97 thoughts on “Correspondence between Swedish Citizen and Political Secretary of a Controlling Party in Sweden”

1. Anyone else in Sweden is free to make the same complaint, using the examples from Swedbank, Nordea, and the other

2. To: do@do.se
   CC: red@di.se; 71234@sydsvenskan.se; 71717@expressen.se; nyheter@gp.se; sophie.intveld@europarl.europa.eu
   Subject: National Discrimination Report to discrimination ombud, re: Shut out from ALL banks in Sweden
   Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:51:07 +0000

   
   US persons are not allowed to use Swedish banks. Don’t let the punctuation of the below information fool you. The sentences are written with “or” which means that they will discriminate against US persons who live in Sweden.

   Don’t forget the a US person is
   –A Swedish citizen, born in USA of Swedish parents, while living temporarily in USA
   –A Swedish citizen, born in Sweden, with one US parent, who has lived his entire life in Sweden
   –A Swedish citizen, not a US citizen at all, who has a green card which he has not paid $450 to USA to renounce
   –A Swedish citizen, living in USA, who needs a bank account to receive rent payments upon his rented house while on expatriate work assignment for Volvo in USA

   Nordea: If you are in the United States, or a U.S. Person (any US Citizen or greencard holder living in Sweden), but you are not a QIB, you may not access the following materials. https://www.nordea.com/Investor+Relations/Debt+rating/Nordea+Bank+AB+US+MTN+Program/1150742.html

   SEB: Varken materialet eller de produkter som beskrivs häri är avsedda för distribution eller försäljning i USA eller till person bosatt i USA, s.k. U.S. Person (anyone with citizenship or US green card living in Sweden), och all sådan distribution kan vara otillåten. http://www.seb.se/pow/wcp/index.asp?ss=/pow/wcp/templates/sebcollection.cfmc.asp%3Fduid%3DDUID_400D336DF6DB9912C1257A690029C31D%26xsl%3Dse%26sitekey%3Dseb.se

   Here are the penalties for a person in Sweden who discovers that he is a US person. Sweden will help to enforce these penalties according to the tax treaty with USA and according to a new Intergovernmental agreement which Anders Borg is getting ready to sign

   USA IRS Example 1: The taxpayer was born in the U.S. to parents of foreign citizenship. She grew up in a foreign jurisdiction (Sweden), unaware that she had been born in the U.S. She has a $60,000 account in the foreign jurisdiction. She has never filed U.S. returns or FBARs. She became aware she was a U.S. citizen when she had to get a birth certificate in order to obtain a passport from the foreign jurisdiction (Sweden) where she resides. Unless she decides to opt out, she is entitled to the reduced 5% offshore penalty”

   http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Offshore-Voluntary-Disclosure-Program-Frequently-Asked-Questions-and-Answers

   To: do@do.se
   CC: red@di.se; 71234@sydsvenskan.se; 71717@expressen.se; nyheter@gp.se; sophie.intveld@europarl.europa.eu
   Subject: Discrimination Report to discrimination ombud, re: Swedbank
   Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:41:03 +0000
   
   I report this discrimination incident to the Swedish government.

   I demand action, NOW.

   This is the policiy of the only bank in my Town, Kullavik. The policy applies to these persons living in Sweden, who are Swedish Citizens and Swedish residents:

   “The Bank does not offer or sell investment deposit to US persons and the Client hereby confirms to the Bank that it is not a US person. The Bank has the right to terminate the agreement immediately if the Client is a US person or becomes a US person during the term of the agreement. The Client undertakes to inform the Bank immediately of any circumstances which could cause the Client to be qualified as a US person. The Bank can also use public information when assessing the qualification of a client as a US person. A legal person can be a US person, among other things, when it is established in the US, acts in accordance with US law, has a US postal address or has some business activities in the US. A representative office or a branch of a foreign legal person can be qualified as a US person on same conditions. A natural person can be a US person, among other things, when it is considered a US resident for tax purposes or if the person stays in the US for some time for educational or work purposes. A person can be considered a US person also under other conditions deriving from US laws. The Bank shall not be liable for any loss which the client may suffer as a result of termination of the agreement.”

   https://www.swedbank.ee/static/pdf/private/investor/deposits/cond_investdep_eng_2012_08_20.pdf

   Swedish Citizen

3. This email I got today from the finance ministry is a bit cryptic. It says that they are doing something different than FATCA legislation—-perhaps they mean that the US treasury is doing something different than FATCA legislation.

