Financial Transparency Coalition

With his inauguration only a few minutes behind him, President Obama officially submitted his initial round of Cabinet nominations to the Senate on Monday. Among them is Jacob “Jack” Lew, the current White House Chief of Staff and Obama’s pick to replace Timothy Geithner as the next Secretary of the Treasury. Before getting the post, though, Mr. Lew will face a tough round of questioning from the Senate Finance Committee, which is in charge of vetting his nomination. The next Secretary of the Treasury will have enormous influence nationally, and globally, on issues important to the Task Force, including the...

WASHINGTON, DC – The Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) Coalition welcomed news that the U.S. Department of the Treasury will be leading a government task force to review the nation’s antiquated anti-money laundering regulations. The FACT Coalition—an alliance of more than 60 prominent anti-corruption, transparency, small business, and global development groups—originally called on the Treasury Department in September 2011 to undertake such a review.

WASHINGTON, DC – Global Financial Integrity today applauded the U.S. Department of the Treasury for working with over fifty jurisdictions to establish agreements enabling the bilateral automatic exchange of tax information as part of the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

In 2010 Congress enacted the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which aims to combat tax evasion by U.S. citizens holding investments in offshore accounts. Under this law, the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury require U.S. taxpayers holding financial assets on foreign soil to report those assets. FATCA also requires foreign financial institutions to report certain information about U.S. taxpayers directly to the IRS. The law phases these requirements in several stages. Starting in 2013, the IRS will require participating banks to conduct due diligence for identifying new and pre-existing U.S. accounts and reporting requirements will...