Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of the United States of America M. André Goodfriend and Minister of State for Taxation and Financial Affairs Gábor Orbán signed an agreement today between the governments of Hungary and the United States of America to implement the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Enacted by the United States Congress in 2010, FATCA targets tax evasion by U.S. taxpayers who use foreign financial accounts. The agreement signed today provides the necessary legal framework for effective implementation of FATCA by financial institutions. This agreement is an example of how the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Hungarian government cooperate to combat tax evasion.

Download“Today’s signing marks a significant step forward in our countries’ efforts to work collaboratively to combat offshore tax evasion – an objective that mutually benefits our two countries,” said the Chargé d’Affaires. “We appreciate Hungary’s commitment to enhancing our bilateral cooperation to improve international tax compliance.”

Minister of State Gábor Orbán noted, “Hungary is the first country from the region to sign this agreement. The Agreement provides a solution for our financial markets to comply with the FATCA regime and helps us to combat tax avoidance through its provisions on reciprocal information exchange. As the U.S. Department of Treasury is engaged in negotiations with more than 100 countries and the automatic exchange of information is prepared to be a new global standard, we are at the beginning of a new kind of cooperation.”

(Ministry for National Economy)