   “more similiar to a method that is already being done” (not full?) ?but automatic?

   “EU Presidency and the European Commission has expressed a desire to work with this pilot at the EU level” ????

   GOOGLE TRANSLATION:
   Thank you for your email to the Ministry of Finance on FATCA.

   FATCA is a U.S. law that requires financial institutions throughout the world to identify accounts held by U.S. persons and to provide information to the U.S. tax on the accounts. The financial institutions are obliged to withhold tax on certain payments.

   The agreement that Sweden is currently negotiating with the U.S. based on a model that is supposed to basically take the place of the U.S. legislation. According to the model, the information reported to the domestic tax authority instead of to the U.S.. The information will then be exchanged between tax authorities in a manner more similar to the information that is already being done. In this context, the Sweden generally supports the development of international automatic information exchange.

   France, Italy, Spain, UK and Germany have announced that they intend to launch a pilot project for the automatic exchange of information based on the model of FATCA agreement with the U.S. and the EU Presidency and the European Commission has expressed a desire to work with this pilot at the EU level.

   Tack för din e-post till Finansdepartementet om FATCA.

   FATCA är en amerikansk lagstiftning som ålägger finansiella institut i hela världen att identifiera konton som innehas av amerikanska personer och att lämna information till den amerikanska skattemyndigheten om de kontona. De finansiella instituten åläggs också att innehålla skatt på vissa betalningar.

   Det avtal som Sverige för närvarande förhandlar med USA om bygger på en modell som är tänkt att i princip träda i stället för den amerikanska lagstiftningen. Enligt modellen ska informationen rapporteras till den inhemska skattemyndigheten i stället för till den amerikanska. Informationen ska sedan utbytas mellan skattemyndigheterna på ett sätt som mer liknar det informationsutbyte som sker redan idag. I detta sammanhang kan nämnas att Sverige rent generellt stödjer ett utökat internationellt automatiskt informationsutbyte.

   Frankrike, Italien, Spanien, Storbritannien och Tyskland har meddelat att de avser att inleda ett pilotprojekt för automatiskt informationsutbyte som baserar sig på modellen för FATCA-avtal med USA samt att EU:s ordförandeland och Europeiska kommissionen har uttryckt önskemål om att arbetet med denna pilot sker på EU-nivå.

4. I think they just did a little linguistic mumbo jumbo—possibly they are biting on the non-reciprocity that Norway got, and think that it is somehow different than what UK got.

5. 2 shit countries, USA & Sweden. Time to get the F-ck outta here.

   Finance Minister Anders Borg (M):

   Mr President We are making very substantial measures to manage our tax bases. By this week, Sweden, Denmark and Finland at the ECOFIN meeting acceded to the Anglo-American initiative regarding FATCA, where we are now wide and together keeps on pushing back tax havens. It is very centrally located. We received on Tuesday a deal to obtain a negotiating mandate which also Luxembourg and Austria joined in, which is very important for us to get a automatic disclosure. It is also important what we do here at home. Do we have taxes that are perceived as reasonable people are willing to pay them.

   http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Ovriga-dokument/Ovrigt-dokument/Fragestund_H0C120130516fs/

6. With all respect due to the leaders of my country, I just hit “send on this one:

   To: anders.borg@regeringskansliet.se; susanne.ackum@regeringskansliet.se; leif.jakobsson@riksdagen.se; henrik.von.sydow@riksdagen.se; gunnar.andren@riksdagen.se; mats.pertoft@riksdagen.se; thoralf.alfsson@riksdagen.se; bodil.ceballos@riksdagen.se; olle.schmidt@europarl.europa.eu; sophie.intveld@europarl.europa.eu; cecilia.wikstrom@ep.europa.eu
   CC: red@di.se; 71234@sydsvenskan.se; 71717@expressen.se; nyheter@gp.se

