Scott Michel Comments on U.S.-Israel FATCA Agreement

Scott D. Michel is quoted in Bloomberg BNA's Banking Report concerning the intergovernmental agreement between the United States and Israel to exchange information on account holders under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.  The move symbolizes growing global transparency and efforts to crack down on tax evasion.  For the complete article, please visit Bloomberg BNA's website (subscription required).

Excerpt taken from the article.

"It is a major development," Scott Michel, a member of Caplin & Drysdale, Chartered, told Bloomberg BNA May 1. "Not only does it demonstrate Israel's cooperation with the U.S. in the exchange of information and reporting of U.S. account holders, it is particularly relevant to ongoing Department of Justice and IRS priorities."

Evasion Crackdown

The agreement comes as the DOJ and the IRS continue to scrutinize banks in Israel for assets hidden by American
taxpayers.

Michel said both agencies are interested in U.S. people who moved money from unreported accounts to Israel from Switzerland beginning in 2008 or 2009.

If these people have maintained their accounts into 2014, when FATCA takes effect, "they run the risk that a disclosure of current year information could lead to inquiries about prior years," Michel said.

"It is just another step on the way to a largely global automatic information exchange regime, with implications for current year reporting as well as retrospective compliance issues," he said.