Reuters: Regulatory News: U.S. IRS delays key start dates for global tax evasion law

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

U.S. IRS delays key start dates for global tax evasion law Oct 24th 2012, 22:26 WASHINGTON | Wed Oct 24, 2012 6:26pm EDT WASHINGTON Oct 24 (Reuters) - U.S. tax authorities on Wednesday postponed implementation of new rules to force banks and financial institutions to disclose more information about U.S. clients' offshore accounts. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, has been a source of anxiety for institutions that must comply with it or face penalties, including possible exclusion from U.S. markets. The tax-collecting U.S. Internal Revenue Service said in a brief announcement it has postponed key staggered FATCA start dates - a step that was welcomed by industry, but still left key questions about FATCA unanswered, tax experts said. The IRS did not give a reason for the delay. The U.S. Treasury Department has not yet issued final FATCA rules. So the industry does not know what specific requirements it faces, though at least it will now have more time. "The relief, while expected, is very much welcomed," said Laurie Hatten-Boyd, principal at accounting firm KPMG LLP. Gaining an additional two years, institutions will now have until Jan. 1, 2017 to begin withholding U.S. tax from clients' investment gains. The institutions will also now have until Jan. 1, 2014, to have procedures in place to meet FATCA reporting requirements. That gives them as much as a year to comply. "If we don't get final regulations soon, the effect of the additional time starts to erode," said Candace Ewell, a director with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The Treasury Department has focused this year on signing country-to-country information-sharing agreements to help foreign banks and businesses comply with FATCA. "We continue to work with financial institutions, affected parties, and various governments to implement FATCA," a Treasury spokeswoman said on Wednesday. Reiterating previous statements, the spokeswoman said, final regulations are set to be issued soon. So far, only the United Kingdom has finalized a FATCA pact, pending approval by parliament. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Japan have pending agreements. Treasury is negotiating with at least 40 countries for FATCA agreements, tax lawyers have said. Additional country agreements will be announced before the end of the year, they said. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions