tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622776924781844427.post8487723644709653542..comments2024-03-23T13:43:27.051-04:00Comments on Tax, Society & Culture: FATCA will/will not work: discussAllisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16733465339926078146noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622776924781844427.post-70936416408205850302013-03-21T11:30:50.822-04:002013-03-21T11:30:50.822-04:00Of course FATCA won't work. I think a more in...Of course FATCA won't work. I think a more interesting question is: 'How long will it be until FATCA is derailed, and how much damage will it cause in the interim'.Kathleenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01859448465710317434noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622776924781844427.post-88923997732864432252013-02-04T14:47:42.858-05:002013-02-04T14:47:42.858-05:00FATCA intergovernmental agreements exposed as bad ...<strong><a href="http://1389blog.com/2013/02/02/fatca-intergovernmental-agreement-exposed-as-bad-deal-for-partner-countries/" rel="nofollow">FATCA intergovernmental agreements exposed as bad deal for partner countries</a></strong><br /><br />This will be a disaster for all concerned, and it will make enemies for the US government all over the world.1389https://www.blogger.com/profile/04335705483244616965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622776924781844427.post-5943594377157710872013-01-11T00:04:42.694-05:002013-01-11T00:04:42.694-05:00The other issue I will mention is FATCA doesn'...The other issue I will mention is FATCA doesn't do anything implicitly for non EU nations like Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc(even in the context of all those countries being rich). Yes, I can see how the EU would view FATCA as an indirect way of putting pressure on their "own" tax haven like Austria like Switzerland in the context of the EU Savings Tax Directive. However, I don't the link between Switzerland signing an IGA with the US and Switzerland providing automatic exchange of information with Australia lets say whether or not Australia signs an IGA with the US. Along these lines the UK son of FATCA looks to just apply to UK territorries and crown dependencies not other third countries like Canada or Singapore that are not legally part of the UK.<br /><br />My overall feeling is if you are someone who things we need more AIE and more multilateralism and international cooperation in tax administration but yet feel FATCA has been the ONLY mechanism to date to move these goals forward then I think you are really up the creek without a paddle because the closer you analyze FATCA in my opinion the more the flaws become. Increasingly I get the sense there are two groups of people who look at FATCA. Group One are US Expats, people with a civil liberties bent(i.e. Abby Deshman, Sylvie Goulard, Sophie In't Veld), accidental Americans, and a certain segment of Canadian nationalists. This first group(which also includes myself in ful disclosure)wants FATCA gone damn the consequences. The second group I think actually has many of the same views on FATCA as the first but is made up of tax "professionals" and other more familar with tax law and tax administration. Group 2# increasingly realizes that FATCA is not particular well thought out either but feels to throw it out(repeal as Jim Jatras suggests) the window would basically be one of the worst defeats ever in "their" view for international cooperation in tax administration and would probably lead to the demise of the "income" tax as a method of "Tax."(This view I think is a result of the fact that every effort to cut down on offshore evasion pre FATCA ended up basically being complete failures). As such group 2 is desperately trying to put as much lipstick as they can on the FATCA pig but avoiding at all costs actually re-opening the FATCA "legislation" as passed by Congress(Perhaps because they feel Congress would just assume repeal rather than modify FATCA at this point). Perhaps there is a way of reconciling the view of Group 1 and Group 2. I for one as a member of Group 1 am quite open to this but to date I have not found any way or suggestion as to how to cut a deal between the two groups.Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03894651289037073128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622776924781844427.post-63847873071089779892013-01-10T19:04:37.438-05:002013-01-10T19:04:37.438-05:00The second issue is as to the EU Savings Directive...The second issue is as to the EU Savings Directive. I actually think one element of the EU STD is actually relevant to the subject of FATCA or at least FATCA IGA's. The EU STD does require a certain degree of customer "due dillengce" that one might view as a more minimalist version of FATCA. From the perspective of a bank or FFI any account that is "local" or "resident" to the country of residence of the bank is considered automatically out of scope of the EU STD and not subject at all to any EU STD due dilligence. For these reason even though it is legal for EU banks to solicit customers across borders some choose to only take "local" account holders in order to reduce costs and not have to put in place the computer systems for EU STD compliance. Metro Bank in the UK is one institution that I believe does this.<br /><br />https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/<br /><br />As you can see Metro is basically interested in UK Resident retail banking. Why do they want to waste money on putting in place systems for EU STD compliance. How will Metro deal with FATCA though? Well it looks to me Metro might very well qualify as a local FFI. Which would be really self defeating for the US because Metro has a reputation for being REALLY popular among US Expats in the UK. Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03894651289037073128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4622776924781844427.post-48293617257877108172013-01-10T15:25:59.153-05:002013-01-10T15:25:59.153-05:00There is an argument I hear from some pro-Fatca-it...There is an argument I hear from some pro-Fatca-ites which is something akin to following. If Canada lets says no to FATCA no IGA no PFFI etc then well why would anyone expect Austria, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Singapore, or Hong Kong to go along with it. As such in the eyes of some pro FATCAites Canada not the tax havens will have the "blood" of tax evasion on its hands. I for one think this is a very real possibility still. <br /><br />Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03894651289037073128noreply@blogger.com