Banks said to seek nationality pledge

KUWAIT CITY, Aug 19: Kuwaiti banks will submit a written admission for its Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti clients to pledge they do not hold any other nationality, particularly US citizenship, says Al-Anba daily.

The daily quoting reliable sources explained the decision coincides with implementation of the agreement signed with local banks to convey data and files to the US State Treasury by early September prior to execution of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) which was approved last April.

They indicated the banks have practically started updating databases of its Kuwaiti clients who hold US citizenship by activating an SMS service to notify them.

According to FATCA, the Kuwaiti financial institutions are committed to inform the US Treasury of bank accounts of US citizens residing in Kuwait. However, the agreement will not take effect until the Parliament approves of the law and publishes it in the official gazette.

Information from Kuwait’s Finance Ministry indicated the choice of giving up the US citizenship does not exempt individuals from paying tax defaulted earlier, and the law requires exchange of banking information between Kuwait and the United States of America.

Moreover, failure to declare assets will attract fine of $100,000 or 50 percent deduction from the account balance.