Don’t delay law for sharing tax information with U.S., Canada’s investment industry urges
The head of Canada’s investment industry association is urging the federal government not to defer legislation that will facilitate handing tax information of U.S. citizens living in Canada to authorities in the United States.
Ian Russell, chief executive of the Investment Industry Association of Canada, made his pitch to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance on Tuesday, about a week after the NDP called on the government to delay the legislation ahead of the implementation date of July 1.
The NDP said passing the tax information sharing agreement legislation to comply with the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) – which also affects dual citizens — would result in the U.S. government receiving “sensitive” personal and financial information of about one million Canadians.
But Mr. Russell told the standing committee that the legislation package “embeds the best possible tax-reporting framework for Canadian investors and their investment dealers” and should be passed expeditiously.
“Simply put, deferral of the Canadian legislative package this close to the July 1, 2014 implementation deadline would place a more costly and difficult compliance burden on Canada’s investment industry and expose Canadian financial institutions and investors to penalties and sanctions that would severely impede access to the U.S. marketplace,” Mr. Russell told the committee.
