A new Barrie McKenna piece is up at the G&M website.
Key Quotes:
Conspicuously absent from the statement was Canada.
Daily Archives: February 8, 2012
U.S. Treasury says, "When taxpayers overseas avoid paying what they owe, other Americans have to bear a disproportionate share of the tax burden"
This is the comment of the day, from omghe’sstillanamerican:
Yes the UK talks about collecting foreign account information of residents of their own countries while the Treasury department issued this gem (Bloomberg Businessweek):
“When taxpayers overseas avoid paying what they owe, other Americans have to bear a disproportionate share of the tax burden,” Emily McMahon, the Treasury’s acting assistant secretary for tax policy, said in the press release. “FATCA is an important part of the U.S. government’s effort to address that issue and these regulations implement FATCA in a way that is targeted and efficient.”
OVDI Switcheroo: Canadian RRSP back in the penalty base
News Flash: The United States government is so desperate for cash that the IRS has put the RRSP back into the penalty base for the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative. You can read about here and at the Serbinski Forum (see comments by Tacova and tsanaha).
Imagine that. The United States is now raiding the retirement accounts of Canadians. Way to take the high ground Mr. Shulman. Way!
Letters from IRS starting to come in
Yesterday I received a computer-generated letter from the IRS regarding the first of four 1040 returns I sent in mid-December. I check the mailbox everyday, thinking the notice from hell may arrive, though I really did not expect to hear a word for months. So I wondered before opening it, am I about to lose my sense of calm gained by renouncing and trying to focus, at least occasionally, on something else. I posted a bit about this yesterday but was unable to copy/paste the letter; Petros asked today that I include it in a new post.
New FATCA comments from Flaherty
A Treasury official said in a conference call with reporters that more countries may join the “FATCA partners” list.
“We’ve had numerous conversations with other governments beyond the five that are cited,” the official said.
Asked about Canada’s exclusion from the list of five countries, a senior government official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the United States “was open to exploring a similar arrangement with Canada.”
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the ministry had raised “serious concerns” about FATCA with the United States.
“Today’s announcement appears to demonstrate an interest in greater joint government collaboration to address such concerns. We will continue to work with our American counterparts towards an approach acceptable to both our countries,” he said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/us-usa-tax-treasury-fatca-idUSTRE8171G620120208
Treasury, IRS Issue Proposed Regulations for FATCA Implementation – DATCA (lite)
Media Relations Office Washington,D.C. Media Contact: 202.622.4000
www.IRS.gov/newsroom Public Contact: 800.829.1040
Treasury, IRS Issue Proposed Regulations for FATCA Implementation
IR-2012-15, Feb. 8, 2012
WASHINGTON— The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today issued proposed regulations for the next major phase of implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
Enacted by Congress in 2010, the law targets non-compliance by U.S.taxpayers using foreign accounts.
BREAKING NEWS: UK Government Statement on FATCA
Everyone can read into this how they want but I wanted to put it up. They seem to be indicating further negotiations will need to be undertaken. No mention of dual nationals but they do mention all of the countries involved have a “residency” based tax system.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/joint_intl_statement_fatca.htm
Son of FATCA: Carl Levin's "CUT Loopholes Act" (S.2075) will make normal business even harder for American expat entrepreneurs and all other Americans abroad
Senator Carl Levin, not yet ready to rest on his laurels with the damage he’s done to Americans abroad by sneaking FATCA into the HIRE Act at the last minute, has apparently decided it’s a good idea to decrease American economic activity by making it even harder for Americans abroad, especially expat entrepreneurs, to do business with domestic American suppliers of goods and services. The full text of his newly-proposed “CUT Exports Loopholes Act” is not yet available publicly, but he’s already put out a press release about it. In his floor statement, he described it as a subset of what he attempted to get implemented in the “Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act” (S.1346). Continue reading
FATCA is not Queenston Heights, says 30-year IRS veteran
Speaking out again, 30-year IRS Vet tells us that Isaac Brock was a great guy but that FATCA is not the hill that any of us wants to die on.
