Finance Minister Colm Imbert said he was "a bit surprised" the leaders of four banks vented their concerns about this country's FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) compliance through a press conference, even though he suggested that they should meet with the opposition.
Imbert said the bankers needed to meet with the Opposition because the legislation to make T&T FATCA compliant requires a special majority in Parliament, which means the support of the support of the opposition is necessary.
Members of the Bankers Association of T&T on Wednesday said they had been lobbying for more than two years across two administrations and they were frustrated as nothing had been done to pass the legislation, or to sign the Inter-Governmental Agreement, or even put a system in the Board of Inland Revenue to collect data to supply to IRS in the US if they requested any information.
Addressing their worry about the deadline, Imbert suggested that even though a three-month deadline is cause for concern, he recalled having to meet a much closer deadline for the same legislation when he took up his appointment as Minister of Finance on September 13, 2015.
Imbert said he had discovered then, that the deadline for being compliant, was September 30, 2015 and it had not been highlighted before in the public domain.
Imbert added that this meant that he had to secure a one-year extension to September 30, 2016 even though there were two more weeks left and Parliament had not been convened. He said he was successful in securing the deadline.
In emailed responses to the T&T Guardian yesterday, Imbert said he was aware of the importance of the legislation to T&T. This meant that there was need for collective effort to be made by the Parliament to ensure this country was compliant, he said.
"I suggested to the bankers that they meet with Opposition to apprise them of the need for a collective effort. I was a bit surprised, therefore, to see my suggestion (that they meet with the Opposition) translated into a press conference, so there may have been a misunderstanding of what I asked them to do."
Determined to ensure that T&T is compliant before the September 30 deadline, Imbert said he expected the Model 1A Inter-Governmental Agreement to be signed before the September 30 deadline.
But the support of the Opposition is required in order to have the legislation governing FACTA in place. And without giving a specific date he said he plans to meet with the Opposition on the legislation.
Confirming that he meets with bankers regularly, Imbert said the legislation governing FACTA mainly includes sharing of taxpayer information on US citizens and US corporations operating in T&T and was discussed at the last meeting a few weeks ago.