Hong Kong agrees to hand over financial details of Americans working in city to US tax authorities
Under Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, US can ask for data if certain conditions are met
The bureau said that provided the basis for a further agreement that would enable US tax authorities to seek information directly from local banks.
Tax experts said the agreement was crucial for America's controversial anti-tax evasion law, which takes effect later this year.
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act was passed in 2010. It takes effect in July. It requires foreign financial institutions such as banks to declare to the US tax authorities the foreign holdings of anyone liable under US tax rules.
If the institutions did not comply, the US tax authorities would withhold 30 per cent of their US-sourced income, according to Ivan Strunin, managing director of Deloitte's Asia Pacific International Core of Excellence (US Tax Service).
Without an intergovernmental agreement, financial institutions that provided the information might breach privacy laws.
Signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, the law was originally supposed to take effect on January 1 last year. That was postponed to January 1 this year and then to July 1.
Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Professor Chan Ka-keung said after signing the first agreement with US Consul General Clifford Hart that it demonstrated Hong Kong's continued commitment to fulfilling its international obligations.
"The [agreement] with the US has adopted highly prudent safeguard measures to protect taxpayers' privacy and the confidentiality of information exchanged," he said.
For the agreement to take effect, the Chief Executive in Council will have to make an order under the Inland Revenue Ordinance. The order will take effect unless the Legislative Council objects to it.
The reported earlier that Cathay Pacific planned to comply with the US law. Cathay pilots said they were concerned about privacy and were puzzled why companies in Hong Kong needed to comply with the regulations of a foreign country.
"How can Cathay give a foreign government our details without our permission? There is a good case [that this is] against Hong Kong [privacy] law," one American pilot said.
