After two attempts to have Rickerby Wealth Group respond to my requests to have them cover the “elephant in the room” (FATCA) on one of their regular guest appearance on the morning news, Shaun Rickerby informs Global TV viewers of the impending US legislation. (My apologies for the low- tech recording off my PVR. Viewerrickerby2s need QuickTime Player-downloads are free).
I still say that the best thing for the rest of the nations of the world to do is to call the American’s bluff. They should tell the U.S. in no uncertain terms that ALL people who are legal residents within their borders come under the legal protections of their Constitutions and that they will not ALLOW any of their currencies to be converted into U.S. dollars for the purpose of paying any U.S. tax.
If necessary the world’s financial system is capable of developing an alternative clearing mechanism for the settling of payments.
FATCA may well prove to be the single biggest drain on worldwide capital flows and therefore badly needed economic growth, that the world has ever seen. It cannot be allowed to go forward. The U.S. is NOT the center of the universe or of the world economy. The Americans need to learn humility.
Thank you bubblebustin for posting that (it was good quality). That was a very level headed discussion and I’m glad you caught it.
And recalcitrant — I totally agree!
Excellent video, we need more like this. Go see your banks, set up meeting with their FATCA compliance teams, tell them your story face-to-face, by fax, by letter, by email… Let every single one of the 7 million know what they are in for. I truly believe that still only a small (but increasing) percentage are currently aware of any of this. I do hope the public awareness will come before the debates in November.
*recalcitrantexpat – Thanks for posting the video. But do we all really need to rush out and get legal and accounting advice? This is just feeding into those people who are looking to make money off of more bad legal and accounting advice. For example, a co-worker of mine was told to do a silent disclosure and file for the last four years. At the very least that’s bad advice.
Hello, itacaf.
The video was posted by bubblebustin’.
We need education — and we’re getting it here. From what we learn here, we can all make our decisions for need or not to get US legal and tax advice. I feel like I’m fighting for my life here, so that has been my decision. I did, but wouldn’t again, start with cross-border tax advice. I made serious mistakes and now know I should have first consulted an immigration / nationality lawyer to confirm my US status.
Mr. Rickerby is, though, waking a few people up. I wish they had the info to start their education here at Isaac Brock.
@itacaf- Thanks but I can’t take credit for posting this video; that honour goes to bubblebustin. I agree with your comment about there being no more need for bad advice to be given. Unfortunately though the lack of clarity from up on high contributes to the confusion.
The truth is that the IRS and Congress are making up the rules as they go along. Witness the whole mess with poor Mr. Saverin. Their goal is to maximize revenue collection and expand the empire. It is not to develop objective and fair rules for taxation. You can’t get much messier that.
@recalcitrantexpat: “FATCA may well prove to be the single biggerst drain on worldwide capital flows and therefore badly needed economic growth, that the world has ever seen. It cannot be allowed to go forward. The U.S. is NOT the center of the universe or of the world economy. The Americans need to learn humility”.
I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, however, I am not sure any Canadian bank will choose instead to give up its’ American operations. I met with my financial advisor from RBC Dominion Securities earlier in the week. She is not a fan of FATCA. However, this is what she told me:
The US is not the ‘centre of the universe’ anymore. It may very well be nearing implosion. However, it still has a very ‘large footprint’ on the rest of the world and is still good at ‘getting its way’ just like the bully in the schoolyard.
@itacaf, if only everyone would direct US persons to Isaac Brock Society first! 🙂
I think accounting advice should absolutely be part of, and included in the decision making process, but certainly not the only only source of advice a US person needs in deciding which course of action to take. You can often get very beneficial preliminary advice from professionals without charge. I didn’t get the impression that he was being predatory in recommending people do so. Also, there’s an adage often used by those in Mr Rickerby’s type of profession: CYA.
I think he knows financial institutions are dead in the water with FATCA unless there can be some political derailment of it. That would mean 1st class Canadians (those w/o US citizenship) rejecting it. Hence the references to privacy and sovereignty. . I suspect we’ll be hearing more from those like him as FATCA bears down upon all of us.
@bubblebustin
Listening to Mr. Rickerby’s interview, I also had the impression that his main goal was to pass the word to all Canadians that something needs to be done. And the best way to do that may well be to talk about privacy rights and Canadian sovereignty.
One thing I found most interesting was that after the interview on Global Morning News, I had three different friends phone me about the interview. They had heard my ‘ramblings’ about it over the last 5 months, but the interview made it more ‘real’ for them. So perhaps, if we are lucky, mainstream media will do more to get the word out and more pressure can be put on our government to do something.
@tiger
Was your financial adviser at all concerned about litigation in Canadian courts against her and her institution in Canadian courts or is the government somehow going to bail them out of that too.
@Tim
Good question. Wish I had thought to ask her that question. As you can imagine, I did not leave the meeting with her in a very good mood.
