From Caribbean360

The Bahamas government said it has devoted considerable resources to ensuring that Bahamian financial sector participants and the Bahamian public were well educated about FATCA and would continue to do so.

NASSAU, Bahamas, , CMC – The Bahamas government says the country is well advanced in finalizing the compliance arrangements with regards to the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

A government statement said it was taking all necessary measures to ensure that Bahamian entities were permitted to conduct business without impediments in global markets.

It said that it anticipates that a Model 1 (non-reciprocal) intergovernmental agreement would be agreed with the United States “well in advance of the April 2014 deadline for the first listing of participating foreign financial institutions”.

The government said it has devoted considerable resources to ensuring that Bahamian financial sector participants and the Bahamian public were well educated about FATCA and would continue to do so.

It said it was also urging all financial institutions to carefully review the requirements of FATCA, including the due diligence procedures and requirements outlined in the FATCA Regulations and Annex 1 of the inter-governmental agreement and to take the necessary measures to ensure that systems are in place internally to identify accounts held or controlled by United States persons.

The government said financial institutions should also become familiar with the US FATCA registration system and requirements reminding that the registration deadline for Model 1 Participating financial institutions is December 2014.

“Notwithstanding this date, by Bahamian statute and in conjunction with the regulators, compliance expectations will be established within the first half of 2014,” the government statement added.

“We encourage all in the financial services industry to continue to become educated on the requirements of FATCA to ensure the readiness of their institutions,” the statement added.

FATCA targets tax non-compliance by US taxpayers with foreign accounts and focuses on reporting by US taxpayers about certain foreign financial accounts and offshore assets.

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