Time to worry about Cayman Islands accounts?
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This agreement — the Caribbean’s first — is part of the worldwide implementation of the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010. Under the act, foreign financial institutions that fail to report the accounts of U.S.-based customers could suffer a 30 percent withholding tax on certain U.S. transactions.
Uncle Sam could find out whether you’ve been failing to file the right forms that disclose your offshore accounts. The result could be huge fines or imprisonment.
“Most of the (tax information) sharing is going to start taking place early next year,” says Palm Beach lawyer Michael Miller. “That’s when it’s really going to hit the fan.”
The July 1 start date for much information-sharing keeps getting postponed, but repercussions already are being felt. Foreign financial institutions, unwilling to deal with the administrative hassles of the act, are closing the accounts of U.S.-based customers or declining to open new ones.
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So much more at: http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/news/local/time-to-worry-about-cayman-islands-accounts/ncKsF/
