Saturday, July 13, 2013

The Experts: Getting Married? Read These Financial Tips

Journal Reports from the Wall St. Journal writes: What is the most important financial advice for newlyweds? The Wall Street Journal put this question to The Experts, an exclusive group of industry, academic and other thought leaders who engage in in-depth online discussions of topics from the print Report. This question relates to a recent article that discussed financial tips for couples tying the knot and formed the basis of a discussion in The Experts stream on July 10.
[image]Carl Wiens
The Experts will discuss topics raised in this month's Investing in Funds & ETFs Report and other Wall Street Journal Reports. Find the finance Experts stream, watch recent interactive videos and explore a host of other exciting online content atWSJ.com/WealthReport.
Also be sure to watch investment adviser Tom Brakke(@researchpuzzler), blogger Mike Piper (@michaelrpiper) and University of California, Berkeley, professor Terrance Odean in an interactive video chat that aired on July 8 in which they discussed strategies for coping with market volatility.
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Christian Magoon: Understand Each Other—Before A Major Decision Is Needed
Finances are often one of the most divisive areas in a couple's relationship. This is because attitudes and preferences about money are deeply personal and therefore strongly held. Newlyweds should focus on trying to understand each other's financial beliefs and experiences before the pressure of a major financial decision occurs.
Christian Magoon (@ChristianMagoon) is founder and chief executive of YieldShares, an income-focused ETF sponsor.
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Manisha Thakor: Learn to Talk Money With Your Honey
My financial advice to newlyweds is…learn to "talk money with your honey." Time and again money is cited as one of the top causes of fights in relationships and causes of divorce. In my world I've observed that often time this is because financial opposites (i.e. a saver and a spender) attract. There is a body of academic work that suggests this is because there is something intoxicating about "financial otherness" in the early stages of courtship. Alas, when that initial novelty wears off, fights can begin.
A really basic way to start to get on the same page financially is to commit to sitting down at least once a year and reviewing the following pieces of financial information: (1) your income, your expenses, and the difference, which ideally is your savings, (2) your assets, your liabilities, and the difference, which is your net worth, and (3) your credit scores and credit reports—so all debt is transparent. I liken these stats to the basic blood work drawn at your annual physical. They are pieces of data that can help you see if you are on course or need to work as a team to make adjustments.
One caveat: I'm not suggesting these conversations are going to be easy. For millions of people, talking about money brings up emotions ranging from guilt to shame to embarrassment. Couples who pay attention to their financial well-being the same way they would their physical, spiritual, or intellectual well-being put themselves on a path for much lower levels of financial stress.
Manisha Thakor (@ManishaThakor) is founder and chief executive of Santa Fe, N.M.-based MoneyZen Wealth Management LLC.
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Matt Hougan: Make a Vow of Frugality
You know the thought you're having now? About all the things you could have done with the money you spent on that wedding? About how much they charged for those centerpieces?
Remember that feeling when the time comes to buy a car. Skip the baby Audi, buy a six-year-old Corolla and take a great vacation/fund your retirement/save for a house instead.
Matt Hougan (@Matt_Hougan) is president of ETF analytics and global head of editorial for IndexUniverse LLC.
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Terrance Odean: Start Saving
Start saving 20% of your after-tax income now. (Including 401(k) savings, contributions to a defined-benefit pension, etc.)
Terrance Odean is the Rudd Family Foundation professor and chairman of the finance group at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
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Olivia Mitchell: Build a Joint 'Financial Dream' List
Particularly since few have much money, financial disputes drive many divorces. Too many couples today begin their lives together holding seemingly overwhelming student loans, car loans, credit-card debt and more. So when the honeymoon's over, the money quarrels start: "Why did you spend so much on clothes? We're supposed to be saving for a house down payment, so why are you buying such an expensive computer? Just because I'm the homemaker, why don't I deserve some spending money of my own?"
So my advice is to spend a weekend building your "financial dream" list together. That will give you much to look forward to, after the passions cool and before the money squabbles have time to set in.
Prior to walking down the aisle, my partner and I took a couple of days to draft our financial dream plan together. How many kids did we want? How often and where would we vacation? How would we handle the fact that one of us had enough for a small down payment on our first house, and the other had no savings at all?
That was probably the most important discussion of our lives together, since we hashed out priorities and pre-settled arguments that we wouldn't have to have later.
We also decided to go the joint and separate account route: The joint account pays for most everything, including the house, cars, kids, the college fund and taxes. The joint account also contributes to our retirement accounts. Then we each get a small monthly allowance transferred into our separate accounts, which we use as we wish. Separate and joint credit cards are attached to each account.
All this seems like a lot of work, but it has helped us avoid arguing about money (for the most part!). And we're still living out the financial dream we drafted together, 31 years ago.
Olivia S. Mitchell is a professor of business economics and public policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she focuses on pensions, household finance and risk management.
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Greg McBride: Save for a Rainy Day
Build an emergency savings cushion as quickly as you can. Money is the number one issue that married couples argue over, but having that rainy-day fund will give you financial peace of mind and alleviate a lot of potential stress in your marriage.
Greg McBride (@BankrateGreg) is a senior financial analyst and vice president for Bankrate.com, providing analysis and advice on personal finance.
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Michelle Perry Higgins: Get On the Same Page Early
Marital bliss can be so intoxicating that it is sometimes hard to see through the fog and imagine that you could ever have financial challenges. So while you are still in that state of euphoria, it's a great time to write out a financial plan. Ideally, you should take care of this prior to the wedding or shortly thereafter. During the financial-plan review you will evaluate your budget, spending patterns, savings needs, debt, income expectations (dual or single), insurance and much more. It is critical to have this type of full disclosure occur early on and make sure you are both on the same page with regard to your new financial future.
Michelle Perry Higgins (@RetirementMPH) is a financial planner and principal at California Financial Advisors.
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Rafael Pardo: Communicate Early and Often About Spending Habits
When couples marry, they often become a single economic unit, pooling their assets and income and sharing responsibility for their debts. Prior to marriage, couples may have already begun the shift from an individual financial identity to a collective financial identity. Regardless, in the spirit of Benjamin Franklin's wise observation that "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," newlyweds will increase the likelihood of marital harmony by communicating early and often about their consumption habits. When one partner's consumption preferences are not closely aligned with the other's preferences, the mismatch can negatively affect the couple's ability to achieve its financial goals. As consumption increases, the ability to save and invest decreases. If from the outset couples do not sign on to the same game plan (i.e., budget) for achieving their financial goals, they very well may encounter difficulty in buying a home, saving for retirement, saving for their children's education, and so on and so forth. And if one partner perceives the difficulty to stem from the other partner's consumption habits, disapproving and acrimonious feelings will likely follow. Newlyweds can stem such discord by the simple expedients of discussing how their spending will affect their financial goals and having that discussion inform their collective financial decision-making.
Rafael Pardo (@bankruptcyprof) is the Robert T. Thompson Professor of Law at Emory University, where he specializes in bankruptcy and commercial law.
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George Papadopoulos: Get on a Healthy Financial 'Diet'
Have a financial plan in place. Max out on retirement savings; the sooner you start, the better. Have an adequate cash emergency fund and get in the habit of saving for short-term goals. Ignore advice to buy more house than you can afford. Diversify your investment portfolio with low-cost index funds and ETFs and rebalance it at regular intervals. Invest in yourself by getting more education and continuing to add to your skills. Does this sound similar to the advice given to people who want to lose weight (eat healthier, exercise more)? If it was that easy, most people's finances would not be in such a mediocre state today! For some people it makes sense to hire a good fiduciary financial adviser who will prevent them from making mistakes and keep them disciplined to follow a prescribed financial plan.
George Papadopoulos (@feeonlyplanner) is a fee-only wealth manager in Novi, Mich., serving affluent individuals and families.
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Sheryl Garrett: Make a List of Lifetime Goals
Finances are often a subject that squelches any romantic conversation, however it is essential that new couples recognize that they are not only a romantic and domestic partnership, they are also a financial partnership.
I use one exercise that helps couples get to know more about one another, their individual and shared goals and their most important desires in their financial lives. I've used this exercise with couples who've been together two months to 20-plus years, and new information is always revealed. It's simple, fun and can be very enlightening.
Start by listing on a piece of paper the first 30 things that come to mind that you'd like to do, see, become or accomplish in your lifetime. This is your personal list. Have your partner do the same thing. Coming up with 30 things is not easy. It causes people to really dig deep, far beyond the stereotypical financial-planning goals. For example, my list includes visiting all of the parks in the National Park System and learning to speak conversational Chinese. Once you've made your list of 30 things, next place an A, B or C next to that item. Place an A next to the things that you "Must Do", a B next to the things you'd "Love to Do" and a C next to the things that "Would be Nice to Do". Now, share your list with your partner and spend some time absorbing and discussing their list. You'll find many things will overlap but you will also learn of many other subjects that are important to your partner at this time. With this as a background, a very healthy and collaborative financial partnership can develop.
Sheryl Garrett (@SherylGarrett) is founder of the Garrett Planning Network Inc.
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Rick Ferri: Two Financial Takeaways for Newlyweds
I have two pieces of advice. First, live below your means. Second, start saving for your kids' college education before you even have children!
Rick Ferri is founder of Portfolio Solutions LLC and the author of six books on low-cost index fund and ETF investing. His blog is RickFerri.com.
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Charles Rotblut: Communicate and Adapt as Needed
Communicate frequently and be prepared to be flexible.
Talk about what you want to save for, what you want to buy and how much you are currently spending. If you are the person who regularly pays the bills (and for most couples, it seems one spouse does this routinely), talk to your significant other about what and how much the bills are. If you actively invest, tell your spouse what you are doing. If there is a big upcoming purchase, tell your spouse. Whatever the financial decision or event is, communicate.
Communicating is not only the right thing to do, it can also help you make smarter decisions. I can tell you personally that I don't spend my money on anything that I'm not willing to tell my wife about. If I think she'll object or have reservations, we'll talk about it in advance.
At the same time, realize your spouse may have very different attitudes toward money or very different financial behaviors. What seems like a rational purchase or investment to you may not seem like that to your spouse. Alternatively, your spouse may want to spend money on something you don't think is a justifiable purchase. So have some flexibility and allow for some leeway. If you find yourself butting heads over spending, set up separate "my money" accounts—accounts set aside for spending on whatever you each want to buy without question. Just be sure to agree on the amount and the source of the money that goes into those accounts.
Finally, I would strongly advise approaching finances with a large amount of forgiveness. There is a reasonable chance one or both of you will make a big financial mistake (and probably many mistakes). You are both human and it happens. No matter how mad you get, stop and ask yourself whether the mistake is really big enough to warrant ending your marriage over.
Posted on 6:00 AM | Categories:

