France, U.S. Sign Agreement on Tax Evasion, Fraud
French Finance Minister, U.S. Ambassador Advance Fiscal Accountability
On November 14, French Minister for the Economy and Finance, Pierre Moscovici, and Ambassador of the United States to France, Charles Rivkin, signed a framework agreement for bilateral cooperation in the fight against international tax fraud and evasion.
Called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the accord will allow France and the United States to establish a system for sharing automatically the financial transactions of individuals or groups suspected of fiscal non-compliance across international borders.
In a speech at the signing, Mr. Moscovici described the measure and its future impact. It will foster "the development of an automatic exchange of information as the new world standard of cooperation, with unprecedented efficiency in the fight against tax fraud," he said.
The FATCA agreement is predicted to take effect in 2015.