Those of you who are not on the USTAX [at] stu [dot] ca listsrv that Russ Hunt is operating will not have received the following message:
I’ve added some information to my US Tax Web site about the recent announcement from the IRS announcement that it intends “to help dual citizens residing in Canada deal with their US tax filing obligations” and to “offer assistance to those with Canadian retirement plans.”
I was prompted to do a bit of research and add it to the site by the news that the IRS initiative had been “welcomed” by Jim Flaherty, and by a request to do an interview with the local CBC Information Morning show. Marie Cashion and I will be on at 7:15 tomorrow morning. If you’ve up at that hour on a holiday weekend, congratulations; you can hear it on line at http://cbc.ca/nb ; if not, sometimes interviews are posted on the Web site. In any case, my expectation is that it will be much more useful to have a look at my site:
http://people.stu.ca/~hunt/ustaxinfo/
— Russ
I listened to the broadcast just now. I think they did an excellent job of laying out the problems associated with taxation and FBARS facing those the US considers US citizens.
I would have liked it a bit better if they could have spoken with one voice on the issue of the new announcement by the IRS about penalties and taxes which has been a topic here for a while. Marie was optimistic that this was a significant change and would be positive news. Russ was of the opinion that it was no real change and actually upped the penalties for those who didn’t qualify. Too little too late as was mentioned here.
The question of accidental Americans was mentioned but the issue closest to my heart – having performed an expatriating act many years ago was not gone into to any depth. Russ did say near the beginning of the interview that had he taken out citizenship when he first arrived in Canada he wouldn’t be in this mess now. Well, I came just about the same time he did and I did take out citizenship as soon as I could (5 year waiting period at the time) and I am *not* clear of this mess.
Overall, however, it was a good interview and the interviewer was sympathetic. Good publicity for the cause.
@Johnnb, Thanks for the report. If it goes up for more permanently on the website, somebody let us know.
There is an audio recording of this interview here.
@johnnb
Thanks, John for posting the link to the audio recording. Interesting comment made by Russ regarding Americans who became Canadians many years ago no longer being Americans. I did wonder when he had finally taken out his Canadian citizenship. As he said he came to Canada in 1968 but it sounds like he waited some time to apply for Canadian citizenship – perhaps after 1986. I also wondered if either guest of the show were familiar with this website. They both spoke glowingly of American Citizens Abroad.