U.S. financial institutions Tuesday began withholding up to 30 percent from payments sent to foreign banks that have not agreed to turn over information on their wealthy American accountholders.
The U.S. Treasury Department will publish final rules this week on an anti-tax evasion law intended to compel foreign banks to disclose data on their high-value American clients, say sources.
Set to take effect in a little more than a year, a U.S. plan to shine a light on American tax evaders holding accounts abroad is spurring detractors and imitators alike.
Financial institutions concerned about a looming Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act implementation date can breathe easier, at least for another year, under a new U.S. Treasury Department timetable.
A plan by the United Kingdom's Parliament to make it obligatory for non-U.K. financial institutions to disclose data about their British clients is likely to face stiff resistance from the banking sector, say sources.
The United States disclosed a plan Thursday that would allow Switzerland and Japan to comply with a controversial U.S. anti-tax evasion law despite bank secrecy controls in the countries.
Financial industry groups from several countries called on U.S. officials to extend by one year a deadline to comply with an anti-tax evasion law that takes effect in January.
The U.S. Treasury Department finalized rules Tuesday that could eventually permit the automatic exchange of U.S. banking data with dozens of countries in efforts to combat offshore tax evasion.
With the first deadline for an anti-tax evasion law a year away, foreign financial institutions remain unsure about their obligation to renew certain certifications and amend their recordkeeping procedures.
At least twenty senators have backed an amendment that would stymie an IRS proposal that could allow other nations to more easily obtain data on nonresident bank clients in the United States.
Rules intended to collect data on offshore American assets will be most greatly softened for financial institutions in five European nations, the U.S. Treasury Department proposed Wednesday.
Proposed amendments to an Iran sanctions law that would require U.S. banks to certify whether their foreign counterparts do business with blacklisted Iranians would be a "huge" compliance burden if implemented, say top officials at the nation's largest financial trade group.
Banks are lining up behind a bill that would block U.S. officials from ordering them to hand over data to foreign countries on clients suspected of dodging taxes abroad.
U.S. banks could be required to deny credit card transactions from foreign financial institutions linked to tax evaders under a measure introduced Tuesday by the chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
A U.S. anti-tax haven law that goes into effect in 2013 may serve as a model for European legislators seeking to recoup lost tax revenue, said speakers at an anti-money laundering conference on Monday and Tuesday.
Upcoming U.S. Treasury Department rules on a new law meant to curb tax evasion may mean only modest new compliance duties for American financial institutions, according to consultants.