Will FATCA stop you going for a Greencard or US citizenship
#31
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2006
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 12,851
Re: Will FATCA stop you going for a Greencard or US citizenship
I've asked the Manager at my (big, big) bank that very question. No one seems to know anything about it at the branch level. I believe it was reported a while back that Lloyds was closing all USC's accounts in it's Private Banking section, but I can no longer locate the article. Right now, it's anyone's guess.
#32
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2011
Location: The Shire
Posts: 1,117
Re: Will FATCA stop you going for a Greencard or US citizenship
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2...-tax-clampdown
The latest publications indicate the Treasury (IRS) is paying particuarly close attention to any 'Private Banking' account in the FFI's.
Last edited by theOAP; Oct 13th 2011 at 11:18 pm.
#33
Forum Regular
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 287
Re: Will FATCA stop you going for a Greencard or US citizenship
i wonder how the UK bank would know if the account belonged to a USC if the account holder was a dual citizen and actually used their UK/European/rest of world passport to open the account and had no payments or nowt that tied it to the US?
#34
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Apr 2011
Location: The Shire
Posts: 1,117
Re: Will FATCA stop you going for a Greencard or US citizenship
Years ago, you could open a UK account with a UK paper driving license, which gave no indication of nationality or place of birth. The latest UK photo driving license gives the place of birth (at least for the US), although the paper counterpart still gives no indication.
The answer is why the FFI's must eventually 'interrogate' every account, by asking the US tie-in questions of every account holder, if the US plan is to work. Those who fail to respond (recalcitrant) will automatically have the 30% with held from transactions from the US (if there are any).
A non-compliant FFI can have any number of USC's as account holders, but will have 30% with held on any transactions from the States. So...they just don't do any business with the US.
All this is terribly complicated, and ill thought out. I'm afraid the US is counting on its 'financial might' by bullying the rest of the world into submission. As has been mentioned by others, the question is will the rest of the world (and the FFI's) agree?
#35
Forum Regular
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 57
Re: Will FATCA stop you going for a Greencard or US citizenship
Spoke to my tax advisors on it and they assure me that the contents of your bank account are outside the legislation. It is specifically aimed at the sale and disposal of securities such as sahres, bonds etc and is to make sure the tax is paid. Also interbank transfers to tax treaty countries are not a problem either. You just have to make sure the tax is declared where it should be.
It's early days yet. The Treasury Regulations are quote "expected to be proposed by December 31, 2011"
Errol