Stakeholders learn more about US global tax law |26 January 2015

Banks, financial, corporate services providers and insurance companies’ representatives, economic policy analysts were among a group of people who last week learned more about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca).

This was through an awareness presentation session organised by the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment in collaboration with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and Appleby Global.

Appleby is one of the world's leading providers of offshore legal, fiduciary and administration services. Two consultants from Appleby Global Mauritius branch – Natasha Hardowar-Bissessur, regional compliance manager for Asia and Africa and Malcolm Moller, managing partner for Mauritius and Seychelles – led the presentations and discussion sessions.

The principal secretary for Finance, Trade and Investment Steve Fanny launched the presentation session which was held at the STC conference room.

Addressing everyone present Mr Fanny noted that Seychelles has so far gone through all the necessary procedures and the government has approved a proposal from the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment for Seychelles to join the Fatca.

Seychelles has decided to adopt a model 1 B Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) under Fatca which means the Seychelles Revenue Commission (SRC) will collect the information from the financial institutions (FIs) and exchange it with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), annually. Seychelles is currently included on the IRS list as having reached a Model I B Intergovernmental agreement (IGA) in substance and is yet to sign the IGA. It is important to note that Seychelles is ready to sign the IGA as soon as the IRS is ready.

Seychelles’ financial institutions and government institutions are very new to Fatca and as much as possible need information to better implement Fatca in Seychelles, thus the need for such presentation session.

Enacted in 2010 by the United States Congress as a means of tackling problems with offshore compliance, Fatca also aims at making it more difficult for US taxpayers to conceal assets held in offshore accounts and evade paying tax.
 
Fatca also provides for better exchange of information between tax authorities in relation to United States citizens and residents who hold assets offshore.

Those attending the session were able to learn more about the law which according to Ms Hardowar-Bissessur even though it is a US law, its impact on the world is greater than on US citizens.

“Despite all criticisms Fatca, which is now in operation after four years of fine tuning, is all set to become the global standard in the effort to curtail offshore tax evasion,” she said.

During the session everyone present got a better understanding of the law itself, its different models and why it is important for stakeholders in the financial services sector to comply with it, among other related issues.

Following the presentations last week and consultation that the government has had with the FIs since last year, it is hoped that most, if not all, the elements of Fatca and clarifications from the FIs has been attended to. Nevertheless, should the need arise, the government, in its aim for all FIs to comply with the Fatca requirements, could hold other training sessions.