Cayman Islands and Costa Rica agree to share bank account details with US
Source: Reuters
The alleged tax havens have signed agreements with the United States to tell the IRS about funds held offshore by Americans
The United States has signed agreements with the Cayman Islands and Costa Rica to help those countries' banks comply with an anti-tax evasion law starting next year, the Treasury Department said on Friday.
The deals are part of the US effort to enforce the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which was enacted in 2010 and is set to take effect in July 2014. FATCA requires foreign financial institutions to tell the US Internal Revenue Service about Americans' offshore accounts worth more than $50,000. It was enacted after a Swiss banking scandal showed that 17,000 US taxpayers had hidden substantial fortunes overseas. On Thursday a former UBS banker, Raoul Weil, agreed to be extradited to the US to face charges arising from that scandal.
With these two deals, both signed this week, the Treasury has now finished 12 FATCA "intergovernmental agreements" (IGAs), which help countries' financial institutions comply with the law.
The FATCA agreement with the Cayman Islands was initially agreed to in August. The island territory of 53,000 people has no income tax and is frequently labelled as a tax haven by critics. It is one of the world's most popular destinations for investment funds to organise for tax purposes.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/nov/29/cayman-costa-rica-us-tax
The Wielding Truth
(11,411 posts)FarPoint
(12,207 posts)I'm sensing the offending corporate tax evaders have moved money elsewhere....now that they know they can be reviewed.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)tomm2thumbs
(13,297 posts)Sorry I sound jaded. I'll cheer if something changes and put my optimistic hat on just in case.
mdbl
(4,972 posts)nothing will happen cause they love people with big money, no matter how they made it. We can add the right wing of the supreme court to that list while we're at it.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)watoos
(7,142 posts)KansDem
(28,498 posts)The One Percenters would not let this happen if they hadn't already made other arrangements...
bearssoapbox
(1,408 posts)And where will the new 'tax havens' be?
FraDon
(518 posts)on the far-side of the moon
valerief
(53,235 posts)The Wizard
(12,482 posts)already moved their ill gotten gains to other tax havens like Lichtenstein or Dubai.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Where there is a will, there is a way.
Dustlawyer
(10,493 posts)I am confused, why would the Plutocracy allow this unless they want to knock some competition back!
riverbendviewgal
(4,251 posts)They have lawyers and tax accountants. Mitt Romney paid NO taxes for 10 years. That is why he did not want to show his taxes.
What FATCA will do is surge upward the renouncements and relinquisments of US dual citizens living all over the world. Most people don't go live in a country because of low taxes. They live for love of a person or the country. Filing US taxes cost thousands of dollars PER year now, even if one owes Nothing to the USA.
People will be giving back their green cards and many will be forgoing emigrating to the USA now the FATCA is law.
There is a growing boycott of not visiting the USA and investing in the USA. You run the risk of becoming a US person for life and having the IRS acess to your bank accounts forever.
There are 195 countries in the world 2 are citizen based , USA and Eritrea.
The rest are resident based. Resident based countries do not have their citizens file taxes if their money and investments are nit earned outside where they live.
There are only about 12 countries so far that have signed on to FATCA. All 194 are due at the end of the year to sign FATCA . Ha!
Reciprocity is promised in this law but this will not be kept. House Rep Posey wrote July 1, 2013 to Treasury that there will be no reciprocity. Congress Republicans refuse to have American banks report on foreign customers' accounts to those customers' countries governments for tax purposes.
The US A has its own tax evading post office box offices for those to protect and tax evade in the states of Delaware, Nevada and Wyoming. Lobbyists in the USA are ensuring there is no reciprocity. This will definitely give the USA a bad reputation, not keepung its agreements.
FATCA is a bad law and makes the USA a bully. Canada has not signed on as yet. Over 4 million Canadians will be affected. They do not want the IRS having access to their bank accounts. Protests are increasing.This law is going to cost millions of dollars for each bank to implement. All Canadians will end up paying for it, as citizens in other world countries. Some countries like Switzerland are closing americsn persons accounts, firing them from swiss jobs and canceling mortgages iii.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)becoming a US person for life"?
Saying something this odd makes the whole rest of your post suspect.
riverbendviewgal
(4,251 posts)you have to pay income taxes.....
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)make him a "US person for life."
riverbendviewgal
(4,251 posts)And do not turn it when you back to your home country you are chained to the USA and must file us taxes for life until you get the U R S off you back. Has happened to Canadians.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)Or if you do, turn it in when you go back to your home country.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)I was born very premature in the US unexpectedly, and was only in the country as an infant for long enough to be reasonably sure I wasn't going to die; didn't celebrate a single birthday there. The wording of the law means I couldn't even head over to a nearby consulate and formally renounce my citizenship, as they'd still be claiming permanent access to my finances if I did that.
I am, of course, deeply thrilled at the likelihood that the prime minister will be all over the idea, given his fetish for doing anything Washington asks without question.
Deny and Shred
(1,061 posts)Tax evasion could be a trump card, alas,
I expected some names to come out back then - yet only the whistleblower went to jail.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/04/imprisoning-a-courageous-whistleblower-the-case-of-bradley-birkenfeld/
I'd expect a Spitzer-style laser focus on only a select few, and thousands of others to dance between the raindrops.
ReRe
(10,597 posts)This just gives the 1%ers a one year heads-up to move their money out. Should be retroactive!
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)FATCA??
Response to jakeXT (Original post)
riverbendviewgal This message was self-deleted by its author.
Major Hogwash
(17,656 posts)I wonder how much Rethuglican party money is stashed in the banks down in the Caymen Islands.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)This is only dangerous for the semi-wealthy not the fat cats.
riverbendviewgal
(4,251 posts)FATCA And The New Birth of An American Empire. You can buy it on Amazon. Takes a little over an hour to read. Shocking!!!! Yes indeed.