FreshBooks Mobile Apps Review – On-the-Go Accounting Services

Stephanie Miles for GetApp writes:  The business world is moving faster than ever before, and busy professionals are increasingly looking for digital tools that can keep up with their nonstop lifestyles. The FreshBooks mobile apps bring all the tools that business owners expect from their financial management and accounting platforms into the cloud, making it possible for executives, managers and freelancers to track time, create invoices, and check balances from any place at any time.
In this FreshBooks Mobile Apps review, I will test out the cloud accounting application on the iPhone and iPad.
Throughout my review I will pay close attention to the specific tools most likely to be used by business travelers, including expense tracking, time tracking, receipt scanning, and mobile invoice creation.

About FreshBooks Mobile Apps

Introduced in late 2012, FreshBooks mobile apps give small business owners with iPhones and iPads a way to manage their accounting needs when they’re on-the-go. The mobile applications sync automatically with FreshBooks’ existing web application, ensuring a seamless transition both inside and outside the office. Although FreshBooks was built primarily to help service-based small businesses save time on billing, the mobile application is ideal for professionals in a variety of industries who want to run their businesses on the go.

Main Functionality of the FreshBooks Mobile Apps

When developing its mobile apps, FreshBooks aimed to create a platform that supported clients throughout the accounting lifecycle. When a business traveler hits the road on the way to a client meeting, for example, he typically needs to save travel receipts to use in billings and reimbursements. From there, the user needs to track how long he spent working on specific projects, and then create and send invoices based on the number of billable hours. FreshBooks mobile apps provide solutions for all of these needs.
Users in service-related industries can send invoices to clients before they have even left the job site instantly find out if invoices have been viewed. The FreshBooks mobile app allows users to accept online payments, and it syncs automatically with the company’s web-based platform to ensure colleagues working inside the office are on the same page as any executives working on the road.

