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@myhomecanada, I have not been filing for 35 years that I have been in Canada, I knew nothing of it, I had no idea I was suppose to be filing. It is so frustrating, I heard about it on the evening news at the end of August 2011, I almost fell out of a chair.. I could not believe what I was hearing, then starting really looking into and got scared out of my mind..
I am law abiding citizens also. We are not tax cheats. It is so ridculous how we are being treated.. Not Right, Not Fair !!
I wish I didn’t have to renounce but I can’t do this year after year, too expensive for accountants.
@saddened, do like me and ask for taxpayers assistance in filing US taxes!
http://isaacbrocksociety.com/2012/05/05/are-you-too-poor-to-file-us-income-tax-apparently-my-husband-and-i-are/
@myhomecanada, If there is anything I can help you with just let me know.. there are alot of great people on this site. You have definetly come to the right place.
@bubblebustin, I have now filed 5 years, but did not file for 35 years.. I didn’t realize I had too..
To:saddened123…were there any penalties when you started filing?
@myhomecanada, It has only been about 6 months since I filed, haven’t heard anything yet..They are probably so bogged down with paperwork. I am hoping this is a good sign.. but I have a feeling they have not even got to my return yet. Keeping fingers crossed..
For anyone interested I’m in the same boat as saddened123. I’ve been a Canadian citizen since 1971 and lived in Canada since 1965, I only learned about 1040s and FBARs in August, 2011 and promptly file 7 years worth before the end of August, I haven’t heard a word back from the IRS…but I did renounce in March.
Some would say that there are many shades of meaning in all of the negotiations about FATCA, FBAR, and Double Taxation. What is the middle ground? Is there a middle ground? Should we, after all we have seen of IRS bait and switch practices, search for a middle ground or look for a multi-tier approach in the application of FATCA, FBAR and Double Taxation? Or is the correct answer something like “None of the above”?
Personally, I reject the US extraterritorial incursions at issue on Isaac Brock, and do reject such even more emphatically as to bone fide residents outside the United States of America. I think that the zero-tier approach is the only valid response to US attempts at imposing its bureaucratic imperialism. USA: get out of the lives of bone fide residents abroad!
An open question as to shades of meaning in the current opaque business of negotiations around FATCA implementation: Imagine that a non-US institution has a theoretical depositor who is a non-US resident (USP recalcitrant, USP compliant, local citizen, 3rd country citizen, or any imaginable permutation of the above) what does the financial institution really risk if the depositor holds only basic accounts with the bank (no US investments)? Examples: current/salary accounts or savings accounts.
If such a theoretical depositor receives no money from the US and sends no money to the US through their account, I would think that there would be no 30% withholding. Somebody correct me if I am wrong (please cite sources).
US citizens resident abroad have already been barred from both foreign and US brokerage accounts for many years now. This was already a discriminatory denial of equal economic rights. We cannot allow things to get worse. Nay, we must turn back the tide.
@Jefferson, I couldn’t agree with you more, as we know any ground on shifting sands is all we’ll ever get. Did you read my letter to ACA regarding their proposal of a tiered FATCA approach (with response)? I did make one error, I said I would be subject to a manual bank account search, when in fact it would be electronic.
http://isaacbrocksociety.com/2012/05/05/aca-has-just-issued-the-april-2012-news-update/
@grromit
I landed in Canada in 1964 and became a citizen in 1972. At that time, the Canadian oath of citizenship required both an oath of allegiance to the Queen and her heirs and a ‘renunciatory oath’ renouncing any allegiance to any foreign sovereign or state.
I have been doing lots of research on this blog and many other sites. My firm belief is that anyone in this situation, who has not done anything since becoming a Canadian to indicate that they wished to retain their U.S. citizenship, is, in fact, entitled to a CLN based on ‘relinquishment’, dated back to their expatriating act. There would be no need to file any back U.S. taxes. And certainly I have no intention of doing so.
US citizen or not: in Canada, as a Canadian Citizen, your activities in Canada ARE NOT SUBJECT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES !!!
When will the IRS and other Unca Sam federal administration people finally understand this? When will our governments in the countries where we live quit kneeling before Unca Sam and tell him to go back to the lower-48?
@Jefferson D. Tomas
The Breivik trial in Norway is being intensively covered front page throughout Scandinavia, with continous sidebars about the topic. About 2 weeks ago there were articles out that Breivik’s mother held his money in USA banks and it was labeled as money laundering in the press. I did not see followup articles—neither about a retraction nor about any police reaction. Scandinavian residents are expected to self-report their foreign assets for world-wide income taxation on interest. Norway has a wealth tax on worldwide assets whereas Sweden eliminated its wealth tax in 2005. Not reporting that income would have been a tax crime. That high-profile coverage would surely set a mood in Scandinavia to make the same reciprocity deal as the 5 FR/UK/D/S/i? made a few months ago. With the latest Obama add attacking Romney’s swiss bank account, the USA mood against us will also get worse.
