In a statement issued late in the afternoon Washington time, the Treasury said its final draft of regulations contained more than 50 amendments and clarifications to the FATCA regulations originally issued in January 2013, "to provide clarifications and to take into account certain stakeholder suggestions regarding ways to further reduce burdens consistent with the compliance objectives of the statute".
These amendments and clarifications are highly technical, and include what the Treasury said are "those relating to the accommodation of direct reporting to the IRS, rather than to withholding agents, by certain entities, regarding their substantial US owners; the treatment of certain special-purpose debt securitisation vehicles; the treatment of disregarded entities as branches of foreign financial institutions; the definition of an expanded affiliated group; and transitional rules for collateral arrangements prior to 2017".
As reported, since FATCA was signed into law in 2010 by President Obama, it is well on its way to becoming a global standard for international information exchange.
It calls on foreign financial institutions to report to the US tax authorities on any accounts they have that belong to American citizens, whether resident in the US or elsewhere, that are worth $50,000 or more.
Many Americans, particularly expatriates, oppose the act, which they say is making it increasingly difficult to find foreign financial institutions that will have them as clients, and which they say is adding to the complexity – and thus cost – of filing their annual tax returns. A number of US banking organisations have also come out against the measure.
However, FATCA's opponents increasingly appear to be fighting a losing battle. In January, for example, a US federal court judge ruled that US banks must provide information to foreign governments on the accounts they hold of these countries' citizens, in the same way the US expects foreign institutions to furnish details of the overseas accounts of Americans. The case had been brought by the Florida Bankers Association and the Texas Bankers Association, which had argued that FATCA violated certain foreign bank secrecy laws and that it will be overly burdensome and costly.
To read and download the latest US Treasury information on FATCA, click here.
