S. 779

Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act

This bill authorizes the Department of the Treasury to impose restrictions on foreign jurisdictions or financial institutions to counter money laundering and efforts to significantly impede U.S. tax enforcement.

The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to

• expand reporting requirements for certain foreign investments and accounts held by U.S. persons,
• establish a rebuttable presumption against the validity of transactions by institutions that do not comply with reporting requirements under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,
• treat certain foreign corporations managed and controlled primarily in the United States as domestic corporations for tax purposes,
• treat swap payments sent offshore as taxable U.S. source income,
• require reporting of United States beneficial owners of foreign-owned financial accounts,
• impose additional requirements for third party summonses used to obtain information in tax investigations that do not identify the person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued (i.e., John Doe summons), and
• modify the rules for the taxation of inverted corporations (U.S. corporations that acquire foreign companies to reincorporate in a foreign jurisdiction with income tax rates lower than the United States).

The bill amends the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to (1) require corporations to disclose certain financial information on a country-by-country basis, and (2) impose penalties for failing to disclose offshore holdings.

The bill makes investment advisers and persons engaged in forming new business entities subject to new anti-money laundering requirements.