   Subject: reminder: Regeringen FATCA negotiations enforce Financial Spy activities upon Sweden & EU from USA, Policy Laundering

   Dear Swedish Government officials:

   Are we still on track to send financial details of Swedish Citizens to the USA IRS? Are we ready to pass that Intergovernmental agreement with the USA Internal Revenue Service now? You know: the one that nobody talks about and the one that everybody says is about tax evasion?

   I wonder if the media is still un-interested in the hush hush discussions between EU countries (especially Sweden) and the USA?

   We do trust to give away Swedish Citizens to USA, don’t we? I mean, USA already knows Everything, it should be ok to send them even more information, as you have been discussing, correct?

   How is the progress with Sweden’s FATCA Policy Laundering?

   Swedish Citizen

7. Didn’t you means NSAIRS The NSA and IRS have joined forces…

8. Regarding a query I made recently to the Swedish Finance Ministers office, I’ve received a reply that the great and grand “bilateral” FATCA negotiations are still in process.

9. Maybe they won’t be necessary if the G* communique about the multilateral OECD approach is taken! 🙂

10. Sweden jumps in willfilly. Use your own translator.
    The latest proposal from the administration to the parliament.
    All according to OECD.
    1984 is here in Sweden.
    As expected.
    Ready for the OECD meeting and ready for the visit from the Dark Star Obarfalot.

    http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/EU/Fakta-PM-om-EU-forslag/ndringar-i-direktivet-om-admi_H006FPM150/

11. In the yearly budget proposal, a great reason for not living in Sweden. p 487
    http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Forslag/Propositioner-och-skrivelser/Budgetproposition-2014-Forslag_H1031/
    http://data.riksdagen.se/fil/2FC2696F-8F7D-49EA-88CE-D659036BEE15

