Curacao-US FATCA Agreement Now In Force

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

05 August 2016

The intergovernmental agreement (IGA) between Curacao, a low-tax Caribbean territory, and the United States implementing the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is now in force.

FATCA, enacted by the US Congress in 2010, is intended to ensure that the US obtains information on accounts held abroad at foreign financial institutions (FFIs) by US persons. Failure by an FFI to disclose information on their US clients will result in a requirement to withhold 30 percent tax on payments of US-sourced income.

The IGA signed by Curacao and the US is a "Model 1" IGA. Under Model 1 IGAs FFIs report all FATCA-related information to their own governmental agencies, who then report the FATCA-related information to the IRS. Under Model 2 IGAs FFIs report information directly to the IRS.

The entering into force of the Model 1 IGA between Curacao and the US means that Curacao FFIs will be required to report their information to the Curacao Tax Department who will then automatically exchange the information with the IRS. There is also a provision for the exchange of information to be reciprocal. Before the entry into force of the agreement, Curacao was deemed by the US as having a FATCA IGA in place in practice, pending the completion of its domestic ratification procedures.

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