French Court Declines to Overturn Tax Treaty With U.S.
French Court Declines to Overturn Tax Treaty With U.S.
(Bloomberg) -- France’s top administrative court has ruled that French authorities can pass on tax information to their U.S. counterparts, rejecting a motion by dual citizens who have been trying for years to stop France cooperating with the U.S.’s FATCA tax treaty.
The Conseil d’Etat ruled Friday that France’s measures to implement FATCA, or the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, didn’t contravene the country’s privacy laws. It also rejected arguments that U.S. doesn’t adequately cooperate with French tax authorities in return.
FATCA was passed in 2010 and forces banks wanting to operate in the U.S. to report any assets held by American citizens overseas. France signed up to FATCA in 2013. While the measure is aimed at tax avoidance, it’s created problems for many American expats and dual nationals of modest means who have been rejected by retail banks seeking to avoid hassle and risk.
To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.net;Gaspard Sebag in Paris at gsebag@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Phil Serafino
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