Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain announced earlier this month that they will be partnering more closely with the U.S. in terms of sharing information required by FATCA, or the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. FATCA became law in 2010 with the express goal of helping the Internal Revenue Service identify American's hidden overseas assets. Foreign financial institutions will play a key role in FATCA's implementation. FATCA in essence has greatly expanded the existing IRS compliance initiatives, and is expected to bring in another $1 billion per year toward closing a persistent tax gap that continues to attract more and more attention from the IRS.