The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) is convening a meeting with the private sector on February 16 to discuss FATCA, the US extra-territorial law governing accounts held by US taxpayers overseas.
In a notice in today’s Stabroek News, the GRA said that the focus of the meeting will be the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). This Act has raised concerns in the Caribbean and elsewhere and its provisions will apply to many Guyanese who are US taxpayers.
Jurisdictions which are not in compliance with the Act and its reporting requirements faced sanctions from the US. In recent years some local banks had taken steps to bring themselves into compliance with the Act.
Guyana has also moved to sign a government to government agreement with the US on the Act. In February last year, then Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh had said that Guyana’s decision to comply with FATCA in July of 2014 was awaiting the signing of an inter-governmental agreement for formal implementation.
Singh had told Stabroek News that Guyana and the United States Government had reached an understanding on the technical agreement and that the signing would be a formality. He said that there were two categories of compliance, but that since both Guyana and the US had agreed Guyana was placed on the list of compliant countries. There has not been a signing as yet.
FATCA was enacted by the US in March 2010 as a mechanism designed to reduce the level of tax evasion which currently exists among holders of foreign accounts. It seeks to ensure that United States persons disclose their overseas accounts and pay applicable taxes on US sourced income invested overseas.
