We provide below the link to an article on the U.S. Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program appeared on the section LEGAL of the Italian newspaper FINANZA & MERCATI:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/55738639/Finanza%26Mercati.pdf
On January 9, 2011 the Internal Revenue Service reopened the offshore voluntary disclosure program to help people hiding offshore accounts get current with their taxes and announced the collection of more than $4.4 billion so far from the two previous international programs.
The IRS reopened the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) following continued strong interest from taxpayers and tax practitioners after the closure of the 2011 and 2009 programs. The third offshore program comes as the IRS continues working on a wide range of international tax issues and follows ongoing efforts with the Justice Department to pursue criminal prosecution of international tax evasion. This program will be open for an indefinite period until otherwise announced.
“Our focus on offshore tax evasion continues to produce strong, substantial results for the nation’s taxpayers,” said IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman. “We have billions of dollars in hand from our previous efforts, and we have more people wanting to come in and get right with the government. This new program makes good sense for taxpayers still hiding assets overseas and for the nation’s tax system.”
The program is similar to the 2011 program in many ways, but with a few key differences. Unlike last year, there is no set deadline for people to apply. However, the terms of the program could change at any time going forward. For example, the IRS may increase penalties in the program for all or some taxpayers or defined classes of taxpayers – or decide to end the program entirely at any point.
“As we’ve said all along, people need to come in and get right with us before we find you,” Shulman said. “We are following more leads and the risk for people who do not come in continues to increase.”
The Internal Revenue Service (U.S. tax administration) issued guidance (in the form of Fact Sheet FS 2011-13) on international tax reporting requirements for U.S. citizens or dual citizens residing outside of the United States.
In essence, the Guidance provides that U.S. citizens or dual citizens living and working abroad with (1) no tax balance due on their U.S. income tax returns (due, for example, to foreign tax credits for foreign taxes paid on their unreported foreign income earned in a foreign country, which offsets any U.S. tax due on that income, or U.S. foreign earned income exclusion excluding from U.S. tax certain employment income earned outside of the U.S.) or (2) a tax balance due but where the failure to report foreign income and pay associated residual U.S. taxes on it was due to reasonable cause (lack of proper advice or knowledge about the duty to report and tax such income), can file delinquent or amended tax returns and rectify past mistakes and will not be assessed late filing or late payment payment penalties. In addition, there will be no penalties assessed on those same individuals with respect to late filings of their Foreign Bank Account Reports reporting foreign financial assets if their failure to file was also due to reasonable cause.
Recent legislation enacted by the Italian government to improve Italy's budget and stem the sovereign debt crisis introduced a new tax on real estate properties located outside of Italy. The tax is charged at the rate of 0.76%, calculated on the purchase price of the property as appearing from the purchase documents or alternatively on the fair market value of the property. A tax credit is granted, reducing or offsetting the Italian tax due, for any property taxes paid to the country in which the property is located. Individual taxpayers residing in Italy for tax purposes are liable for the tax. This include foreign nationals who work and live in Italy and file Italian individual tax returns as Italian residents. Based on the language of the statute, properties owned or managed through offshore or foreign entities are not subject to the tax. Taxpayers who directly own rental or investment properties outside of Italy are encouraged to restructure their investment and own and actively manage those properties through a foreign owing or managing entity to avoid the application of the tax.
Starting with the tax year 2011, the new IRS Form 8938 must be filed by all U.S. persons if total foreign financial assets exceeded $50,000 at any point during the year. Form 8938 will be in addition to the long-standing Treasury Department FBAR (Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Report) required for financial assets abroad that exceed $10,000 and shall have to be filed together with the federal income tax return for the year.
Furthermore, Form 8621 (Passive Foreign Investment Company – PFIC) must now be filed every year for each separate PFIC investment where as previously it was only required to be filed in years that distributions were made from the PFIC investment. Finally, the statute of limitation for IRS audits of returns listing foreign sourced income has been extended to 6 years (previously 3 years).
Where non-compliance is “non-wilful,” failure to file form 8938 results in a minimum $10,000 penalty but may rise to as much as 40% of the value of the asset or account. This is in addition to the tax due and interest due. Non-compliance deemed “wilful” may result additionally in criminal prosecution.
While FATCA does not change the existing penalties resulting from failure to properly report such as the FBAR and Form 8621 (PFIC report), FATCA will result in a dramatically increased enforcement of these rules and therefore U.S. citizens and residents (including Americans living abroad and foreign nationals living in the U.S) should become familiar with the very significant penalties associated with these and other reporting requirements.
