Tag Archives: Automatic exchange of information

Analysis, Canada, Europe, Quebec

Swiss accounts : until December 31, 2015 to disclose

The United States came down hard on Swiss banks after receiving, from various whistleblowers, Swiss bank data evidencing U.S. citizens had hidden fortunes in Swiss accounts. Swiss banks were fined billions for assisting U.S. citizens in evading taxes and now want to avoid repetition of this scenario when the exchange of information begins in 2018 with other countries.

The automatic exchange of information between Canada and Switzerland will begin in 2018[i]. Swiss banks have therefore put in place various measures to protect themselves and show, in a near future, that they did all they could to encourage Canadian clients to disclose offshore assets.

Most large Swiss banks have already requested from their Canadian clients evidence that their Swiss accounts are reported in Canada or that a voluntary disclosure has been initiated. This is generally done by having a tax professional confirm to the bank that a disclosure of the account has been filed for the client with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

Continue reading »

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Analysis, Canada, Cross-border (Canada/US)

Federal Court of Canada dismisses challenge to CRA’s automated data collection and disclosure regime under FATCA

In a summary judgment released on September 16, 2015, the Federal Court of Canada examined and disposed of the non-constitutional arguments in the Hillis and Deegan case[1] generally finding that the automatic data collection and disclosure of taxpayer information to the United States by Canada pursuant to the Canada-U.S. Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) is not inconsistent with the Canada – U.S. Tax Treaty (Tax Treaty) and does not otherwise violate the taxpayer confidentiality provisions in section 241 of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (ITA).

The plaintiffs had originally filed a claim seeking a declaration that the relevant provisions under the Canada – U.S. Tax Information Exchange Agreement Implementation Act (IGA Implementation Act) which implements the IGA are ultra vires or inoperative because the impugned provisions are unconstitutional or otherwise unjustifiably infringe Charter rights. An amended statement of claim was subsequently filed adding the non-constitutional arguments. The plaintiffs sought a permanent prohibitive injunction preventing the collection and automatic disclosure of taxpayer information to the United States by the CRA. A special sitting of the Court was scheduled so that the issues could be disposed of before taxpayer information was to be automatically sent pursuant to the IGA.

The Canadian government’s position was that the collection of taxpayer information is authorized by the IGA and that disclosure to the United States is not inconsistent with the Tax Treaty or in violation of section 241 of the ITA.

In its decision, the Federal Court endorsed the general reasoning and the legal arguments submitted by the government.

Continue reading »

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Analysis, Canada, Israel

Foreign bank account in Israel: Last chance for voluntary disclosure

On March 16, 2015, The Bank of Israel issued an anti-tax evasion directive aimed at avoiding Israeli financial institutions being used by foreign taxpayers to move assets and income offshore, out of reach of the tax authorities of their countries of residence. Israel may now obtain bank information on accounts opened by non-residents and it will begin the process of exchanging tax information with other countries, such as Canada, in 2017.

The directive stipulates that Israeli banks must require their foreign clients to provide them with a declaration containing the following information:

  1. the customer’s country of residence for tax purposes;
  2. confirmation from the client that his or her aggregate investments and assets have been reported to the tax authorities of the resident jurisdiction (e.g., Canada) or, alternatively, a declaration to the effect that he or she has initiated a voluntary disclosure procedure in the resident jurisdiction; and
  3. a waiver from the taxpayer pursuant to which Israeli banks would be allowed to provide confidential bank account information to non-Israeli tax authorities

Israel may disclose the identity of their non-resident clients and report the funds held in their accounts to the tax authorities of their respective countries of residence

Continue reading »

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail
Analysis, Canada, Français

Comptes bancaires en Israël et échange automatique d’information

Le 16 mars dernier, la Banque d’Israël a émis une directive ayant pour objet de contrer l’évasion fiscale internationale et d’éviter que les institutions financières israéliennes ne soient utilisées par certains contribuables étrangers afin de réduire indûment leur fardeau fiscal dans leur pays de résidence.

Cette directive prévoit notamment que les banques israéliennes devront obtenir de leurs clients étrangers une déclaration contenant :

  1. Le pays de résidence fiscale du client;
  2. Une attestation du client à l’effet qu’il a déclaré l’ensemble des investissements et avoirs qu’il détient auprès de l’institution financière israélienne visée aux autorités fiscales de son pays de résidence, ou, alternativement, une déclaration du client à l’effet qu’il a entamé un processus de divulgation volontaire dans son pays de résidence; et
  3. Une décharge du contribuable relativement à la confidentialité de ses informations financières vis-à-vis des autorités fiscales de son pays de résidence.

En d’autres termes, les banques israéliennes s’autorisent à communiquer l’information relative à leurs clients étrangers aux autorités fiscales de leur pays de résidence. Continue reading »

Facebooktwitterlinkedinmail