US gains info on bank details of 4,273 under FATCA
TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Financial Supervisory Commission’s (FSC, 金管會) chairman Tseng Ming-chung (曾銘宗) met with the U.S. treasury from Nov. 2 till Nov. 5 and signed an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) that will see Taiwanese financial institutions directly providing 4,273 Taiwanese green-card holders and American citizens’ bank account information to the U.S., Tseng said in the Legislative Yuan yesterday.
According to Tseng, the agreement is not a full tax treaty, but rather a model under the treaty to exchange tax information.
KMT legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) criticized the deal by saying that “we comply 100 percent with what the U.S. wants and what we ask for is overlooked.”
Ministry of Finance (MOF, 財政部) minister Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) and Tseng attended the Legislative Yuan’s Financial Committee meeting yesterday to report on the IGA signing.
Tseng said he was given the final copy of the IGA in person on Nov. 3. The U.S.’ request for tax compliance under FATCA includes China and 100 others countries and is not limited to Taiwan, said Tseng.
Tax Evaders Penalized 30 Percent
Tseng said those who evade taxes using foreign bank accounts will be taxed 30 percent on their future American income or have their accounts closed. Having a foreign account not registered with the U.S. will no longer be possible.
Chang said although he was not able to negotiate a tax treaty with America, he is satisfied with the U.S.’ willingness to start a system for exchanging tax information.
According to Chang, banks providing the U.S. with a customer’s personal information violate Article 48 of the Taiwan Banking Law. Therefore, along with the recently signed IGA, Article 48 will be sent to the Legislative Yuan for review.
DPP Legislators Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財) and Wu Ping-jui (吳秉叡) said that the MOF needs to declare within three months an estimate of how much the U.S. will gain from the taxes received through Taiwan accounts.
Chang responded by saying that currently the banks will only be providing the account holder’s nationality to the U.S. and not the amounts. Chan said the U.S. will only be assessing those accounts that deliberately evade filing their American taxes.
Tseng said President Ma Ying-jeo is not an owner of any of the 4,273 Taiwanese bank accounts of U.S. citizens or green-card holders.
