Govt to implement United States FATC Act of 2010
THE United States of America (USA) wants all companies of US origin, individuals and body corporates that are resident in Swaziland to report their financial information in their home country, the USA.
This development is a result of Swaziland government announcing that it will implement the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 (FATCA).
FATCA is aimed at making sure that US companies, individuals and body corporates resident in Swaziland are held liable and pay tax due to US government.
Speaking during the FATCA implementation meeting at the Mountain Inn, Ministry of Finance Principal Secretary Bheki Bhembe said FATCA was a law passed in 2010 and its main objective was to facilitate the exchange of financial information between USA and other countries, where USA citizens hold funds.
He said FATCA imposed an obligation on all financial institutions in host countries to collect and report financial information (financial accounts and investments) on all USA citizens or permanent residents and entities with USA ownership to the USA’s internal Revenue Service (IRS) for tax purposes.
implementation
The PS said the US government was partnering with governments around the world on the implementation of FATCA by entering into an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA).
“While recognising that some banks and financial institutions have already registered on the USA’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) FATCA registration portal, the government of Swaziland is in the process of negotiating an Inter-Governmental together with a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with the USA government,” he said.
Adding, Bhembe said the signing of the IGA would assist financial institutions and financial services providers to report through the Swaziland Revenue Authority (SRA) instead of reporting directly to the USA Internal Revenue Service.
He said the information that FTCA required to be reported to the USA’s IRS was that USA tax payers were required to report during their annual tax return filing
In this development, government has collaborated with the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), all financial institutions (Central Bank and commercial banks).
Meanwhile, the team that is spearheading FATCA advised attendants of the meeting that failure to comply with the Act, culprits would part with a penalty of 30 percent for non-compliance.
