We are dedicated to assessing, developing, implementing, and monitoring corporate
needs for a broad range of businesses and projects.
For nearly a decade, tax authorities around the world have been taking steps to promote global tax transparency and combat tax evasion. The US was a catalyst in these efforts, passing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) into law in 2010. FACTA targets US residents and citizens who hold assets in other countries but don’t declare those assets on their US tax returns. The legislation initially met with resistance but has since become a model for similar laws across the globe.
FATCA is a U.S. legislation that aims to combat tax evasion by U.S. persons. The intent behind the law is for Foreign Financial Institutions (FFIs), i.e. non-U.S. financial institutions, to identify and report any U.S. persons that hold assets abroad to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). As of today, a large majority of FFIs in the Middle East region are adhering to the FATCA requirements (either by entering into a FATCA agreement directly with the IRS or by complying with the local inter-governmental Agreement) due to the potential commercial, reputational and financial risks (e.g. withholding and regulatory penalties) of non-compliance.
Following FATCA, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has formed an initiative for global tax transparency known as the CRS. The CRS is a broad reporting regime, the goal of which is to tackle offshore tax evasion, that draws extensively on the intergovernmental approach to the implementation of FATCA.
Similar to FATCA, the CRS requires all financial institutions resident in a participating jurisdiction to identify and report any reportable accounts (typically person tax resident in a CRS participating jurisdiction). As of May 2018, over 100 jurisdictions have signed or committed to signing the CRS; including United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
Our services offering:
Review the existing FACTA/CRS compliance program of the entity.
Finalize the entity classification for FACTA/CRS purposes.
Registration with Internal Revenue Services (IRS) to obtain their Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN).
Design FACTA/CRS framework.
Assisting in FACTA/CRS reporting.
Ad-hoc services on advice matters and training.
Contact us for more information at info@SSandCorporate.com