FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act)

What is particularly terrifying to Swiss bankers is the new tax system being formulated called FATCA [Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act] which came into effect in 2010, but will only be fully in effect in 2014 with IRS agreement. In this system there are features that will affect financial institutions worldwide. Here are some of the reasons why Swiss banks are changing their handling of clients: -

FATCA will impose all sorts of reporting requirements on U.S. taxpayers with foreign financial accounts. This is in ADDITION to form TDF 90-22.1, which is due to the Treasury Department each year by June 30th, and IRS form 1040 schedule B. Transparency will become the order of the day.

The law requires ALL financial institutions across the world to share personal customer information with the U.S. authorities. Undoubtedly, all allies of the U.S. such as Canada as well as the rest of the developed world will cooperate with them quicker than others. Under certain conditions this could be extended to include gold and other precious metals, easily.

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So Swiss banks are opting for the pain-free option of having their clients own their gold in their own name, in ‘allocated’ accounts. This allows them to duck the issue of disclosure to the authorities and passes it to the clients themselves. It also allows Swiss Banks to step out of the way should the U.S. authorities want to reach out and take that gold! And we feel that this is a real reason behind their move.

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You can be sure that the Swiss banks foresee a coming situation that will keep them out of the crosshairs of the U.S. monetary authorities. It’s on the direct owners of that gold that the crosshairs of the authorities will settle.

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Senator Rand Paul is coming under pressure from some multi-national businesses to drop his opposition to tax treaties between the United States and other nations.

Citing privacy concerns about Americans' tax data, Paul, a Republican and libertarian, has single-handedly blocked Senate action on treaties with Hungary, Switzerland and Luxembourg that have been signed by authorities on both sides, but have been awaiting Senate review since 2011.

At least six other tax treaties or treaty updates - with Chile, Spain, Poland, Japan, Norway and Britain - may soon be added to the Senate's queue for confirmation votes.
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Paul has said he is concerned that recent treaties would give foreign governments too much access to U.S. citizens' tax information, a stance that has some support among like-minded conservative libertarians.
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In recent years, tax treaties have begun to play an increasing role in efforts by the United States and major European Union countries to crack down on tax avoidance.

The U.S. Treasury in 2012 began signing new tax pacts with countries as part of implementation of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, a 2010 anti-tax-evasion law.

The law, known as FATCA, which takes effect in January 2014, will require foreign financial institutions to disclose to the United States information about Americans' accounts worth more than $50,000.

SWISS A DRIVING FORCE

Switzerland, a long-time bastion of banking secrecy, is under international pressure to change its ways, and FATCA has been a driving force in that. The United States and Switzerland in February signed a FATCA implementation agreement that would make more information available to U.S. authorities about the financial interests of Americans in Switzerland.

But the taxpayer information exchange cannot go into force without Senate approval of the U.S.-Swiss tax treaty.

The Senate's delayed action on tax treaties could convince other countries to stop negotiating with the United States on tax matters, said John Harrington, a former Treasury tax official who is now a partner at law firm SNR Denton.
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Nick Giambruno: Even though you haven’t lived in the US since you were five years old, you are subject to US taxes and tax reporting. That’s the same for any American, even if they have never set foot in the US, like an American who was born in China and lived there for their entire life. I would imagine that many of these people have no idea of the liabilities and unusually severe penalties hanging over their heads.

Gwen: They have no idea at all. Anybody I’ve explained this to doesn’t believe it, because they think it can’t be possible, it so obviously doesn’t make any sense. Who in their right mind would think that this would make sense? So, yeah, it’s been almost impossible for me to get others to understand. A lot of people want to be in denial. They don’t want to believe it’s true, so they are going to kind of wander along and hope that it goes away. I am just at a loss really at how to get people to really rally and understand that this is something that we have to stand up against.

Nick Giambruno: So why is this all of a sudden such an immediate problem? You’ve lived in Canada all your life. Why is this now so urgent?

Gwen: It’s because of FATCA, otherwise known as “the worst law that most Americans have never even heard of.”

Normally I would have said, “Well, I don’t care because I live in Canada, so I’m not going to follow your stupid law.” But it just doesn’t work that way. FATCA is truly an extraterritorial law in that it forces every foreign financial institution in the entire world to provide the IRS with information on their American clients. So FATCA is forcing my banks to rat me out, and Americans like me.

I don’t think anybody or any company is going to want to have to deal with US persons because of all of this extra reporting. They don’t want to have US persons on their boards and whatnot, because then they are subject to extra regulatory burdens. So that’s going to really hurt US citizens who want to work abroad. Even if they don’t live abroad, they can actually be hurt by being rejected as a business partner.

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Nick Giambruno: So you’re facing the prospect of years in prison and being wiped out of every single penny that you have saved if you ever return to the US. Are you afraid the US could do anything to you while you are in Canada, such as extradite you?

Gwen: No, they can’t really do anything like that. Canada has said that they will not impose the taxes or penalties from another foreign government onto their citizens. So the US government can say that I owe many millions of dollars, but the Canadian government is not going to make me pay it and neither is my Canadian Revenue Agency. They said they are not in the business of enforcing other peoples’ laws. But the problem is that my banks will discriminate against me regardless of any of those things. As we mentioned before, increasingly nobody wants anything to do with US persons. I’m afraid my banks will close my accounts. If that happens, I’m going to have to come up with some kind of alternative. Am I going to have to run a cash-only business? Am I going to pay cash and put all my money under my mattress? It’s a really hard thing to imagine.
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The Internal Revenue Service announces the opening of the International Data Exchange Service (IDES) for enrollment. Financial institutions and host country tax authorities will use IDES to securely send their information reports on financial accounts held by U.S. persons to the IRS under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) or pursuant to the terms of an intergovernmental agreement (IGA), as applicable.

More than 145,000 financial institutions have registered through the IRS FATCA Registration System. The U.S. has more than 110 IGAs, either signed or agreed in substance. Financial institutions and host country tax authorities will use IDES to provide the IRS information reports on financial accounts held by U.S. persons.
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