FATCA's harmful impact on Credit Unions around the world

FATCA's harmful impact on Credit Unions around the world

Joining us is Michael Edwards, Vice President for Advocacy and General Counsel for the World Council of Credit Unions (woccu.org). Michael discusses the harmful impact FATCA has had on both US and foreign credit unions. Yet interestingly, he provides perhaps the most compelling testimony on why the proposed "solution" to the FATCA Same Country Exemption (SCE) would simply not work. The reason? Michael tells us that there are already two exemptions which should protect middle class Americans from ever having their accounts closed. One is an exemption of all foreign accounts under $50,000. And the other is that foreign banks are specifically forbidden by FATCA to discriminate against US customers. The law currently "exempts" US people from negative consequence of FATCA. Yet, the reality is that the exemptions are ignored. Adding the same-country exemption be ignored the same. If the banks followed FATCA, the SCE would not be necessary. And unlike the account minimum and discrimination prohibitions, the SCE is completely optional. https://youtu.be/Brxl4lbaTmM IRS Medic