The Bahamas Investor

...ng the necessary training for users. The Central Bank official warned that FATCA was a complex piece of legislation and accountants should be thorough in performing the necessary due diligence when dealing with clients. “There are so many shades of grey to be considered,” she told attendees. “It is not straightforward. It is not just knowing somebody is a US citizen–you have to check whether their beneficiaries have US status. “There is not much r......

...ernal Revenue Service . The aim of the event was to provide information on FATCA, which was enacted in January this year and will come into full force from next year. Under FATCA every foreign financial institution (FFI) with US accounts will be forced to disclose information on those accounts to the US Treasury. The Prime Minister said the new regulations were indicative of the global trend towards greater transparency, telling the audience: “We......

...he US Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act commonly known as FATCA became law in March 2010. FATCA targets tax non-compliance by US taxpayers with foreign accounts; effectively, it requires Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) to obtain and report information regarding US customers and beneficial owners to the Internal Revenue Service) (IRS) or suffer 30 percent withholding tax on US sourced income. In 2012 the US Treasury Departmen......

...ational parent companies and might therefore struggle to develop their own FATCA compliant policies, saying: “I am appreciative of how different institutions are preparing for FATCA. [Some have] directives and programmes in place by parent organizations, [while some do] not have the luxury of global infrastructure.” “We will work with the vulnerable areas of the industry to assist with the strategy for implementation,” he said. “We have the talent......

...will be a lot of work.” Another group that will be negatively impacted by FATCA, according to the PAG partner, is the clients themselves. “Everyone is talking about the FFIs, no-one talks about the client–they now have to ask: ‘do we need to restructure our portfolios?’ “The client now has to make a decision about how much of his wealth will be exposed to the system.” Räber warns that the new regulations may dissuade some financial institutions f......

...a part of the US Hiring Initiatives to Restore Employment Act. The goal of FATCA is to deter tax evasion by imposing information reporting requirements on financial institutions throughout the world with respect to U.S persons with accounts at those institutions. Financial institutions that do not comply with the FATCA requirements will be deemed “non-Participating Foreign Financial Institutions” and will face a 30% withholding tax on all of their......

...payers hold a substantial ownership interest. Download or view the IRS FATCA fact sheet here.......

...atic exchange of information– automatic and digitized. The CRS builds upon FATCA’s IGA approach to implementing FATCA in order to maximize efficiency and reduce cost for financial institutions. However, the approach to FATCA reporting deviates from the CRS as the CRS regime is based on residency and is driven by its multilateral nature, whereas the FATCA regime is based on US citizenship and 30 per cent withholding tax. CRS is effectively a “globa......

...nks, investment funds and insurers companies are expected to register with the IRS to comply with the law, TIGTA said. Implementing the law has involved policy changes along the way that in November 2012 undercut the IRS’ first FATCA software system. “The IRS was unable to fully utilize the initial system,” which cost $8.6 million, TIGTA said. Many FATCA staffers have not yet been assigned and budget constraints have delayed work, TIGTA said in a......

...Compliance Officers (BACO) on the US Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel in Nassau, The Bahamas. The workshop will be facilitated by United States Treasury Department officials from the International Tax Counsel and the International Revenue Service (IRS). In a press release, the Ministry of Financial Services said that it views the workshop as an important opportunity for regional governments and the......

...traditional financial institutions can consider themselves exempt from the FATCA requirements, as the new legislation widens the scope of who can be considered a Qualified Intermediary (QI)–encompassing institutions such as brokers and investment companies. Lewis told attendees: “Pretty much everyone gets swallowed by this. There is a wide array of organizations that get captured within the gamut of a FFI.” “Fund administrators need to be aware of......

...The US Inland Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that it has decided to delay the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) until July 2014. FATCA was due to come into force January 1, 2014. Read the IRS’s Notice 2013-43 regarding the delay here.......

...member firms in the region, are assisting a number of FFIs by carrying out FATCA Readiness Assessments. “Although the QI and FATCA regimes are viewed by some as an overreach by the US government, non-cooperation is not an option.” Rolle at BICA sees the positive side of the FATCA legislation, claiming that once FFIs adjust to the change, it will benefit them in the long run. “FATCA is going to bring a change in the way certain entities do business......

...Note: These Guidance Notes are issued under The Bahamas and the United States of America Foreign Account Tax Compliance Agreement Bill and will be kept under review with updates issued periodically. Download or view a PDF of the FATCA guide as provided by the Ministry of Finance, May 15, 2015. Download/View......

...the changes in reporting requirements. View or download a PDF of the document here.......