(Jamaica Gleaner) Jamaicans who frequent the United States (US) – including merchants, athletes, pilots and entertainers – should soon expect to see their income and savings above US$50,000 disclosed to that government under a measure to catch tax dodgers called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
The implementation of the US legislation means the US will have more information than even the Jamaican Government on the financial and spending patterns of countless Jamaicans who are not even green card holders.
The US will receive this information from local institutions set to comply with FATCA disclosure requirements by next January. In fact, local institutions and policymakers are unlikely to resist the measure based on the penalties for non-compliance, according to participants at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum held at the newspaper’s North Street headquarters in Kingston yesterday.
Sanctions for non-compliance
Non-compliance would result in the US authorities withholding 30 per cent of US source income, including gross assets sale proceeds, should any account holder or foreign financial institution not comply.
“I don’t think we have an option. We have to comply,” Sandra Wright, manager for enterprise risk services at auditing firm Deloitte, told editors and reporters at yesterday’s forum.
