TaxConnections Picture - Statue Liberty and FlagToday’s blog post completes the interview with Willard (Bill) Yates, who recently retired from the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), Internal Revenue Service after 31 years of service. During his tenure as a Chief Counsel Attorney, Bill was the recipient of 10 awards, including the Albert Gallatin Award, Treasury’s highest career service award. The Gallatin is awarded only to select federal employees who served twenty or more years in the Department and whose record reflects fidelity to duty. Bill received the Gallatin award for his work throughout his IRS career, including his work on implementation of some of the compliance requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Most of Bill’s career at IRS focused on offshore compliance, including his participation in a massive overhaul of outdated foreign trust reporting requirements Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts and Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust with a U.S. Owner). Bill was the principal drafter of the regulations under section 679, Foreign trusts having one or more United States beneficiaries, Notice 2003-75, RRSP and RRIF Information Reporting and Notice 2009-85, Guidance for Expatriates Under Section 877A.

Our focus for this series will be on Bill’s comments on the American Citizens Abroad working paper titled, RBT, Residence Based Taxation: A Necessary and Urgent Tax Reform (RBT Proposal), which recently was submitted to the International Tax Reform Working Group of the House Ways and Means Committee. Read More

TaxConnections Picture - Tax BriefcaseThis is a continuation from yesterday’s post of the interview with Bill Yates:

Yates: Everyone in the room who knew me turned and looked at me. I’ve been involved in horses since I was five. Believe me, no one makes $50 million raising bucking horses. That is patently ridiculous. What it shows is that LGT would accept any explanation regarding the source of a prospective client’s funds or assets. Then, the UBS scandal broke. That’s when things really got ridiculous.

La Torre Jeker: How?

Yates: Well, we started seeing how European governments were shocked, I mean shocked, really, to find out that any of their banks could be involved in promoting and facilitating tax evasion. Give me a break. How could you live in the EU and not know about what was going on in Switzerland, Lichtenstein and the Caribbean tax havens, many of which by the way are British protectorates?

La Torre Jeker: So, are you saying that foreign banks had it coming to them? I mean FATCA. Read More

Question & AnswerThis Post continues the interview with Bill Yates:

Jeker: By the way, where are all of these FBARS kept, anyway?

Yates: Let’s talk about that later, OK?

Jeker: OK. Now go on, please.

Yates: Anyway, we ran into trouble from the start. In general, section 6038D requires any individual who holds an interest in a foreign financial asset or assets which an aggregate value that exceeds $50,000 (or such higher dollar amount as the Secretary may prescribe) to report the interest on a form attached to the individuals tax return for the year for taxable years beginning after or March 18, 2010. We had just been assigned the project. We knew there was no way we were going to have a form ready for anyone who had a short taxable year beginning after March 18, 2010. That was totally unrealistic. So, we had to come up with transition rules for people that had a reporting requirement, but no form to satisfy the reporting requirements. In the end, Form 8938 didn’t get released until November, 2012.

Jeker: Why was it going to take you so long? Read More

iStock_ Floating Money XSmallToday’s blog post is the first of a several-part interview that provides valuable insight from Willard (Bill) Yates, who recently retired from the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), Internal Revenue Service after 31 years of service. During his tenure as a Chief Counsel Attorney, Bill was the recipient of 10 awards, including the Albert Gallatin Award, Treasury’s highest career service award. The Gallatin is awarded only to select federal employees who served twenty or more years in the Department and whose record reflects fidelity to duty. Bill received the Gallatin award for his work throughout his IRS career, including his work on implementation of some of the compliance requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Most of Bill’s career at IRS focused on offshore compliance, including his participation in a massive overhaul of outdated foreign trust reporting requirements Bill was the principal drafter of the regulations under section 679, covering foreign trusts with US beneficiaries, Notice 2003-75, RRSP and RRIF Information Reporting and Notice 2009-85, Guidance for Expatriates Under Section 877A.

Our focus today will be on Bill’s experience as part of the three-person team charged with the responsibility for creating Form 8938 concerning reporting of so-called “specified foreign financial assets”, as well as gleaning his overall opinion about FATCA , from a policy and practical perspective.

Jeker: Bill, one of the most important aspects of your work as an IRS attorney in the Office of Chief Counsel (International) was drafting Treasury Regulations and other forms of guidance that implement tax laws enacted by Congress. Many readers don’t understand much about Treasury Regulations and how they work. Can you explain the force of Treasury Regulations, the particular challenges Chief Counsel attorneys experience and what they go through when drafting these Regulations? Read More