The stars seem to be aligned for a massive shift in the way offshore assets are held and accounted for. The recent leak to the ICIJ media consortium of the Panama Papers, 2.6 Terabytes of information on the offshore holdings of many prominent and wealthy individuals, certainly marks an expansion in the ever growing program to ... [Read more]
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has changed the health insurance landscape in the United States. For small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, special attention must be paid to employer reimbursements of healthcare in order to avoid substantial fines and penalties. Before the ACA, many small businesses had their employees carry individual insurance policies. In ... [Read more]
By now we have all heard about Tuesday’s court decisions regarding the subsidy issue of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 in Halbig v. Burwell that the subsidies may not be paid in States where the Federal Government operates a health care Exchange. ... [Read more]
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which has recently come in to force, applies to any person or entity described as a U.S. person. There is some ambiguity as to who may actually be a U.S. person. For instance, would the non-U.S. spouse of a U.S. citizen living abroad be subject to FATCA’s provisions? ... [Read more]
The United States Export-Import Bank (EXIM) faces closure after September 30, 2014 unless Congress chooses to reauthorize the Bank’s charter. EXIM provides loans and loan guarantees to support U.S. companies who export goods abroad. The reason for the Bank’s existence is to promote U.S. exports, place U.S. exporters on an equal footing with foreign competitors, ... [Read more]