US Compromises on Tax

US officials met with their European counterparts this weekend to discuss the implications of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

This piece of legislation requires international banks to report details of US citizens’ account balances to the Internal Revenue Service.

Banks are arguing that to comply with the Act will involve them in breaching data privacy regulations. It would appear that a compromise has been achieved that could see these banks have to report to their own local authorities who would then share the data with the IRS.

There have also been concerns about the cost of compliance given the need to build new search filters. Apparently progress has also been made on this issue.