Credit Suisse says tax haven bill may hurt foreign investment

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A Credit Suisse Group executive said the company is concerned that proposed legislation to crack down on offshore tax havens would hurt foreign investment in the United States.

Tom Prevost, Credit Suisse’s tax director for the Americas, said the bill’s effort to strengthen a program in which foreign banks provide some information about U.S. clients to the Internal Revenue Service may cause some banks to withdraw.

“There are significant fears in the international banking community” that participating in the program “may lose its appeal and simply carry too much compliance burden, which could have negative ramifications for foreign investment into the U.S.,” Prevost told a House Ways and Means subcommittee in prepared testimony.

The legislation would impose a 30% withholding tax on income from U.S. assets held by non-U.S. institutions that refuse to name American account holders and report balances, deposits and withdrawals.

-- Bloomberg News