Benefits of Using FreshBooks Mobile Apps

FreshBooks’ mobile apps offer many of the same tools as the company’s cloud-based platform, but with added features that make the system more applicable for people working outside the office. For example, the platform’s expense tracking feature allows users to photograph receipts using their iPhones or iPads. These receipts are then automatically entered into the FreshBooks system, and attached to expense sheets for reimbursement and tax purposes. Business travelers can even rebill expenses to their clients from within the mobile app.

The Basics: What Does the Interface Look Like?

Click the “Expenses” button on the FreshBooks home screen, and then open up the mobile app’s camera to begin scanning your business receipts. Once you’ve taken a picture, you can process the expense by manually typing in the value, the category, the client or vendor, and the date. If you want to rebill the expense, you can add the expense to an invoice, and send that invoice to the client in just a few quick clicks.
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FreshBooks for iPad Expense Tracking
Use the app’s time tracking feature to keep an accurate record of how much time you’ve spent working on individual projects. Hit the timer’s “Start” button the moment your brainstorming meeting begins, and add notes as a reminder of what was discussed or completed during that particular meeting. FreshBooks makes it easy to convert your timer records into billable hours, which can be seamlessly included on your next client invoice.
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Time tracking on FreshBooks for iPhone
Perhaps the most useful tool for small business owners is FreshBooks’ mobile invoicing feature. Create and send invoices from your iPhone or iPad, and check to see if your invoices are viewed. Invoicing errors can be amended immediately from within the FreshBooks mobile app, and clients can pay online using a payment gateway like Paypal.
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Creating an invoice on FreshBooks for iPhone

Support Information

FreshBooks offers a number of support options for mobile app users, starting with a robust Help Center and FAQ page. For more detailed queries, small business owners can contact FreshBooks’ award-winning support team by phone, between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Pricing Information

FreshBooks’ iOS app is completely free, and it can be synced with existing FreshBooks web-app accounts at no additional cost. Users with more than three active clients, or any additional staff members, will need to update to a paid FreshBooks package to continue using the mobile app.

The Bottom Line

The FreshBooks’ mobile app for iPhone and iPad users is an incredibly useful platform for business owners in service-related industries. These applications are easy-to-use, they work virtually anywhere in the world, and save professionals valuable time dealing with basic business accounting tasks. Users can track expenses to make reimbursements and tax deductions much easier.
Ratings: ease of use 4/5, features 5/5, value 5/5 
Posted on 6:00 AM | Categories:

Tax implications for Americans abroad: now start thinking ahead

Ellen Wallace for Genevalunch.com writes: A woman in her sixties whom I barely know stopped me on the street a few weeks ago to say she was in a panic – her husband was threatening to divorce her because she had not filed US taxes since she was 24, when her father did it for her. And now her bank was refusing to leave her name on their accounts and a tax lawyer gave them an estimate to “come in from the cold” that had her Swiss husband fit to be tied.
A northern European friend who is not American tells me her son is considering marrying his long-time girlfriend, from the US, who grew up in Europe. She’s wondering at what point details about the family money, left to her children, would become part of the US tax system if her son has a US wife.
I’m a news junky so I find it hard to believe any American could still be unaware of his or her basic tax obligations, but for those whose ties to the US are no longer strong, it’s not unusual. I know from talking to people at ACA (American Citizens Abroad) and from people who contact me, as a writer on these problems, that the case of the woman I ran into on the street is far from rare. Her husband would now like to just get the mess sorted out and move on.

