Dominican banks required to report on US citizens' holding

Feb 15, 2005
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Starting on 1 July 2013, banking entities in the Dominican Republic will be asked to report on accounts held by United States citizens in the Dominican Republic. This is part of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) that went into effect in March 2010.

In Santo Domingo, financial consulting firm Deloitte will be holding a workshop to explain the implications of the act to US citizens living in the Dominican Republic. Richard Troncoso of Deloitte says that this law could mean the 30% retention of payments such as interest, dividends or payments that come from a United States source. According to an article in today's El Nuevo Diario, Troncoso says that every institution which is catalogued as a Foreign Financial Institution and Non-Financial Foreign Entity must accept the documentation of all of their foreign owners or account holders and implement the IRS report requirements beginning on 1 July 2013. This disposition covers every type of financial or moneynrelated business, whether it is banking, finance or stocks and even insurance companies. Deloitte will be holding a seminar on the FACTA implication on 22 November at the Hilton Hotel in Santo Domingo.

The 22 November breakfast will present the implications of the new ruling: FATCA: Banking and stocks secrecy, obligations of Dominican Financial System with the IRS and consequences of non-compliance. Denise Hintze, tax director for Deloitte New York and Bismarck Rodriguez of Deloitte Panama will be attending. To attend, contact Paula Benzo at 809 563-5151, ext 4723 or email: pbenzo@deloitte.com

The FATCA is requiring foreign financial institutions to report directly to the IRS certain information about financial accounts held by US taxpayers, or by foreign entities in which US taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest. Under this agreement a "participating" FFI is obligated to:

(1) Undertake certain identification and due diligence procedures with respect to its accountholders;

(2) report annually to the IRS on its accountholders who are US persons or foreign entities with substantial US ownership; and

(3) withhold and pay over to the IRS 30-percent of any payments of U.S. source income, as well as gross proceeds from the sale of securities that generate US source income, made to (a) non-participating FFIs, (b) individual accountholders failing to provide sufficient information to determine whether or not they are a US person, or (c) foreign entity accountholders failing to provide sufficient information about the identity of its substantial US owners.

Notice 2011-53 provides the phased-in timeline of key FATCA implementation dates for FFIs. It is important to note that many details of the new reporting and withholding requirements pertaining to FFIs must be developed through Treasury regulations that are expected to be proposed by 31 December 2011. Published IRS Notices accessible from this FATCA Internet site provide currently available information and guidance.

Chief compliance officers, tax reporting heads and other key players within your organization will need to evaluate the potential impact of these regulations and develop a plan for managing and remediating any potential risk associated with Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) non-compliance.

Under newly proposed U.S. Treasury Code Sections 1471 through 1474, effective for payments after December 31, 2012, all foreign financial institutions (FFIs) will be required to enter into disclosure compliance agreements with the U.S. Treasury, and all non-financial foreign entities (NFFEs) must report and/or certify their ownership or be subject to the same 30 percent withholding. This new reporting and withholding regime will ultimately impact current account opening processes, transaction processing systems and "know your customer" procedures utilized by foreign banks.
 

kimbjorkland

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Apr 6, 2011
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Yah gotta love it. Now I know why Jesse Ventura lives in Mexico!

If one can afford it, it may not be a bad idea to get another citizenship...
 

La Rubia

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Jan 1, 2010
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OMG! Who knew?

Americans are Americans until the U.S. government officially says they're not.

I guess the intent is to control/monitor/regulate/stop drug money, but seems to coming down a little harsh on the average person.

Seriously hope the Canadian government lodges a complaint on behalf of all those dual citizens.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Yah gotta love it. Now I know why Jesse Ventura lives in Mexico!

If one can afford it, it may not be a bad idea to get another citizenship...

Getting another citizenship would not stop what the OP is talking about. The only way to avoid it is to renounce US citizenship.
 

Ezequiel

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Jun 4, 2008
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OMG! Who knew?

Americans are Americans until the U.S. government officially says they're not.

