Caribbean gets extended deadline

WASHINGTON, Jul 13 – The United States has given the Caribbean more time to comply with its offshore tax law.
The US Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service said that “due to overwhelming interest from countries around the world, a six-month extension to the start of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) withholding and account due diligence requirements will be provided to allow more time to complete agreements with foreign jurisdictions”.
The Treasury Department said the six-month extension, to July 1, 2014, will also provide Caribbean and other foreign financial institutions (FFIs) with “the time necessary to comply with FATCA while helping to ensure efficient implementation of the law.
“Given the groundswell of international interest in FATCA, we are providing an additional six months to complete agreements with countries and jurisdictions across the globe, before withholding begins,” said Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs Robert B. Stack in a statement.
“The high volume of international participation in this effort represents a quintessential race to the top? he said.
“Every additional country we bring on board means we are one step closer to winning the fight against offshore tax evasion.”
Enacted by the US Congress in 2010, FATCA targets non-compliance by US taxpayers using foreign accounts and “establishes a global approach to combating offshore tax evasion,” the Treasury Department said. (CMC)