Tangling with the next generation’s US taxes

Not so easy: they have children. And those children inherited US citizenship. And they have spouses who are not American.
My friend whose son is considering getting married will have to think beyond love and romance and consider the financial implications of having an American spouse – someone from the only major country in the world that taxes its citizens no matter where they reside and what taxes they pay to other countries.
Many Americans who live in Switzerland have been tangling for the past four years with tax issues involving fines and back taxes, but as the unpleasant surprises begin to die down, it’s time to consider the future.
Discovering they had tax issues came as a nasty surprise to many Americans who paid their taxes in full in Switzerland and considered themselves law-abiding citizens.
The problems began with the enforcement of 2002 FBar legislation designed as an anti-terrorist measure but widely enforced starting only in 2009, and then new Fatca legislation that prompted Swiss banks to close accounts belonging to Americans. The woman I met on the street realized she had a problem only when her bank told her she could no longer have an account.
Some people opted to stay in the system, others gave up their US citizenship – although never saying openly it was for tax reasons, because that’s enough to annul the renunciation decision.
If the worst seems to be over, think again: Americans who live outside the US have been focusing on the past to sort out tax problems, but anyone who has children who grew up outside the States, and young people with US passports, are among those who need to think about their tax future now.

Tax messes for those you love, best avoided

Reuters has just published a commentary, “What to do when you inherit a tax mess”, with a mention of a case where a woman in the US who died left her American husband a never-declared Swiss bank account worth $5 million.
The sum sounds like a nice surprise, but the mess and very high cost to declare such an account would be unpleasant, to say the least, especially for an elderly person. Consider this: he would need to convince the IRS he never knew anything about the account.
Families where some members give up their citizenship but not others are left with inheritance complications. If you’re a US citizen and you leave money to a non-US citizen, that person can expect to pay a far higher rate of tax on the inheritance, so discussions about giving up citizenship should involve the whole family.
Jonathan Lachowitz in January 2013 published “Financial Cliff Tax Planning” for the ACA, a must-read document for Americans living overseas. Among his many points is this one:
“The US Federal Estate Tax will rise to 40% (from 35%) though surprisingly for USCitizens there is now a $5.25 million exemption and $10.5 million for married couples and this is indexed for inflation so it will continue to increase. For non US persons (e.g. Swiss citizens) owning US assets (e.g. real estate or stocks of US companies even if held at a Swiss bank) the Estate tax rate also goes up to 40% and their exemption remains at a stingy $60,000.11. The Annual Gift tax exclusion has increased for 2013 to $14,000 from $13,000.”
A word of caution: US legal advice and taxpayer assistance for Americans overseas can be very expensive. List your questions, discuss what’s involved in planning, ask for an estimate and shop around.
ACA lists books for expat Americans to help them understand their tax obligations, probably a cheaper and better starting point for most people who simply want to be compliant and plan ahead.
Posted on 6:00 AM | Categories:

When Are Tax Penalties Excessive? / Does a $3.5 million fine on a secret $1.7 million Swiss account violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of excessive fines?

Laura Saunders for the Wall St Journal writes: U.S. officials are getting even tougher in their crackdown on offshore accounts.  In a civil lawsuit that has attracted notice among tax experts, the government wants to collect nearly $3.5 million in penalties from a taxpayer who had a secret Swiss account, although the account balance was never higher than $1.7 million. The lawsuit, U.S. v. Carl R. Zwerner , was filed in federal court in Miami last month.


"This is the most aggressive step taken by the U.S. government to seek offshore-account penalties larger than the account balance," says Jeffrey Neiman, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who specializes in criminal tax cases.

Spokesmen for the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service declined to comment on the case. A decision isn't expected until at least 2014.

Mr. Zwerner, 86 years old, is a retired specialty-glass importer living in Coral Gables, Fla. The U.S. government alleges he had an undeclared account at an ABN Amro bank in Switzerland from 2004 through 2007.

The account was held in the name of two foundations, structures that are often used to conceal ownership of offshore accounts, according to the filing.

Mr. Zwerner allegedly reported the account to the government in October 2008, a few months before the IRS set up a special limited-amnesty program for U.S. taxpayers with undeclared offshore accounts.

Through his lawyer, Lu-Ann Dominguez of the Gunster Law Firm in Fort Lauderdale, Mr. Zwerner declined to comment.

"We believe this is a garden-variety offshore case and Mr. Zwerner is no more culpable than others in his position," Ms. Dominguez says.