Canadians are Canadians until the Canadians government officially says they're not.
British are British until the British government officially says they're not.

The same laws of citizenship applies in almost every country in world. You are a citizen of a country UNTIL that country says you are no longer their citizen.



Seriously hope the Canadian government lodges a complaint on behalf of all those dual citizens.

I read the article and those dual citizens seems to me that they were keeping their U.S. citizenships as an insurance policy in case they need it to return to the U.S. Why didn't they renounce their U.S. citizenships when they had nothing? Now Uncle Sam wants half of everything.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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Canadians are Canadians until the Canadians government officially says they're not.
British are British until the British government officially says they're not.

The same laws of citizenship applies in almost every country in world. You are a citizen of a country UNTIL that country says you are no longer their citizen.



I read the article and those dual citizens seems to me that they were keeping their U.S. citizenships as an insurance policy in case they need it to return to the U.S. Why didn't they renounce their U.S. citizenships when they had nothing? Now Uncle Sam wants half of everything.

Many Canadian/Americans have never lived in the USA as Adults. Many moved to Canada when they were infants or young children and have been educated in Canada, work in Canada, bank in Canada and are Americans by accident of birth.
 

Ezequiel

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Jun 4, 2008
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Many Canadian/Americans have never lived in the USA as Adults. Many moved to Canada when they were infants or young children and have been educated in Canada, work in Canada, bank in Canada and are Americans by accident of birth.

I don't think that they were born in the U.S. by accident of birth. Their parents decided to pop up the baby in U.S. soil knowing they were going to gain U.S. citizenship automatically.

I will call an accident of birth if the mother is transiting through a U.S. airport while 6 to 7 months pregnant and suddenly she had some sort of complications that forced her to give birth in the U.S.
 

bob saunders

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I don't think that they were born in the U.S. by accident of birth. Their parents decided to pop up the baby in U.S. soil knowing they were going to gain U.S. citizenship automatically.

I will call an accident of birth if the mother is transiting through a U.S. airport while 6 to 7 months pregnant and suddenly she had some sort of complications that forced her to give birth in the U.S.

The child didn't have a choice. Many Americans went to and still go to Canada for work, or marry a Canadian, or just prefer the country, just as many Canadians go to the USA for work, or marriage...etc.
 

kimbjorkland

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Apr 6, 2011
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Getting another citizenship would not stop what the OP is talking about. The only way to avoid it is to renounce US citizenship.

Not true.

Today American living in DR goes to bank and shows American passport, among other ID, to open a bank account.

If he had a citizenship in DR or, say for example in Dominica (which coincidentally sells citizenships for $75K +/-), and then he goes to the bank and says 'hola, soy gringo dominicano, aqui es mi passport y cedula dominicano, soy de batay etc', how would the bank know that he's an American citizen? why would the bank report his information to a US bank if they don't know he's American?
 

kimbjorkland

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Apr 6, 2011
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I don't think that they were born in the U.S. by accident of birth. Their parents decided to pop up the baby in U.S. soil knowing they were going to gain U.S. citizenship automatically.

I will call an accident of birth if the mother is transiting through a U.S. airport while 6 to 7 months pregnant and suddenly she had some sort of complications that forced her to give birth in the U.S.

Also untrue. It's a complicated issue and Uncle Sam is over reaching and breaking the tax treaties it's already signed and not respecting the sovereignty of other nations. The government is trying to turn foreign banks into tax agents.

next they will put a camera up our skirts to see how we're feeling...
 

tomas2

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Nov 29, 2005
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OK. Let me just start by saying I don?t like to pay taxes. Nobody likes to pay taxes. And (fortunately\unfortunately) I am in a tax bracket that pays a pretty healthy tax rate. Certainly not Bill Gates or anything, but I do OK (in fact I just did some quick research and was shocked to see I was in the top 6% of Americans, if you believe Wikipedia, so I am in the sweet spot that is allegedly paying for all the ?occupy wall street? folks).

