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CCH Briefing Examines Jobs Bill Impact on Foreign Financial Institutions

(RIVERWOODS, ILL., March 17, 2010) – A new Briefing from CCH details the provisions of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act that affect foreign financial institutions. The Act passed the House on March 4, 2010 by a vote of 217 to 201. The Senate passed the measure on March 17 by a vote of 68 to 29. It now goes to President Obama for his expected signature. CCH is part of Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, a leading provider of research information and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal and business professionals (business.cch.com).

To read the Briefing: Jobs Bill Places Offshore Financial Firms under Reporting and Tax Regime,click here, or visit http://business.cch.com/briefings/jobsbill.pdf.

The HIRE Act offsets the cost of its job-creation provisions by casting a wide net in search of U.S. accounts at foreign financial institutions.

“The legislation would create a broad new reporting and taxing regime for foreign financial institutions with U.S. accountholders ,” said Briefing author and CCH Principal Securities Law Analyst Jim Hamilton, JD, LLM .

The Act will essentially present foreign financial firms with the choice of entering into agreements with the IRS to provide information about their U.S. accountholders or becoming subject to 30-percent withholding tax.

The Briefing notes that the reach of the legislation goes beyond traditional financial institutions and covers virtually every type of foreign investment entity, including hedge funds, private equity funds and typical offshore securitization vehicles that hold U.S. assets and issue their own equity and debt securities, such as collateralized debt obligation issuers.

“Securities industry representatives have voiced concerns that the HIRE Act will necessitate costly reporting systems that will be extremely difficult to implement,” Hamilton notes. “In addition, reporting systems may run afoul of foreign data-protection and privacy laws.’’

For More Information

Members of the press interested in speaking with CCH securities and banking law experts should contact: Leslie Bonacum at 1-847-267-7153, mediahelp@cch.com; or Neil Allen at 1-847-267-2179, neil.allen@wolterskluwer.com.

For a copy of the Briefing: Jobs Bill Places Offshore Financial Firms under Reporting and Tax Regime,click here, or visit http://business.cch.com/briefings/jobsbill.pdf .

CCH Financial Crisis News Center

CCH also offers a wealth of special resources related to the financial crisis at the CCH Financial Crisis News Center, financialcrisisupdate.com. The Center provides the legal community and others with a cohesive and robust selection of breaking news stories, analysis and links to the full text of source documents for regulatory actions and serves as a central entry point for CCH banking and securities law resources related to the crisis. Analysis by Hamilton can be found there, as well as on his blog at http://jimhamiltonblog.blogspot.com/.

About Wolters Kluwer Law & Business

Wolters Kluwer Law & Business is a leading provider of research products and software solutions in key specialty areas for legal and business professionals, as well as casebooks and study aids for law students. Its major product lines include Aspen Publishers, CCH, Kluwer Law International and Loislaw. Its markets include health care organizations, law firms, law schools, corporate counsel and professionals requiring legal and compliance information. Wolters Kluwer Law & Business, a unit of Wolters Kluwer, is based in New York City and Riverwoods, Ill.

Wolters Kluwer is a market-leading global information services company. Professionals in the areas of legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and healthcare rely on Wolters Kluwer’s leading, information-enabled tools and solutions to manage their business efficiently, deliver results to their clients, and succeed in an ever more dynamic world. Wolters Kluwer has 2009 annual revenues of €3.4 billion ($4.8 billion/£3.0 billion), employs approximately 19,300 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.

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