the Foreign Account
Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”).
FATCA was enacted in 2010 as an effort to combat tax evasion by
U.S. persons holding investments in offshore accounts. Under FATCA, certain
U.S. taxpayers holding financial assets outside the United States must report
those assets to the IRS. In particular, FATCA requires certain U.S. taxpayers
holding foreign financial assets with an aggregate value exceeding $50,000 to
report certain information about those assets on a new form (Form 8938) that
must be attached to the taxpayer’s annual tax return. Underpayments of tax
attributable to non-disclosed foreign financial assets will be subject to an
additional substantial understatement penalty of 40 percent.
FATCA will also require foreign financial institutions to report
directly to the IRS certain information about financial accounts held by U.S.
taxpayers or by foreign entities in which U.S. taxpayers hold a substantial
ownership interest. To properly comply with these new reporting requirements,
foreign financial institutions (“FFI”) will have to enter into a special
agreement with the IRS by June 30, 2013, pursuant to which the FFI will be
obligated to: undertake certain identification and due diligence procedures
with respect to its accountholders; report annually to the IRS on its
accountholders who are U.S. persons or foreign entities with substantial U.S.
ownership; and withhold and pay over to the IRS 30% of any payments of U.S.
source income
The Treasury Department has already concluded a bilateral
agreement with the United Kingdom. Additional jurisdictions with which Treasury
is in the process of finalizing an intergovernmental agreement and with which
Treasury hopes to conclude negotiations by year end include: France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Guernsey, Ireland,
Isle of Man, Jersey, Mexico, the Netherlands, and Norway.
Jurisdictions with which Treasury is actively engaged in a
dialogue towards concluding an intergovernmental agreement include: Argentina,
Australia, Belgium, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Israel,
Korea, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Malta, New Zealand, the Slovak Republic,
Singapore, and Sweden. Treasury expects to be able to conclude negotiations
with several of these jurisdictions by year end.