The gurus at TConsult Ltd have been hard at work over the past year. Not only have we helped our clients with their regulatory compliance conundrums, but we have also written a book!

Our book, GATCA: A Practical Guide to Global Anti-Tax Evasion Frameworks, is available in hardback and e-book form.

I suppose the question is why another book?

Our CEO, Ross McGill, has previously written six books, including US Withholding Tax: Practical Implications of QI and FATCA in 2013. However, since then the industry has seen substantial change in the regulatory landscape. We have written a number blog posts highlighting some of these changes, but we felt it was time for an updated book that not only reinforces the important points covered in Ross’ previous book, but also provides vital new details, particularly in relation to FATCA. But hold onto your horses, because we didn’t stop there….

It is not just the financial services industry that is changing and evolving. AtTConsult we have expanded our subject matter expertise so we can provideour clients with a better helping hand when it comes to meeting their compliance obligations. We therefore included chapters relating to the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI), Common Reporting Standards (CRS) and Base Erosion Profit Shifting (BEPS) regulations which have been introduced by the OECD. These changes, together with the existing FATCA (IRC Chapter 4) and QI regulations (IRC Chapter 3), have formed the basis of the industry term “GATCA” (Global Account Tax Compliance Activities).

In our experience GATCA is becoming, and to a large extent has become, the new FATCA. The magnitude of change that has happened over the past few yearsdue to the introduction of AEoI, CRS and BEPS, is the driving forceand reason for the book.

It would be easy to just paste and copy the regulations and briefly explain them. Our new book not only describes the regulations and obligations in plain and simple language, but also discusses how to practically operationalise these within your business. We draw on our experience with various compliance departments, administrators and managers to help those affected by the operational and compliance burden and impacts of the regulatory frameworks. We also encourage our readers to be proud of meeting their regulatory obligations and to wear this as a badge of honour to demonstrate to their clients that they are in good hands.

All of the GATCA regulations share a collective purpose to detect, deter and report potential cross border tax evasion and improve transparency throughout the industry and market. The latest EU ‘list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes’ that was released on 5th December 2017 and the USA’s own ‘black list’ demonstrate how seriously these efforts are being taken by legislators, and the degree of public interest in such issues. The more jurisdictions sign up to these regulations, the more effective the fight against tax evasion.

If you want to know more about GATCA: A Practical Guide to Global Anti-Tax Evasion Frameworks, we will be releasing a podcast where co-authors Chris Haye and Stuart Lipo discuss the book. Alternatively, feel free to contact us at TConsult to see how we might be able to help your firm achieve compliance.