Russian banks comply with FATCA under Russia’s amended law — minister

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is a US law, obligating banks in other countries to disclose to the American tax authorities information about the accounts of American taxpayers in these banks

WASHINGTON, April 11. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov has notified US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew of changes in the Russian legislation, allowing Russian banks to comply with FATCA requirements.

Siluanov told reporters on Friday that at a meeting in Washington, the Russian side expressed concern regarding the nearing time of FATCA coming into force and the lack of progress on preparation of the corresponding intergovernmental agreement.

“I stressed that reaching agreements in this field meets the interests of both countries,” Siluanov said.

ITAR-TASS reported earlier with reference to the Vedomosti newspaper that the Russian finance minister had prepared a bill, allowing banks to transmit information on their clients directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It had initially been planned that Russian banks would provide information about American resident accounts to the Russian tax service and it would then disclose these data to the IRS. Such scheme was set in a draft agreement between Russia’s Finance Ministry and the IRS. However, a month ago, the United States de facto withdrew from the negotiations.

The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a US law, obligating banks in other countries to disclose to the American tax authorities information about the accounts of American taxpayers in these banks.