I am not rich. I don?t feel rich. I don?t live a rich lifestyle (just ask my girlfriend!). And I felt TOTALLY unrepresented during the ?Bush-lite? years. I was completely appalled with where ?my? money was going. But I paid. Every penny.

I understand the concern the some have with the banking system (potentially) being used to spy on them, and their political activities (I have seen stuff that could be seriously misused) but I have no problem with them going after tax cheats. Pay your taxes and you won?t have any problems. If you want to renounce your US citizenship, fine. Go ahead. Otherwise pay your taxes.

Those that aren?t are not going to get away with it for much longer. Seriously. It is amazing what computers can do sifting data, and how far back they can go when they find something unusual. This dirty money flowing into countries like the DR is on borrowed time, no matter what these ?smart? Sosua financial guys are telling you.
 

william webster

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Jan 16, 2009
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My guess is that number of "delinquent" citizens who do not file their US taxes annually is substantial and the gov't is going to pursue as many as possible..

If I recall the USA is the only country in the world to tax on citizenship, as opposed to residency.
 

bob saunders

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Jan 1, 2002
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OK. Let me just start by saying I don’t like to pay taxes. Nobody likes to pay taxes. And (fortunately\unfortunately) I am in a tax bracket that pays a pretty healthy tax rate. Certainly not Bill Gates or anything, but I do OK (in fact I just did some quick research and was shocked to see I was in the top 6% of Americans, if you believe Wikipedia, so I am in the sweet spot that is allegedly paying for all the “occupy wall street” folks).

I am not rich. I don’t feel rich. I don’t live a rich lifestyle (just ask my girlfriend!). And I felt TOTALLY unrepresented during the “Bush-lite” years. I was completely appalled with where “my” money was going. But I paid. Every penny.

I understand the concern the some have with the banking system (potentially) being used to spy on them, and their political activities (I have seen stuff that could be seriously misused) but I have no problem with them going after tax cheats. Pay your taxes and you won’t have any problems. If you want to renounce your US citizenship, fine. Go ahead. Otherwise pay your taxes.

Those that aren’t are not going to get away with it for much longer. Seriously. It is amazing what computers can do sifting data, and how far back they can go when they find something unusual. This dirty money flowing into countries like the DR is on borrowed time, no matter what these “smart” Sosua financial guys are telling you.

The problem the IRS going after US Citizens that pay taxes in another country...etc and their only tie to the USA is their birth Certificate. They are penalizing them for not filing a US Tax form, of which many were unaware they had to do, because , they did everything in the country thet were living in( went to school, worked, paid taxes...etc)
 

pelaut

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Aug 5, 2007
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So where's the outrage against the current American regime that's doing this?
It's got f-all to do with fighting drugs.
They want the money for their fancy offices, their yipetas and their coke habits.
 

windeguy

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Jul 10, 2004
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Not true.

Today American living in DR goes to bank and shows American passport, among other ID, to open a bank account.

If he had a citizenship in DR or, say for example in Dominica (which coincidentally sells citizenships for $75K +/-), and then he goes to the bank and says 'hola, soy gringo dominicano, aqui es mi passport y cedula dominicano, soy de batay etc', how would the bank know that he's an American citizen? why would the bank report his information to a US bank if they don't know he's American?

If you had a Dominican Cedula it would show your place of birth. I cannot speak about what other countries legal citizenship documents show since I have no experience with them.
 

greydread

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Jan 3, 2007
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The problem the IRS going after US Citizens that pay taxes in another country...etc and their only tie to the USA is their birth Certificate. They are penalizing them for not filing a US Tax form, of which many were unaware they had to do, because , they did everything in the country thet were living in( went to school, worked, paid taxes...etc)

American Citizenship is a priviledge. For every one trying to get out there are 100,000 trying to get in. Don't want to pay US taxes (after the $91K exclusion)? Renounce your citizenship and make room for someone who will treat US citizenship like the greatest accomplishment possible and will work their butt off to prove themselves worthy and not ask for sh!t in return.

Oh, yeah. Be ready to stand in a line around the block at the US Embassy wherever you end up trying to get back in for a visit.