As the HIRE Act begins to phase in, US Citizens and residents are already required to fill out the new 8938 form with their tax returns. If you are reading this newsletter, you are likely to have one of these entities and be required to fill out the forms or face severe penalties including up to 5 years in jail. Yes, 5 years in jail for failing to file the form.
While the palm trees in Belize are still waving good-by, our guests from the just-completed Hemispheres conference, A HIRE ACT Update, are home unpacking their bags.
And, I'm sure, still thinking about the new information, business contacts, and friendships gained in just a few days on the beach in tropical Ambergris Caye.
Maybe you weren't part of that select group, but the good news is, next time you can be.
This issue of Hemispheres e-letter is devoted to reporting highlights from the just-completed conference, bringing you articles by some of the speakers, and telling you about our next conference, November 9-12, again at Exotic Caye Resort on Ambergris Caye, Belize.
The Hemispheres HIRE ACT Update and asset protection conference in Ambergris Caye, Belize has just come to a close. There were numerous discussions on new ideas of how people can protect what they’ve worked so very hard for. Everyone who gathered for the conference shared this one common goal and each of the speakers addressed the issue in different ways.
Editor's Note: This month, international business attorney Joel Nagel explains the impact of a new tax law on banks worldwide -- and how their response could affect you and your finances.
FATCA, or the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, comprises sections 1471 – 1474 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC). The code sections were passed into law in March of 2010 as part of H.R. 2847, a job creation bill known as the HIRE Act. The law attempts to ensure that U.S. persons don't move money abroad without paying any taxes owed on it to the U.S. government.
"The surest way to avoid and minimize the difficulty for individual US persons is to open your foreign bank accounts before the [HIRE Act] takes effect on January 1, 2013, and move funds that you want to use to buy international assets out of the U.S. before then." International Business Attorney Joel Nagel, in May's Hemispheres newsletter.
In January 2013, the U.S. government will radically change the way it treats international bank transfers by U.S. persons worldwide ... and it's drafting banks worldwide as its enforcement agents.
If you missed the 2011 Presidents Week in Belize, and you're wondering what to prepare for ... how to prepare ... who can help you structure your international business interests ... where to find the investment opportunities in gold, insurance products, cutting-edge technologies and much more to help you thrive and prosper, come what may...
You have options!
Option #1: Watch the Whole Presidents Week Conference on DVD, and Start Preparing Now
The purpose of Presidents Week -- and all our work at Hemispheres -- is to help you do just that:
Editor's Note: In the February 2011 issue of Hemispheres, international business attorney Joel Nagel wrote about provisions in a 2010 jobs bill called the HIRE Act that could affect your ability to move funds abroad outside the U.S. The provisions require both U.S. and foreign banks to withhold 30 percent of any transfer to foreign financial institutions that don’t meet United States standards for information sharing, and remit that percentage to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a tax payment. To get the payment refunded when you file your U.S. tax return, you have to show that the funds transferred were already taxed.
Long the champion and beneficiary of free trade and the free flow of capital, the United States last year enacted legislation that a growing number of commentators and professionals believe could be the start of capital controls in America.
If you envision yourself investing internationally in the future, you have just under two years to prepare to transact international business without being turned away by foreign banks, or your having funds subjected to IRS withholding by banks handling transfers.
International business attorney Joel M. Nagel recommends the following strategies you can use to prepare for enforcement of the HIRE Act provisions that he outlines in this issue of Hemispheres.
