Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
IRS International Operations
U.S. Embassy Beijing
Chinchie Killfoil, Tax Attaché
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
A Few Details About IRS
• Bureau of Department of Treasury
• Collects more than $ 2.7 trillion USD in
revenue yearly to fund the U.S. Government
• Processes 250+ million tax returns
• Spends 41 cents for every $100 collected
• 98,000 employees
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
IRS Strategic Goals
Goal 1:
Improve service
to make voluntary
compliance easier
Goal 2:
Enforce the law
to ensure everyone
meets their obligation
to pay taxes
Strategic Foundation: Invest for High Performance
T 2-4
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Services and Enforcement
Deputy Commissioner
70 employees
Whistleblower Office
10 employees
Office of Professional Responsibility
50 employees
Small Business/Self-Employed
(SBSE) 28,000 employees
Wage and Investment
(W&I) 47,000 employees
Large Business and International
(LB&I) 7,800 employees
Tax Exempt and Government Entities
(TEGE) 2,300 employees
Criminal Investigation
(CI) 4,000 employees
88,000 employees
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
IRS Commissioner
LB&I International Function
Commissioner
Large Business &
International
IRS Deputy Commissioner
for Services &
Enforcement
EOI Program
Treaty Unit
JITSIC
Deputy Commissioner
(International)
Foreign Posts
Assistant Deputy
Commissioner (Int’l)
Director, International
Business Compliance (IBC)
International
Exam Function
Service-wide
Strategy
Director, Transfer Pricing
Operations
APMA
Program
Transfer Pricing
Practice
Director, International
Individual Compliance
(IIC)
International
Exam Function
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Large Business and International
LB&I
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Serves 210,000 taxpayers
Businesses with $10 million + assets
Large multinational companies
Complex issues
Serves International taxpayers (IBC & IIC)
7,800 employees (1,700 devoted to
international, the rest domestic large case)
• 4 overseas posts (CI has 10 overseas posts)
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Exchange of Info around the World
JD Carroll
Director JITSIC
Washington DC
Raul Pertierra
Rev Service Rep
Plantation, FL
SEP 07 2011
Dean Burke
EOI Program
Mgr
Washington DC
Kelli Winegardner
Tax Attaché
London
Chinchie Killfoil
Tax Attaché
Beijing
Aziz Benbrahim
Tax Attaché
Paris
Barbara Franklin
Tax Attaché
Frankfurt
Frankfurt
London
Plantation, FL
Paris
Beijing
Washington DC
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Regional Responsibilities…
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Beijing: Asia
London: UK, Scandinavia, Africa
Paris: Mid-East, Western & Southern Europe
Frankfurt: Central & Eastern Europe, Central
Asia, Mid-East
• Plantation, Florida: Caribbean Islands, Central
and South America
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
So, what is a Tax Attaché?
• Competent Authority’s representative for their
regional area
• Manage Exchange of Information (EOI) with
foreign governments
• Establish and maintain relationships with
Treaty Partners
• Provide Service to U.S. Taxpayers abroad
• Eyes and ears of IRS in foreign jurisdictions
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Exchange of Information
It is done under • Bilateral Treaties
• Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA)
• OECD/Council of Europe Convention on Mutual
Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters
(Multilateral Treaty)
• Mutual Legal Assistance Treaties (MLAT)
• Hague Evidence Convention
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Common information exchanged:
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Bank, brokerage & other financial records
Witness interviews
Business records
Public records
Real estate ownership records
Accountant & attorney records
Insurance company records
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Common information exchanged…
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Tax return information
Record of filing
Filing status
Amount of taxes paid
Types, sources, and amounts of income
Address of residency (residency)
ANY information related to tax investigation!
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Types of EOI Requests
• Specific – for specific taxpayers
• Spontaneous –provided without request information might indicate non-compliance
• Automatic – information exchanged on a routine,
systemic basis
• Simultaneous – both US & treaty partner
examine same TP or related TP with common
issues
• Industry-wide – industry or sector about trends,
practices, pricing, etc.
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Recent Developments - FATCA
• Two components
– Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) Identify United
States Accounts and report directly to the IRS on
Form 1099-FFI
– U.S. taxpayers report foreign financial asset holdings
on Form 8938 starting with 2011 tax return if certain
thresholds are met.
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Recent Developments - FATCA
• Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) Identify
United States Accounts and report directly to
the IRS on Form 1099-FFI
• FFI to register on-line starting 1-1-2013
• FFI to report Name, Address, TIN & Account Balance
(reporting starts in 2014 with respect to 2013)
• Income Amounts (reporting starts in 2016)
• Gross Proceeds (reporting starts in 2017)
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Asia Tax Forum
May 9-10, 2012 – Raffles, Singapore
Recent Developments - FATCA
• For more information please visit the FATCA
Page on www.irs.gov
• More FATCA information in another session
later.
Questions?
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