# “Accidental American tax chaos best dealt with by Europe, Dutch say”



## underation (Oct 25, 2018)

“Accidental American tax chaos best dealt with by Europe, Dutch say”

More precisely, so says Menno Snel, a Junior finance Minister whose party sits with ALDE/Renew Europe in the European Parliament.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2019/...W0Qj-mg869VeimKWAdr25XzSFqTP4WppZ3THHbhqNSpf0


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## underation (Oct 25, 2018)

Dutch banks step up the pressure on USCs to hand over their SSN or show proof they’ve requested one:

https://www.nvb.nl/themas/veiligheid-fraude/fatca/

(However, the Dutch News article linked to in my preceding post says the Dutch government doesn’t share the banks’ view that they’re at risk of drastic sanctions over the SSN issue.)


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## underation (Oct 25, 2018)

By telling accountholders who haven’t got a SSN, to show that they’ve applied for one, the Dutch banks effectively put the ball back in the IRS’s court.

It doesn’t meet the requirement to obtain the SSN of all USC accountholders; but neither the bank nor the accountholder can be held responsible for the failure of the US government to process applications for SSNs.


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## underation (Oct 25, 2018)

underation said:


> ... Menno Snel, a Junior finance Minister [correction: State Secretary for Finance, I should have said] whose party sits with ALDE/Renew Europe in the European Parliament.


It was ALDE - particularly the Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld - who steered the AA petition against FATCA through to the successful passing of the anti-FATCA resolution in July 2018. The resolution asked the Commission to take steps to renegotiate a single IGA to replace the MS individual agreements. Nothing came of it, of course, but it’s interesting that in’t Veld’s party is still pursuing a common EU approach to the problems arising from FATCA.

A 2017 Dutch Banking Association letter posted on Sophie in’t Veld’s website (https://www.sophieintveld.eu/download/getFile/3416 ) confirms that:



> This [SSN] obligation doesn't result directly from the Intergovernmental Agreements-IGAs between the US and MS but rather from their implementing Competent Authority Agreements-CAAs.


and rather enviously notes that German legislators avoided the problem by only requiring date of birth.


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## underation (Oct 25, 2018)

underation said:


> It was ALDE - particularly the Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld - who steered the AA petition against FATCA through to the successful passing of the anti-FATCA resolution in July 2018. The resolution asked the Commission to take steps to renegotiate a single IGA to replace the MS individual agreements. Nothing came of it...


The final response of M. Moscovici, the then Commissioner, can be seen at https://mobile.twitter.com/SophieintVeld/status/1124038891168829440/photo/1


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## underation (Oct 25, 2018)

underation said:


> It was ALDE - particularly the Dutch MEP Sophie in’t Veld - who steered the AA petition against FATCA through to the successful passing of the anti-FATCA resolution in July 2018. The resolution asked the Commission to take steps to renegotiate a single IGA to replace the MS individual agreements. Nothing came of it, of course, but it’s interesting that in’t Veld’s party is still pursuing a common EU approach to the problems arising from FATCA.


The most significant problem arising from FATCA, from the EU Commission’s perspective, is the US refusal to sign up to reciprocal CRS. If it could be shown that the MS IGAs breach EU law (in a way that CRS does not), that could bring the Council round to asking the Commission to negotiate an EU-wide agreement which would look less like FATCA and more like CRS.

Which would be a gain, for the EC. But not necessarily for the “accidental” USCs, as it seems unlikely that an EU-wide IGA would grant them the special treatment they seek.

All the above is merely my opinion, of course.


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