Several times in the interview I mentioned the Canadian Charter and the privacy rights of ALL Canadians, including those born in the U.S. She basically shrugged her shoulders each time I mentioned that but did not seem too concerned.
One more thing she did say at the end of the meeting was that in her opinion, it was going to be impossible for the banks to ferret out all U.S. customers. She said that she could not believe that electronic scans would begin to be enough to identify U.S. persons.
She certainly is not a fan of FATCA. It was more a case of her thinking – this is the U.S., FATCA is inevitable (or some form of FATCA). And that the Canadian government would find a way to reach an agreement because they would never abandon doing business in the U.S.
So we have RBC Dominion throwing in the towel saying that FATCA is inevitable, and TD Waterhouse saying it can be derailed through political efforts. Who do we believe? NO ONE! It ain’t over ’til the fat-ca lady sings.
Actually, to be fair the fact that CBA President Terry Campbell has brought up FATCA twice in recent public appearances is more significant than anything lower level customer facing employees are doing or saying.
@Bubblebustin
That was the same thing I thought when I listened to Mr. Rickerby’s interview. Another thing I just remembered was that I told by RBC advisor that I had read the comments made at the May 15th meeting re FATCA in Washington DC. I was sure to mention that I thought the person speaking on behalf of TD Waterhouse spoke out against FATCA.
A bit of ‘professional’ competition can be a good thing. But I also wanted to be sure that she understood that I have options available to me. I was very clear and to the point that my first concern had to be my own finacial health and who would best look after that.
@tiger, it is absolutely correct what your RBC person said! It will take a ridiculously rigorous vetting process to find all US persons (tell me, Mr. So-and-So, can you prove your parent’s nationalities?) This makes FATCA a sham, a token gesture of a compliance program.
Mr Rickerby is correct. The devil is most certainly in the details.
@tim, it’s the customers he is calling to arms.
Do you have something we can also read from Terry Campbell?
Oh yes, and you can believe that Mr Rickerby’s words were mandated from above.
@all- sometimes the best course of action is the one that seems the least appealing. I am convinced that FATCA is a bluff that the nations of the world must call. This is a game of chicken. The U.S. must come to believe that the captain is willing to destroy the ship rather than surrender it to the enemy.
Any country that subjects itself to FATCA is selling out its citizens to an unprecedented act of extra territorial encroachment. All Canadian citizens will be forced to answer questions that are not put there by the will of their elected representatives or for the benefit of their community but rather for the sole benefit of a foreign power.
No government should believe that it is in its best interest to become a vassal of another.
So true, @recalcitrant, so true.
Tim posted this on another thread and I think it needs to be here too for your viewing and listening:
Canadian Bankers Association Terry Campbell brought up FATCA again in another speech in Vancouver earlier this month. Video Below. FATCA remarks start at about 20:30
My comment was:
@Tim,
The excellent summary that Mr. Campbell gives to his audience of what US FATCA law means for Canada should be front page news.
Where are the journalists whose job it is to inform the Canadian people of what FATCA means to Canadian banks, the Canadian economy and an unjust cost stolen from the pockets of anyone who banks in Canada? This story needs to kept in the forefront?
@Tim
“Any country that subjects itself to FATCA is selling out its citizens to an unprecedented act of extra territorial encroachment.”
Unprecedented that is except for rendition and extradition, Cuban sanctions worldwide etc etc.
Thanks @Calgary, Tim for posting that. Sounds like Terry Campbell has declared war on FATCA. He provides great insight into the Canadian banking system and its emphasis on customer privacy and how FATCA will negatively effect the strength of the Canadian banking system. FATCA hides under the thinly veiled guise of being a compliance program to uncover US persons hiding money offshore. But it’s more than that. The US claims that FATCA is designed to combat offshore tax evasion but really it is using US citizens living in other countries as Trojan horses to diminish the strength of, and extract revenue from foreign banking systems. It will be impossible to vet US persons from the Canadian banking system, thus exposing our banks to the 30% withholding.
And can you imagine how much a dispute between a financial institution and the IRS would cost to resolve – in time and in money? So, even if the banks thought they could/should do it, seems as if there is plenty of potential for continuing legal and implementation/technical costs. Every change the IRS decides on in the future with FATCA, tweaking – even the retroactive kind they are prone to, means new costs for those trying to comply. Busy legal departments – with arcane international/cross-border US tax specialists, IT specialists for compliant systems, training for all staff, etc. It’s not a one time cost.
I can also see in a dispute that the US would act as they do in our softwood lumber disputes: take the money first, cost the industry millions to eventually rule in our favour, and keep the money anyway! The there is there other method, as in the RBC case, frivilously charge the institution with a violation and then offer ‘to settle’ on a magic number that would make the charges go away.
Just experimenting to see if I can get a Youtube video to show up.
Where FATCA and FBAR forms go to die…