Since 2009, the Justice Department has filed more than 75 criminal cases against U.S. taxpayers involving the alleged failure to declare offshore financial accounts. In many of them, prosecutors have sought a single penalty of 50% of the account's maximum balance as punishment for willful failure to file a foreign-account report.

"As far as I know, the government has never asked for more than one 50% penalty in offshore-account cases," says Jack Townsend, a lawyer at Townsend & Jones in Houston who tracks federal tax-crime data.

Still, U.S. law allows the government to assert multiple 50% penalties. Mr. Zwerner is being pursued for four such penalties—or about twice the highest balance in his account—although the suit doesn't say why.

Bryan Skarlatos, a lawyer at Kostelanetz & Fink in New York who has handled hundreds of offshore-account cases, said he is aware of at least one other case in which government is seeking penalties larger than the account balance. "I expect we will see more," he says.

Messrs. Neiman and Skarlatos say the Zwerner case raises constitutional issues. The Eighth Amendment prohibits "excessive fines."

In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court cited this constitutional prohibition in U.S. v. Bajakajian, a case involving the failure to report an international currency transaction of $357,144 by Hosep Bajakajian, a naturalized U.S. citizen. The court ruled against the government.

U.S. officials had sought forfeiture of the entire amount, which Mr. Bajakajian intended to use to pay a debt abroad. Instead, the court ordered him to pay $20,000, concluding that forfeiture of all the money would be "grossly disproportionate to the gravity of the offense."

Mr. Skarlatos said this case resembles the Zwerner case because the violation by Mr. Bajakajian involved the failure to file an information form with the government. Still, Mr. Bajakajian "didn't break any other laws, such as not paying taxes," Mr. Skarlatos adds.
Posted on 5:59 AM | Categories:

U.S. Delays Rollout of Offshore Tax Dragnet / Central Provisions of Law Will Now Take Effect in July 2014

  • JOHN D. MCKINNON
  •  and 
  • SIOBHAN HUGHES for the Wall St Journal write:  
  • The Treasury Department said it would delay for six months the implementation of a global regulatory system that aims to make it harder for Americans to hide money offshore.
The change means that central provisions of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act will go into effect in July 2014. FATCA requires financial institutions in other countries to provide information to the U.S. government about accounts held by U.S. citizens. Financial institutions in many countries are arranging to share the information through their own governments to avoid violating local privacy laws.
Obama administration officials described the delay as a sign of the program's success. Treasury officials said they have signed nine agreements with other countries to implement the new law, and currently are negotiating with about 80 countries.
"Given the groundswell of international interest in FATCA, we are providing an additional six months to complete agreements with countries and jurisdictions across the globe," said Robert B. Stack, the Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for international tax affairs.
The anti-evasion net being cast by the U.S. is inspiring similar efforts by other big countries. Finance ministers from the Group of 20 large economies in April endorsed a global system similar to the U.S. measure that would help other countries combat tax evasion. But such a system is expected to take years to complete.
In the meantime, Treasury officials faced a tricky task in working out all the pending country-by-country agreements. While the basic terms of the pacts are the same, crucial details vary—for instance, which low-risk financial accounts can be exempted from FATCA's main requirements.
International banks and financial institutions also said the U.S. law would force them to cope with significant new complexity and absorb big compliance costs. They've been urging more modifications to the planned system and longer lead times.
"While we had asked for an extension until Jan. 1, 2015, we greatly appreciate Treasury recognizing that financial institutions globally need more time to comply with this important law that our members continue to support," said Payson Peabody, tax counsel at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, a trade group. "We look forward to continuing our dialogue with Treasury in order to ensure that FATCA is implemented in accordance with the intent of Congress with the least possible disruption to financial markets."
"FATCA is a tremendous undertaking for both the IRS and the financial services industry, and we think the extension is warranted and helpful," said Sally Miller, CEO of the Institute of International Bankers.
Manal Corwin, a former top Treasury official who's now an international tax practitioner at KPMG LLP, said she expects a significant number of agreements to be between the U.S. and other countries by the new deadline.
"Just because an agreement is not publicly signed doesn't mean it's not far along," she said. "I'm confident that [Treasury officials] will" conclude a substantial number of agreements by mid-2014.


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Posted on 5:59 AM | Categories: