The link to this excellent post at @BloombergBNA was first made on the Ask your FATCA Question thread by both @Badger and @Duke of Devon . It deserves a full airing as a separate post.
It is a scholarly discussion about all the things wrong with FATCA by Herman B. Bouma, Senior Tax Counsel at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC, and an international taxation expert. I do note that he lives in the Center of the Universe, close to the International Revenue Service in DC.
When something starts out like this, how can you not read it?
With all due respect, FATCA is sheer idiocy and must be repealed as soon as possible! There are 11 reasons why. 1. The Height of Arrogance.
If you like his article, you can thank him via email at: herman.bouma@bipc.com
For those that like Executive summaries, Andrew Quinlan at the Center for Freedom and Prosperity provides a nice bulleted list of the 11 items called:
FATCA Must GO! And Here’s WHY…
He adds his own 3 items, and I am sure we can all add to this list too. I have my own Number 12: Security, Identity theft and Fraud Risks.
Finally, @Blaze over at Maple Sandbox, inspired by these 11 Reasons, created an excellent list of 12 reasons why Canada must REJECT the FATCA IGA Cram Down!
Meanwhile Dr. Evil himself, Dick Harvey has published “OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS: INSIDER’S SUMMARY OF FATCA
AND ITS POTENTIAL FUTURE”
He manages to avoid mentioning the victims of his campaign and doesn’t address any of the criticisms of FATCA. He just makes some minor adjustments to his train timetables. Pretty clear that he’s not a real academic despite his university appointment as he doesn’t have the stomach to engage his critics in debate (probably because he does have a coherent response). He’s just a transplanted IRS bureaucrat.
@Jaffar
Thanks for the link and comment.
Dr Evil, Dick Harvey, has engaged in some debates outside his walls of comfort. A couple of them are posted here on ISB. Here is the link(s) for your reference.
J. Richard Harvey, James Jatras, and Jesse Eggert(US Treasury) debate FATCA
No video available that I am aware of.
ACA’s Jackie Bugnion and J. Richard Harvey debate FATCA for two nights this week
Here is the direct link to the video that got posted later in the comments
Dr. Evil holds the world’s financial system to ransom for $8billion dollars. I guess the real Dr. Evil was also confused about the real amount:
@All
See below: “U.S. Treasury to miss deadline on tax crackdown – sources” (Reuters)
So much for the FATCA juggernaut – another delay! This also signals IGAs are not falling into place as fast as they need to. Another reason CANADA must not rush to sign an IGA.
Impacted interests (FFS, foreign governments) need to stop preemtive surrender and wake up to the fact that Treasury is shooting blanks — and STOP negotiating IGAs with Washington. Instead, they need to support FATCA repeal in DC!
Media need to stop acting as bulletin boards for government releases and see that there’s a big story here: FATCA IS IN TROUBLE.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/20/us-usa-taxes-fatca-idUSBRE8BJ0T320121220
Exclusive: U.S. Treasury to miss deadline on tax crackdown – sources
10:16am EST
By Patrick Temple-West
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Treasury Department will miss a year-end deadline to publish final rules for a new global tax enforcement regime targeting the offshore assets of U.S. taxpayers, sources familiar with the timing said on Wednesday.
The rules represent one of the last implementation steps for the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, which is scheduled to take effect in 2014.
The accounting industry sources, who asked not to be named, said the rules are on track to be released in January.
A spokeswoman for the Treasury Department on Tuesday would not confirm whether the year-end deadline will be met.
“We are still working to issue the final regulations and they will be released soon,” the spokeswoman told Reuters.
Treasury has already missed one deadline for the publishing the final rules. It came and went in September.
FATCA was enacted in 2010 after an outcry over a Swiss banking scandal that revealed U.S. taxpayers had hidden millions of dollars in assets overseas from the Internal Revenue Service.
The law requires foreign financial institutions to tell the tax-collecting IRS about Americans’ offshore accounts worth more than $50,000.
International businesses ranging from Western Union Co to BlackRock Inc are waiting anxiously to see the rules so they can figure out how to comply with the law.
Delays mean businesses will have less time to prepare for compliance. Multinational firms have said they need at least 12 months to prepare for FATCA’s 2014 start date.
“It is critically important that final FATCA regulations are issued as soon as possible,” said Barbara Angus, a principal at Big Four accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP.
Treasury efforts on the rules may have been slowed by a number of government-to-government FATCA information-sharing deals it started pursuing earlier this year, tax experts said.
The United States has completed FATCA deals with the UK, Denmark and Mexico. Switzerland and Spain also have “initialed” agreements with Treasury.
Meanwhile, negotiations are continuing for deals with at least 50 other countries, according to the Treasury Department.
These deals represent a shift in FATCA implementation. While not envisioned as part of the 2010 law, the agreements are seen as a more practical way to implement the law.
Rather than forcing all foreign financial institutions to deal directly with the IRS, in some cases the agreements will allow the banks and funds to report information about American accountholders through their home governments to the IRS.
(Reporting by Patrick Temple-West; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh)
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@Jim…
Just woke up this morning to this story.. Thanks for posting, and thanks @USCitizenabroad for making it a separate Post.
and here is another reason FATCA must be repealed…
13. Unintended Consequences on Charities around the World.
See this blog post out of UK.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/01/13/ask-your-questions-about-fatca-discussion-thread/#comment-118565
#14. Unintended Consequences and COSTS on Mutual Funds
What, me worry about FATCA?
From Mexico…
FATCA: U.S. imposes extraterritoriality
Wonder how that other Laboratory experiment has worked out for Mexico, the War on Drugs?
Notice that Jim Jatras is quoted and giving more reasons for FATCA to be repealed.
This is sort of irrelevant, but WTF: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/25/us/new-york-gun-permit-map/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 Gee, now criminals and terrorists know who to burglarize to get their hands on hardware. Just like terrorists will have easier access to names and addresses of US persons through FATCA.