Tax doesn’t have to be taxing. But the  Israeli High Court’s temporary injunction against the enforcement of America’s controversial global tax law FATCA should serve as “a wake-up call” for other nations to rethink enforcing this “toxic, flawed and imperialistic legislation,” according to the boss of a leading independent financial firm that advises high-net-worth individuals (HNWI’s) and expats globally.
The striking comments from Nigel Green, chief executive and founder of deVere Group with around $10 billion of assets under advisement (AUA) that opened a new US hub office in Miami this August, comes as Israel’s High Court of Justice threw a proverbial spanner in the works over Israeli government plans on Wednesday to begin actively implementing the U.S.’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) in the country.
Under FATCA, which came into effect in July 2014, all non-U.S. financial institutions globally are required to report the financial information of American clients and U.S. Green Card holders who have accounts holding more than $50,000 directly and routinely to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States.

US tax form with calculator and pen, over light and vintage tone. (Image: Shutterstock).
However, just days prior to this process being activated and going into operation in Israel, Justice Hanan Meltzer ordered officials to stop the preparatory work. Now an emergency hearing is scheduled to be held on the matter before September 15.
“Justice Meltzer’s action should be championed,” deVere’s Green asserts, who is an outspoken critic of FATCA. “His wise caution should serve as a wake-up call for other countries to rethink enforcing this toxic, flawed, damaging legislation that is being imposed on sovereign states around the world by the U.S.”