“Five to six million Americans living abroad, along with 39 million immigrants in the U.S., should theoretically be filing an FBAR. Yet in 2009, only 534,043 were filed, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.”
This nugget extracted from:
http://frontpagemag.com/2012/02/06/the-1-percent-exodus/
Among extraterritorials and immigrants to the United States …
100 to 1? 50 to 1? Who knows?
In cosmology, scale shifts to order of magnitude. Here on a chunk of planet Earth, navigation falls back on magnitude of disorder.
That is the point I have been making in my correspondence to Shulman going back to 2009, and have asked every Reporter I can think of to implore them to ask the Commissioner.
When the IRS asserts success, how can they do that without some indication of increased FBAR filings ratios? How can you do that without some calculations of what your current compliance rate is, what it should be, and how much has it improved. This is not just raw number, it has to be expressed in percentages. If you are only moving the needle from 3% to 7%, is that success?
The immigrants to the USA (Green Carders and Dual Citizens), if they have more than 10,000 dollars (aggregate) in bank accounts or investments in their countries of origin they must file FABARs. The same as for Americans living in the USA or abroad. And I guess the banks in foreign countries will have to report to the US the names of all Americans who are their clients. There are however some questions: Green Carders and Dual Citizens have accounts in their country of origin as nationals and not as Americans, And if the foreign countries demand reciprocity can you imagine the USA banks in the USA reporting to foreign countries all the accounts they have of resident aliens? When the FBARS came I thought that once done you could save them and do them again next year with the mofifications. Not so… I have no ida why this can´t be done. It seems that in 2011 you can´t use the form you filled for 2010… So you will have to do the whole thing.all over again… Why?
I just made a donation to ACA: http://www.aca.ch
the point of my last post is that I was in compliance with my tax filing requirements, but FBAR caused me dread. How was I to file this, when none of what was in the bank accounts I had earned. Then face the potential fines and imprisonment for quiet disclosure. Hell no. The US government needs that information to convict you. Why give them what they need to throw you in jail? (well now it’s because of FATCA). I thought there was this thing called the Fifth Amendment. If mafia guys in the movies can plead the Fifth, if crooks being picked up off the street have Miranda rights, why isn’t there a Fifth Amendment for Americans living abroad? Because the purpose of man is to pay his fair share. Everything gives way to the greater good. Who cares how many 10 amendment rights are smashed crashed and burned, provided that the IRS can get you to pay your fair share? Nice ring to those words, they rhyme: “Fair Share” — “Hey you with the long hair, when you gonna pay your fair share?”
Mark,
First issue: They are proposing the DATCA, where they will send US bank account details in America to foreign countries. There are a few people in Congress that oppose it.
Second issue: they want to get all of the details again to see if you have unreported income.
The real crazy part about these US laws is that they violate most privacy rights in most countries. If you have a joint account with a spouse, and you send the details of your account to the US, then I bet you are breaking a Brazilian privacy law. But remember, the US consulate can do nothing for you if you are thrown in jail here. It’s really absurd.
Simple fact. IRS is getting any of the above issues–or any relevant points–for one simple reason. They don’t want to get it. Other ways of doing business are far too logical, rational, efficient and effective for IRS.
I don’t think the reciprocity issue is going to go anywhere. I have seen no indication other countries–with maybe with exception of Eritrea and North Korea–are even remotely interested.
As I will soon prepare my Canadian income tax return, I am once again grateful for the professionalism, respect and common sense CRA consistently shows to its taxpayers. .
Any teacher who had a student failure rate like this would either have to rethink his/her teaching method or face losing the job. The failure rate of FBAR compliance is somewhat reminiscent of the failure that was encountered with Prohibition.
Both of these laws shared the same legal wrong which is that they denied people their personal liberties and turned innocent people into criminals.
In the end it was the indiscriminately wide scope of Prohibition that resulted in people ignoring the law and culminated in its repeal.
People have a right to bank wherever they want. If the government believes that a foreign bank account is being used to evade taxes then it is up to the government to prove such is the case. Otherwise there must be a presumption of innocence. Even the T.A.S. in her report reprimanded the I.R.S. for ignoring this basic principle of American jurisprudence.