US and Singapore aim to sign TIEA and reciprocal FATCA IGA by year end

In a joint statement issued after their August 2 meeting, US President Barack Obama and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong pledged to negotiate and sign by the end of 2016 a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) and a FATCA intergovernmental agreement (IGA ) that provides for reciprocal automatic exchange of financial account tax information.

While the US/Singapore FATCA IGA has been in force since March 28, 2015, the agreement says nothing about reciprocity. As such, under the agreement, the US is not required to share account information on Singaporean citizens using US banks with the Singapore government.

The leaders also said the countries will continue to discuss whether to negotiate a tax treaty to avoid double taxation and to prevent base erosion and profit shifting by multinationals.

See:

• Joint statement