Associations & Chambers’ position on FATCA

Associations & Chambers’ position on FATCA
December 16, 2016 BATT

The Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago, the Bankers Association of Trinidad and Tobago (BATT), Association of Trinidad & Tobago Insurance Companies, the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries and the American Chamber of  Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago wish to publicly urge the Government and the Opposition to move with speed and conviction toward the passage of the  Tax Information Exchange Agreement Bill (TIEA) to meet the February 2017 deadline.  Time is running short and as such, our final plea is for the Opposition to really engage in Parliament on the passage of this Bill on January 6th 2017.

The continued delay creates real risk to an economy already battered by the effects of falling revenue from the energy industry. If we miss the revised deadline of February 2017, the country will be placed in an untenable situation and the effects could be far reaching for businesses and individuals alike.

We note the Opposition’s proposed changes on the TIEA Bill, and the Government’s response, debated in Parliament last Monday. We are encouraged that the Government appears to have appropriately addressed the Opposition’s concerns.

However, there remains an over-arching issue to consent to disclosures of personal and other information, which must be addressed to arrive at consensus.

We ask the public to note that the disclosures to be made under the TIEA are in relation to persons who are already obliged to make these disclosures to the US IRS under US law.  Therefore the TIEA as the local FATCA- enabling legislation imposes no greater obligation of these ‘US Persons”.

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