Regulatory Analysis
Maine Revenue Services has made available the draft versions of the 2018 MEETRS File Formatting Specifications for Electronic Transmittal of Quarterly Income Tax Withholding. There are sets of specifications for both original filings and amended filings – which will become effective the first quarter of 2018. There are certain revisions to the specifications of which […]
The Panamanian Ministry of Economy and Finance has released additional information regarding its implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). A late adopter, Panama has committed to commencing exchanges in 2018. Panama has ratified secondary legislation for the implementation of CRS – the final legislative step in imposing the duty to report on Panamanian […]
Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance has joined the Common Reporting Standard by signing on to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA), bringing the total number of signatories to 90 countries. As such, Pakistan will aim to begin the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) for its reportable accounts in 2018. By signing on to this agreement, […]
The Isle of Man recently issued an AEOI Industry Advisory Notice. Therein, the Treasury reminded filers that FATCA and CRS reporting will be due June 30. The notice also stated that filing entities should be registered to file by June 21. Doing so after that date might not allow the Treasury enough time to […]
Senate negotiations regarding the fate of the American Health Care Act are continuing in spite of the discord among and between Democrats and Republicans on a number of provisions in the bill. Much of the roadblocks at this point are procedural in nature regarding the Reconciliation rules. A failure to comply with Reconciliation requirements would […]
Proposed ACA replacement legislation, entitled the American Health Care Act (AHCA), aims to dismantle the employer mandate by zeroing out the associated penalties. Despite this, the AHCA maintains both employer and insurer reporting requirements. There are seven high-level changes to the current law that the AHCA will seek to impose: Nullify Individual Mandate […]
Congressman Tom MacArthur has authored an amendment to the American Health Care Act (AHCA) that would provide greater flexibility to states by allowing them to request waivers from any of three key AHCA provisions: The 5:1 Age Rating Ratio: The age rating ratio, which is already being increased from 3:1 to 5:1, will be […]
If the American Health Care Act (AHCA) becomes law, the IRS would expect employers to report as they did under the ACA. The IRS would also continue to enforce penalties for late, missing, inaccurate and incomplete information returns. Even with the bill’s nullification of Employer Mandate penalties, reporting would remain mandatory in its current […]
The amended American Health Care Act (AHCA) passed by the House expanded upon the prior version, but made certain adjustments providing individual states more flexibility in shaping and regulating their own insurance markets. The new bill also appropriates $8 billion over five years to subsidize coverage for pre-existing conditions in an attempt to offset the fiscal impacts of permitting […]
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) recently announced the delay of the ACA Compliance Validation (ACV) System, which is now expected to be implemented in May 2017. Employers should be aware that this delay does not impact their reporting obligations and potential liabilities for penalties. The ACV system’s purpose is to determine compliance […]
The Cypriot Ministry of Finance has announced that its Government Internet Security Channel is now open for the acceptance of FATCA and CRS XML files containing tax year 2016 data. The reporting process consists of the following steps: Subscribe to the Internet Security Channel if you are not already registered Register to the […]
The Curacao Financial Data Exchange Portal is now open for the FATCA XML file testing period. The testing period, which was originally scheduled to begin on May 29, was delayed due to technical difficulties. As such, the data delivery functionality and reporting deadlines will also be delayed to dates which will be determined at a […]
The Guatemalan government has adopted the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters in a move to demonstrate its commitment to tax transparency and remove itself from a “blacklist” of international tax havens. Once it takes the necessary legislative steps to implement the OECD programs, Guatemala will be able to exchange information with […]
Rhode Island recently updated their reporting frequency schedule to exclude the annual reporting frequency. The update to the 2017 Employer’s Income Tax Withholding Tables and the removal of Form RI-941A from the Department of Revenue website confirm that filers previously on an annual reporting schedule must switch to one of the remaining reporting schedules – […]
Irish Revenue has sent correspondence to all interested parties indicating that the deadline for filing CRS returns has been extended from June 30th to August 18, 2017 due to the late delivery of the required business and validation rules – resulting in a delay to the start of filing. Although the submission application is […]
The IRS has published an updated version of its FATCA Online Registration User Guide. The purpose of this publication is to guide Financial Institutions and Direct Reporting Non-Financial Foreign Entities (NFFEs) to register themselves and their branches as a Participating Foreign Financial Institution (PFFI), a Registered Deemed-Complaint FFI (RDCFFI), a Sponsoring Entity, a Direct Reporting […]
The German Tax Office has published a new Infobrief containing information relevant to this year’s CRS filing season. The Infobrief covers a variety of topics, including the following: Opening of CRS production environment: Filers are now able to transmit CRS data as of June 1, 2017. The portal will be open for transmittals through […]
The Croatian Tax Administration has issued a revision of its Web Application User Manual to be used in conjunction with FATCA transmittals. The Manual has two substantive updates that should be noted: The Manual now includes a link to access the web application’s production environment for transmitting FATCA XML files to the competent authority. […]