I finished writing a letter to my representatives (one in the House and two senators) about citizenship-based taxation, FATCA, FBAR, and the nightmare that people are reporting in this blog. I also thought about sending this letter to the current presidential candidates, so I searched about their opinion on the issue.
Barack Obama, in his quest to tax the “rich” even more, is in part responsible for the financial mess that US citizens abroad are facing. Someone in this blog already sent a letter to him and received an automatic response that did not address the issue, so I thought that it would be useless to send him my letter now. I may send it to him later if he is re-elected.
Mitt Romney is proposing territorial taxation for corporations, so I think he might agree with residency-based taxation for people. I’m sending my letter to him.
Ron Paul has a much easier solution: abolish the entire income tax and eventually shut down the IRS. Doesn’t that sound nice? I guess I don’t even need to send him my letter. Too bad that he has a negligible chance of receiving the republican nomination, let alone being elected.
I now have a WordPress ID, so I would appreciate if I could become an author in this blog, so I can post the responses that I receive from the politicians.
I’ve also been talking about the issue to people I know. Most are surprised that US citizens abroad even have to pay taxes to the US, and are shocked when I mention all the rules, forms and penalties. I just hope that the politicians have some empathy too.
@Shadow Raider
Welcome to Isaac Brock Society. ‘Most are surprised that US citizens abroad even have to pay taxes to the US’. How true it is. Very few Americans seem to understand or have any clue at all what is happening to US persons abroad between taxation, FBAR forms and FATCA.
Also, your comment regarding Obama being partly responsible. He is the person who appointed Timothy Geithner; he is responsible.
how can become an author to start a new topic?
IMPORTANT – CAN ADMIN PLEASE POST APPROPRIATELY:
SENIOR WASHINGTON DC LOBBYIST AGAINST FATCA –
“James George Jatras is a Principal of Squire Sanders Public Advocacy, a Washington-based government relations firm. He previously served as a policy analyst at U.S. Senate and as an American diplomat. He can be reached at james.jatras@squiresanders.com.”
His article:
FATCA’s “Vulnerabilities Evident,” Washington Expert Claims, Calls for Repeal
WASHINGTON, May 10, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The following is being released by Global Strategic Communications Group:
The FATCA law should be scrapped, writes James George Jatras, a Washington-based legislative specialist and expert in international affairs, in a May 8 UPI commentary. Citing “untold costs” versus “trivial revenue recovery,” Jatras shatters the myth that FATCA (“Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”) is a “done deal” and calls for “first rendering FATCA unenforceable, and then for its final repeal.”
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fatcas-vulnerabilities-evident-washington-expert-claims-calls-for-repeal-2012-05-10
Twitter @repealfatca
UPI: “Why ‘FATCA’ should be repealed”
For further analysis: “Global Financial Information Regime Looms”
Contact: Global Strategic Communications Group, Darren Spinck, 202-669-4418, darren@gscgrouppr.com
SOURCE Global Strategic Communications Group
@wondering, that Marketwatch article should really be on its own thread! Mr Jatras has clout in Washington an a voice of reason in the wilderness of Washington. Reading it would cheer a lot of us up!
Hello. I’m a former born-in-U.S. American who “willfully committed and reported an expatriating act” to the Tokyo Embassy late last year by acquiring Japanese nationality. I run a blog about acquiring Japanese citizenship , but I’d like to post here about renouncing if that’s okay, as renouncing one particular country (U.S.) citizenship is a little out of scope for my main blog. May I have posting privileges?
@Eido Inoue
Thanks for coming over. We are keeping a directory of consular expatriation visits. We don’t have any entries for Tokyo yet.
I’d be happy to write one up. The hardest part of it was getting the appointments. Only the top consular officer apparently could do it (not the low level people that do visas), and his golf schedule and my business travel schedule never seemed to sync up. 😉 (I kid, I kid. Sort of) Once the stars were aligned though they were very polite and courteous.
It got so bad that I almost tried renouncing in Taiwan, which has no embassy (due to the U.S.’s political stance with the PRC) and the “non-profit ACS” (American Services Center) handles a lot of expatriations due to the politics of Taipei vs America vs One China.
In Japan, it takes three appointments with the embassy. In Taiwan, it takes just two. And the ACS, unlike most embassies, does not feel like an impersonal fortress where you shout through holes in bulletproof glass to a clerk whose finger is near a red panic button under the desk which summons the on-duty Marines.
@Eido, the stories are being posted at the the Consulate Report-the sticky post
I finally compelled myself to sign-up at wordpress 🙂
Please allow me to to start creating threads.
Thanx
Sorry, but the email address was inactive for a few days 🙁 It should be working now. Would like to try out posting.
@UncleTell
Nice profile image!