Government will negotiate with the US to ensure that institutions like credit unions, pension funds, government entities and international institutions that present a low risk of US tax evasion are exempt from the provisions of FATCA under a special annex to the IGA Barbados is moving steadily towards an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the United States to give effect to the Foreign Account Compliance Act (FATCA). 03 February 2014 Minister of Industry Donville Inniss, Bank Secretary of the Central Bank Elson Gaskin and Commissioner of Inland Revenue, Sabina Walcott- Denny at a press conference highlighted the logistics of the initiative. According to Gaskin, the timeline that the negotiation team has set for actually getting the IGA into place is April 30, 2014, while the deadline for signing is June 30. It was noted that Barbados will have at least until September 30, 2015 to ensure that all matters needed to operationalise FATCA, including the passage of legislation are in place. The Bank secretary explained, "The threshold for bank accounts is USD 100 000 on an aggregate basis. On the July 1, 2014 you will be subject to FATCA reporting. Or if you have an insurance contract with a Cash Surrender Value ...
13 February 2014 OECD has unveiled a new single global standard for the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities worldwide. Developed by the OECD together with G20 countries, the standard calls on jurisdictions to obtain information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on an annual basis. It sets out the financial account information to be exchanged, the financial institutions that need to report, the different types of accounts and taxpayers covered, as well as common due diligence procedures to be followed by financial institutions. The OECD is expected to deliver a detailed Commentary on the new standard, as well as technical solutions to implement the actual information exchanges, during a meeting of G20 finance ministers in September 2014. www.oecd.org
Expected to take effect from 1 January 2014 The Suriname Government has announced that the current turnover tax will be replaced by a valued added tax. Under the new law, a zero rate will be introduced for basic foodstuff. tmagazine.ey.com
Public discussions will be held until 06 September 2013 HM Revenue & Customs has published a Discussion on the UK-CD/OT model Agreement for automatic exchange of information to be entered into between the UK and Crown Dependencies/Overseas Territories to improve international tax compliance. According to HMRC, the first step towards new international standard is to conclude agreements between the UK and the British Crown Dependencies (Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey) and those Overseas Territories with financial centres (Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands). The proposals will be reviewed in light of the responses, with the view to introducing regulations and guidance in autumn 2013. www.hmrc.gov.uk
Improving Global AML/CFT Compliance As part of its on-going review of compliance with the AML/CFT standards, the FATF 21 June 2013 has identified the following jurisdictions which have strategic AML/CFT. Those jurisdictions are: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Cuba, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Sudan, Tajikistan and Zimbabwe. In report it was noted that Algeria and Antigua and Barbuda, has not made sufficient progress and if there will be no improvement by October 2013, FATF will identify these jurisdictions as being out of compliance. It was also noted that FATF welcomes Bolivia, Brunei Darussalam, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand as jurisdictions that are compliant with AML/CFT regime and no longer subject to FATF's monitoring process. www.fatf-gafi.org
