As part of its Business Seminar Series, the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) will host a symposium on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) October 29, 2012, in collaboration with the Ministry of Financial Services and the Professional Industry Associations (PIAs), which are part of its Professional Industry Association Working Group (PIAWG).

Under the sponsorship of Deloitte, KPMG, Ernst & Young, and PricewaterhouseCoopers, the event will be held in the Windsor Room of the British Colonial Hilton Hotel, in downtown Nassau. The sponsors have identified key persons on their respective FATCA teams to present during the half-day programme–facilitating a broad range of expertise on this important US Tax Initiative.

BFSB chief executive officer Aliya Allen says that FATCA, which was enacted in 2010 as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, is “an important development in US efforts to combat tax evasion by US persons holding investments in offshore accounts.”

Under FATCA, certain US taxpayers holding financial assets outside the US must report those assets to the IRS. In addition, FATCA will require foreign financial institutions to report directly to the IRS certain information about financial accounts held by US taxpayers, or by foreign entities in which US taxpayers hold a substantial ownership interest.

The agenda for the October 29 programme includes an introductory session that will cover cross sectoral issues such as “How and When to Communicate with Customers About FATCA”; “Which Company Executives or Stakeholders Should be Involved in the FATCA Programme”; and “The Model Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs).”

This will be followed by case studies on practical implications, covering specific sectors, such as wealth management, insurance, funds and securities, and retail banking. The event will conclude with an overview of the legal implications of the intergovernmental agreements negotiated by the US Treasury Department as a mechanism for implementing FATCA.

The US Treasury says the agreements aim to “work towards common reporting and due diligence standards in support of a more global approach to effectively combatting tax evasion, while minimizing compliance burdens.”