Trusts are very important tools for family and succession planning. Italy enacted specific provisions on the tax treatment of trusts for income tax and indirect (transfer) tax purposes. However, Italy does not have specific legislation on trusts, and trusts for Italian clients or Italian assets must be formed and operated in accordance with the legislation of a foreign country that contemplates rules on trusts. Among the most reliable and sophisticated legislations on trusts are those of the States of the United States, including Delaware and New York. Every time the settler, beneficiaries and trust assets sit in different countries (Italy and abroad) the coordination of the tax treatment in Italy and in the foreign country poses daunting issues but also offers interesting planning opportunities. Below we refer you to a recent article appeared on Italia-Oggi in which we provide our perspective on our experience in forming and managing trusts for Italian clients:
http://www.lawrossi.com/images/stories/docs/Italia_Oggi_Trust.pdf
Il trust è uno strumento molto importante per un'efficace pianificazione familiare e successoria. L'Italia ha adottato una specifica normativa fiscale sul trust ai fini delle imposte dirette ed indirette, ma non ha una legislazione civilistica in materia e i trust per clienti italiani devono necessariamente essere costituiti in base alla normativa di uno stato estero che contempli questo istituto. Tra le varie legislazioni si segnalano, per affidabilità e grado di elaborazione, quelle degli stati degli USA, tra cui Delaware e New York. Ogni qualvolta costituente, beneficiari e beni del trust si trovano in stati diversi (in Italia e all'estero), il coordinamento tra il trattamento fiscale del trust in Italia e quello applicabile nel paese estero richiede particolare attenzione nella messa a punto di questo strumento, ma nel contempo offre formidabili opportunità di pianificazione. Segnaliamo di seguito un recente interessante articolo in materia apparso su Italia-Oggi, con un nostro contributo e punto di vista relativo alla nostra esperienza in materia di costituzione e gestione di trust USA per nostri clienti:
http://www.lawrossi.com/images/stories/docs/Italia_Oggi_Trust.pdf
An interview on Marco Q Rossi & Associati has been published today on the Italian financial newspaper ITALIA OGGI. We attach below the file with the full account: www.lawrossi.com/images/stories/docs/MQR_Italia_Oggi.pdf
Secondo quanto riportato di recente su Bloomberg, diverse banche svizzere sarebbero in procinto di siglare un accordo con il fisco americano a chiusura di un contenzioso in materia di evasione fiscale. In forza dell'accordo le banche si disporrebbero a pagare una somma in via transattiva e fornire al fisco americano le informazioni sui propri clienti cittadini o residenti americani. L'accordo chiuderebbe una procedura civile avviata nei confronti di 11 banche svizzere responsabili, a detta del fisco americano, di avere aiutato i contribuenti americani a evadere le imposte. In base alla normativa fiscale USA, coloro che sono soggetti ad imposta sui redditi negli USA - tra cui cittadini americani residenti in Italia, tassati in base alla cittadinanza, e cittadini italiani residenti negli Stati Uniti, tassati in base alla residenza - sono tenuti a dichiarare conti e investimenti detenuti al di fuori degli USA mediante un apposito modulo (Foreign Bank Account Report, in acronimo FBAR) equivalente in sostanza al modulo RW del Modello Unico italiano, e a dichiarare i redditi derivanti dai predetti conti ed investimenti. Eventuali imposte estere danno diritto ad un credito di imposta ad eliminazione della doppia imposizione. Negli ultimi tre anni gli Stati Uniti hanno adottato due programmi di incentivazione a riportare conti e depositi esteri con somme non dichiarate beneficiando di sconti sulle sanzioni dovute. Anche a prescindere da questi programmi, il sistema fiscale USA consente in generale di presentare dichiarazioni tardive che correggono errori o mancanze pregresse e in caso di buona fede è possibile evitare sanzioni. L'attenzione dell'amministrazione fiscale e la pressione sulle banche estere sono molto forti e si sta registrando un trend sempre più marcato verso forme di trasparenza e rilascio di informazioni a fini fiscali che stanno inducendo molti contribuenti a mettersi in regola con il fisco.
Riteniamo utile segnalare una serie di situazioni che stiamo seguendo sempre più frequentemente per conto dei nostri clienti. Le imprese italiane che vendono beni e servizi a clienti americani devono porre particolare attenzione agli eventuali obblighi e oneri fiscali cui potrebbero essere soggette negli USA, anche quando non hanno una società controllata, filiale o sede secondaria sul territorio degli Stati Uniti. Infatti, salvo i casi di pura esportazione di beni senza alcun ulteriore contatto con gli USA, è altamente probabile che vi siano situazioni tali da generare tali oneri e che eventuali distrazioni possono anche essere costose.
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