Report On Recent Developments – Jun 2014
OECD PUBLISHES STANDARD FOR AUTOMATIC EXCHANGE OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNT INFORMATION
In February, 2014, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) published a Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (the “Standard”). In May, 2014, more than 60 jurisdictions including Canada, the U.S., Switzerland, and Israel, endorsed the Standard with the OECD’s Declaration on Automatic Exchange of Information on Tax Matters (the “Declaration”), thereby committing to its implementation.
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NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE FOREIGN ACCOUNT TAX COMPLIANCE ACT
As reported in our February Newsletter, Canada and the U.S. have signed an intergovernmental agreement regarding the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”), which requires foreign (non-US) financial institutions to report information concerning accounts held by U.S. persons to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) or face a 30% penalty which will be withheld on certain payments paid from the U.S. Information reported to the IRS will include the account holder’s name, address, account number, U.S. Taxpayer Identifying Number, account balance, gross amount of interest, dividends credited to the account, and gross proceeds from the sale or redemption of property credited to the account.
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RELIEF FOR SOME CANADIAN RESIDENT US TAXPAYERS
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has announced important changes to its offshore voluntary compliance programs. Since 2012, the IRS has offered two programs by which U.S. taxpayers may become tax compliant; the streamlined filing compliance procedures, previously not available to U.S. residents, and the offshore voluntary disclosure program (the “OVDP”).
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QUEBEC’S VERSION OF THE “HENSON” SPECIAL NEEDS TRUST
The Quebec Superior Court recently issued an important decision in support of the “special needs trust” as a valuable estate planning tool to provide for the needs of incapable dependants.
OTHER QUEBEC NEWS
- Highlights from the 2014-2015 quebec budget
- Quebec tax assistance for home renovation
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Sweibel Novek News
We would like to welcome Dominique Lafleur, a lawyer with over 20 years of experience in the areas of trusts and estate planning, to our firm.
We congratulate Elisabeth Robichaud and Lilliane Nguyen on being awarded the Master of Laws Taxation Option (LLM) from HEC Montreal/Université de Montréal.
Congratulations also to Marcie Akerman and David Sefkind on the birth of their first child, Nathan, and to Erica Stermer and Jon Haber on the birth of their son, Brody.