THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
According to several EU Member State delegates, during informal discussions on digital taxation this week between the EU Council's High Level Working Party (HLWP) on Taxation, Mr. Itai Grinberg, newly appointed US Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Policy at the US Treasury, and Pascal Saint-Amanson, Director of the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Mr Grinberg confirmed the US tax authorities' acceptance of an earlier meeting request by the EU Council, regarding US FATCA legislation. The US have asked for informal preliminary discussions with the Chairman of the HLWP on the best way forward.
This was welcomed by the delegations, and the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council have been tasked with discussion preparations, in collaboration with the European Commission and some Member States.
Several countries have stressed the importance of making progress on the issue of reciprocity in the exchange of information, which they consider to be an essentially political issue and which should, in their view, be dealt with separately from that of "accidental Americans".
With thanks to Fabien Lehagre, President of the Accidental Americans Association (l'Association des Américains Accidentels) for alerting us.