Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

1,012 thoughts on “FATCA Discussion Thread (Ask your questions) Part One”

  7. *Will fatca forces foreign FFI’s to report 2011 accounts which were closed? I had a 100K account in my name (dual citizen) and closed it in 2011. Never filed FBAR or anything ( didn’t know about it) . What should I do. Will the bank report me to the IRS? Please help and advise

  9. Petros – But accelerated reporting based on net worth IS in the cards. This from the just released IRS A-12-42 titled Timelines for Due Diligence and Other Requirements under FATCA. Last page shows prioritization of Preexisting High Value Accounts of Individuals – end of 2014 or one year after agreement for the bigger fish vs end of 2015 or two years after agreement for the minnows. Suction-dredge those mother lodes and then hand pan for the tailings!

  10. @usxcanada..

    Colorful description:  🙂

    Suction-dredge those mother lodes and then hand pan for the tailings!

  11. @USX, pre-existing does not mean, “no-longer existing”, as in an account that was closed in 2011:  I’ve heard of nothing whatsoever that requires banks go back to find US persons accounts that were closed before the FATCA regulations came into effect.  I believe that it refers to “pre-existing” the implementation of the FATCA regulation but still exists.  I.e., those existing RRSP, TFSA, RESP accounts, etc.,  with more than US $50,000.

  12. *Confused.  Listen to Petros.  No FFI will report accounts that were closed prior to the FFI signing on to FATCA.  FATCA looks less likely every month.

  13. Petros –

    usx does not require a reading lesson. Do not undertake to refute what usx never said. The first word was BUT as introductory to something else on a related topic – a recently uncovered nugget [no suction dredging involved] seeking some thread to dangle from.

    All should take great comfort in the now virtual certainty that FATCA will never have any impact. All should bank (pun flag!) on the impossibility that the US would ever legislate anything retroactively, since no counterexample action of this sort can be pointed to. No one closing out an account wherever located should have any concern that transfer to a mattress (real or virtual) would ever be scrutinized or deemed retroactively trackable. Closing axiom: Treasury and State, functioning as fully suctioned sanctioned arms of the US octopus government, maintain a consistent, timely, and transparent application of the malicious judicious rule of squeeze law.

    Subtype closeoutus has recently been identified within the family of struthio camelus.

  14. The reason I am worried is what I read in one of the lawyers blog:

     ……..To make sure US citizens do not try to evade the upcoming act by transferring funds or changing account holdership to non-US citizens, the IRS can go back several years through accounts. And if someone gives up their citizenship, they will have to pay taxes for five more years…….

  17. Chinese banks flee London’s tough rules

    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3cabad56-2105-11e2-9720-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2AeNTTnvX

    So, what is the chance these STATE owned Chinese banks are going to comply with FATCA, if they are willing to relocate like this?

    If you can not read this article, copy and paste the headline into Google News, and it will come up for you. 

    China’s largest state-owned banks are moving big chunks of their European business to Luxembourg as they seek to escape tougher regulation in the City of London.

    In a recent letter to the UK Treasury, the Chinese banks bitterly complained that uneven regulation and “rigorously demanding” liquidity rules had prompted them to transfer business and even the management of their European operations out of London.

  18. *Doke of Devon

    That is the problem I live in the US and closed my overseas account recently by purchasing a land overseas in my home country. If the bank gives my name to the IRS it will be a flagrant tax evasion crime unless I enter OVDI now. 

  19. *You need better advice than I can give.  However it is most unlikely a FFI will give your name. No FFI has yet decided what to do. The regulations are not finalized. The start has been delayed several times and is years away. Be very, very wary of OVDI

  20. Confused…

    Listen to the Duke!  DO NOT rush to the OVDI or OVDP as it now called. Its a nightmare.

    You are no where near knowledgeable enough of the risks associated with that choice, and what other options there are for compliance without expending 2 years of LCUs (life credit units) that it would take to complete the process, let alone what it might cost in real dollars 

    You will need professional advice before you do anything that drastic. Before you get advice, you will need to do your own drudgery of self education just to be able to be conversant enough to know if the advice you are being given is valid.  I would start here first.  The discovery path is not easy, and I wish you well. 

  21. @confused

    Just me is right. I am in the 2011 OVDI because the IRS led many to believe there were no other options to become tax and FBAR compliant. If you read the Nationsl Tax Advocate’s 2011 Report to Congress she confirms this.  IRS Commissioner has still not addressed her concerns and not much has changed. Many like me have gone into OVDI and realized that they should have taken other routes and have now opted out to eceive no penalties. You may be able to go through a lot less hassle than OVDI exercising another option. Get good advice on what those options are.

  22. These were posted earlier in another thread but perhaps this is a better location for them:

    1. FATCA – Ireland expected to sign an intergovernmental agreement shortly

    “On 12 September 2012 the UK became the first country to sign an IGA with the US to implement FATCA. This is significant in an Irish context as it is expected that Ireland will enter into a similar agreement shortly.”

    http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5d35331d-2376-4fb5-b152-35d039340c9e

    2. NZ to Negotiate FATCA Agreement With US

    “Without an inter-governmental agreement, financial institutions would have
    to enter into separate agreements……………and risk being in conflict with New
    Zealand’s privacy and human rights laws”.

    http://www.tax-news.com/news/NZ_To_Negotiate_FATCA_Agreement_With_US____58009.html

  23. @John Brown

    Yes, this is a better place.  Thanks for putting them over here.  This is kind of the unofficial thread for new FATCA announcements.  Handy reference place to look back and find an old article you lost track of.  Thanks for putting it here. 

  25. @John Brown

    Thanks again.  Unfortunately those are well know specialized blogs that comment often on FATCA, and what we need is these stories to be carried more on MSM media, and thereins is the challenge.  When I see or hear an indepth discussion an explanation of FATCA on NBC nightly news, or on PBS News Hour, then I will know the word is getting out!   

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