2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumThe Government Crackdown On Offshore Tax Dodging Just Got Real
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/06/03/3444090/fatca-tax-evasion-list/Over 77,000 separate foreign banks and financial firms will start sharing information on their American accountholders with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in cooperation with a major crackdown on offshore tax evasion, the Associated Press reports.
Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), banks that continue to withhold information on their American clients from U.S. authorities have to pay substantial fees on any business they conduct in the states. Since that law passed in 2010, American authorities have gradually worked with international governments and bankers to implement its information sharing requirements. The list of 77,000 cooperating institutions released Monday by the Treasury Department is the first comprehensive look at which banks have chosen to cooperate with FATCA, and future lists may be even longer. It remains to be seen how U.S. officials will use this new information.
FATCA also establishes a process for the U.S. government to strike direct information-sharing agreements with foreign governments. Almost 70 countries have made such deals, including Switzerland and other common tax havens that have often fought to protect their clients privacy. The government of the Cayman Islands struck a FATCA deal last August that requires the government to collect, filter, and pass on information from banks in the Caribbean island chain. Switzerlands deal leaves the information handling to individual companies, which are increasingly cooperating with American authorities in part because some Swiss banks have faced costly criminal prosecutions over their role in helping Americans duck the IRS.
The combination of criminal prosecutions against Swiss firms and FATCA cooperation with the Swiss government illustrates how Department of Justice (DOJ) and IRS efforts can complement one another. One DOJ prosecution forced the oldest bank in Switzerland to close its doors permanently. Another led to a deferred prosecution agreement with UBS, which provided information on U.S. accountholders to American authorities. Following those two cases, over 100 Swiss banks began cooperating with the DOJ. More recently, Credit Suisse was forced to plead guilty to criminal tax evasion charges and pay a $2.6 billion fine over similar issues. The Credit Suisse plea also required the company to hand over some information on U.S. accountholders.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)What a bunch of crap that someone can take their billions and "hide" it in a foreign bank. I hope we get enough out of these "thieves" to pay off the national debt.
MurryMom
(107 posts)Paul O'Neill in the Bush Administration had this idea also, but the Bushies were too corrupted by financiers to pursue the lawbreakers. Thank you Jack Lew and President Obama for pursuing tax cheats using foreign accounts.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)my guess is that it's become almost impossible to follow the money, this might help some
muntrv
(14,505 posts)Stargazer99
(2,600 posts)a large editorial on how unfair this is to make banks outside the US reveal banking information outside the US......tell me we are not brain-washed by the media-I did not see one editorial refuting this whine about this program....and I think it is time to tell the 1% that the 99% are damn mad about their shennigans and it is time for them to thank the US and its 99% that allow them to be so well off. Many of us do not have homes, medical care, etc and those with assets and wealth are whining, sheesh
babylonsister
(171,104 posts)blue neen
(12,335 posts)Gee, I wonder why we didn't hear anything about this on the nightly news?
I hope that this is a sign of even more crack down on the 1% and their shenanigans. Thank you Pres Obama!