PwC organises workshop for the financial sector of St. Maarten, Anguilla and the BVI to assist in daily practice of FATCA
PHILIPSBURG:--- On Wednesday 9 September 2015, PwC Dutch Caribbean organises a workshop titled “Dealing with FATCA in practice: Are you ready?” at Sonesta Maho Beach Resort in St. Maarten. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) impacts many institutions within the financial sector, such as banks, trust companies, insurance companies and asset managers. Complying with FATCA has proven to be complex and time-consuming.
FATCA is an American legislation with the primary goal of providing the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with an increased ability to detect US tax evaders concealing their assets directly in foreign accounts or indirectly through offshore entities. It aims to accomplish this goal by requiring Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs) to comply with a new set of tax information reporting and withholding rules as well as investor due diligence and documentation requirements. The consequences of non-compliance include being subject to or liable for a 30% withholding tax on income from US sources and eventually on the gross proceeds from the sale of securities that could produce US sourced interest and dividends.
The U.S. Department of Treasury (Treasury) works with a number of foreign jurisdictions around the globe on completing Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) designed to improve international tax compliance and to enable the implementation of the FATCA provisions. So far St. Maarten has not signed an IGA with the US. FFIs in St. Maarten are however required to adhere to the obligations under Treasury Regulations §1.1471 - §1.1474. These regulations address information reporting by FFIs and withholding on certain payments. The BVI has signed a Model 1 IGA, while Anguilla has agreed to sign and may be treated as a Model 1 IGA jurisdiction as well. Therefore their FFIs are required to adhere to the obligations under the local IGA for the implementation of FATCA.
As the implementation of the FATCA obligations have proven to be complex and has significantly impacted financial institutions, PwC has prepared a workshop encompassing the key areas identified through years of expertise dealing with FATCA. The workshop will also include an interactive Q&A session encouraging participants to openly raise the queries that are relevant for their organisation. Considering the foregoing, this workshop is designed to help FFIs make the transition to a FATCA proof organisation successfully.