TT deemed non-compliant

Al-Rawi made the statement in the House of Representatives after Opposition MPs walked out of the continuation of the debate on the Tax Information Exchange Agreement Bill 2016, which is essential to this country being Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) compliant with the United States.

Al-Rawi said he was “ashamed” to report to Parliament that on November 4, the Global Forum has publicly identified TT as one of three countries which are non-compliant with it. He said the other two countries are Guatemala and the Federated States of Micronesia.

The AG said Cabinet notes from 2011 and 2013 clearly show the former government was aware that,”the consequence of non compliance with the FATCA version of for global forum was that TT would suffer negative consequences by way of delisting, debanking and derisking, the loss of our banking services with Europe, if we did not act with urgency.” Al-Rawi declared, “I am ashamed to say that not only do we face the jeopardy of the position of FATCA today but the UNC (United National Congress) government has specifically when they were in charge, left us with a deeper, darker more dangerous hole on the Global Forum outcomes.” He further stated this shows the UNC, “has engaged in a complete and total dereliction of duty to the people of TT as they have walked out on the Parliament now, twice without explanation.” Declaring this was the fifth opportunity the Government has given the Opposition to debate their concerns about FATCA, Al-Rawi said the Government was prepared “to stay here, blankets and all,” until the debate was concluded.

Reiterating that all but one clause in the bill remains to be addressed, Al-Rawi said the UNC was displaying a “morbid fear” about TT being FATCA compliant.

Saying he was “genuinely upset” by yesterday’s walkout, Al-Rawi asked, “Why is the UNC hiding from this debate?” Minister in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs Stuart Young said the UNC found time before last September’s elections to sign other questionable agreements but failed to sign the inter-government agreement (IGA) on FATCA, despite giving a commitment to do so.

Young agreed with Al-Rawi that the bill spoke to Government’s efforts to bring civil asset forfeiture legislation to Parliament.

Noting the legislation concerned TT nationals who have US citizenship, he wondered if the UNC was worried that persons it knew had not paid taxes in accordance with UNC.

Young also wondered whether the Opposition was concerned Government was seeking to enter into similar FATCA agreements with other jurisdictions. He said the Opposition cannot claim they were muzzled or ambushed on the FATCA legislation when they have been given every opportunity to voice their concerns