    6:39 The international development to counter tax evasion
    The design of the national tax system, how the different national tax systems interact and opportunities , especially for multinational companies to exploit the differences in the systems to achieve the tax benefits, the issues in the
    past year has been discussed in many international contexts. There is a new international determination to improve and streamline international cooperation to combat tax evasion , whether it be through the use of imperfections and gaps in regulations, fraud , or by means of special tax regimes. Sweden and the Swedish tax base is also affected by tax evasion arising in the international environment. The OECD has long been engaged in work in the field but has – with the strong support of the G20 – the countries – in the spring of 2013 launched a new large and comprehensive effort to revise the international tax principles in key areas in order to prevent tax base erosion and movement of profits ( Base Erosion and Profit Shifting , Beps project) . OECD Tax Committee adopted at the end of June 2013 a plan of action for Beps . The plan describes 15 different areas of action that you should work on and a schedule for work . The Government supports this important work . The OECD’s important work to consider and reform international tax principles in key areas , Sweden participates actively in the various working groups that perform the actual work . The Government , as stated in expenditure area 3, Section 3.4, allowing Sweden to contribute to the funding. At the meeting in Moscow on 19-20 July 2013 also gave the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, their support for the work of the OECD , which was confirmed at the G20 meeting in Saint Petersburg on 5-6 September 2013. In a commonly expressed September 4, 2013 by Denmark, Finland , Iceland , Norway, Sweden and the United States was stated that the fight against tax evasion and avoidance should be a top priority in all relevant international forums. The G20 is also supported for the development of a worldwide standard for the automatic exchange of information in tax matters. This issue has also been discussed intensively in the international arena in the spring. The reasons for developing an international standard for the automatic exchange of tax – related information has increased considerably since the United States has enacted legislation means that you will require agreements either with
    PROP 2013/14 : 1
    488
    financial institutions or directly with individual states , to automatically provide information about capital assets and capital income as American people have in financial institutions outside the United States (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act , FATCA ) . Such so-called FATCA agreements concluded or to be concluded by several countries. United Kingdom, Germany , France, Spain and Italy , together with the United States established a model for such agreements. FATCA agreements is an important piece of the puzzle for the work undertaken by the OECD to develop an international standard for automatic information exchange. Sweden is negotiating with the U.S. on a FATCA agreement . The negotiations are conducted with the objective of the Agreement shall be applied at the earliest from 1 July 2014. The Government intends to return to the parliament . In the EU, the European Commission proposed that the automatic exchange of information on the direct tax area under the Directive on administrative cooperation in tax matters should be extended to the corresponding information to be exchanged under FATCA agreements. Negotiations in the Council on the proposal will continue in the fall. Sweden has welcomed the Commission ‘s proposal. The Government is committed to reporting to be as easy to manage for companies as possible and to avoid the creation of standards for information exchange. The fight against fraud is an issue that has been high on the EU agenda for several years. It has not been easy to achieve concrete results . In the field of VAT , however, could ECOFIN Council June 21, 2013 to agree on a package of measures to discourage cheating by agreeing to a fast mechanism to introduce reverse charge and extending the possibilities of Member States to apply the reverse charge on certain goods and services that are especially sensitive to fraud. The directives came into force in August 2013. Sweden has actively contributed to the work to reach agreement on these measures against tax evasion. Although the idea of ​​a more effective taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments ( Savings Directive) was presented by the Commission in 2008 , it has not been possible to reach agreement in the Council. However, there is reason to emphasize that now Luxembourg during the spring of 2013 declared that 2015, switching to automatic exchange of information under the current savings directive . The ECOFIN Council of 14 May 2013 , Member States could , however, as a first step towards a final agreement on a revised and expanded the Savings Directive to agree on the Commission to open negotiations with such Switzerland to implement the new directive effectively . The proposal for a new Directive was negotiated in the Council , particularly during the Swedish Presidency in autumn 2009 , is the basis for negotiations. The Government welcomes this development and will actively support the ongoing work. Since 2006 , Sweden participates in a joint Nordic project which aims to build an information exchange agreements with countries and jurisdictions that have extensive privacy of taxation. The project has been very successful and now Sweden has signed nearly 40 agreements , which means that Sweden has one of the world ‘s largest network of information exchange agreements with such countries and jurisdictions. The Government intends to continue this work in the autumn of 2013, in order to further develop Sweden’s network of information exchange agreements .

12. Just Me has given me information to stop Reading Brock and start delivering results.

    Subject: USA laws in Sweden: Guaranteed to deliver Swedish data to the NSA and CIA

    Dear Finance Minister Borg,

    You are in the process of accepting the American law FATCA, written by American lawyers, in the interest of Americans. According to Faktapromemoria 2012/13:FPM150 at http://bit.ly/1co9GJX

    “Riksgälden och Sveriges advokatsamfund har inga synpunkter på förslaget. Riksdagens ombudsmän (JO), Företagarna, Sparbankernas Riksförbund, Svenska Riskkapitalföreningen och Utländska försäkringsbolagens förening har avstått från att svara”

    Have you not done a full analysis and risk analysis upon the USA FATCA regulation and your Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA)?

    Have you not demanded that your own jurists review the legal commitment that Sweden is making to USA? Do you make legal commitments without using legal advice?

    Do you understand that the definition of “US person” is owned by USA and not controlled by any IGA? You do understand what US person is today, don’t you? Today, it includes many Swedish citizens living in Sweden, some of them who may have never set a foot in USA or ever had any connection with USA. Look it up or refer to my previous emails.

    What is the risk of the definition of “US person” changing? Is it controlled in your IGA agreement? (no). The definition of US person changed as recently as this summer in similar situations—have you controlled in your IGA that it isn’t going to change again? (no)

    http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/234b6984-31a1-11e3-817c-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2iFjUo6Lc

    As you are taking upon USA law into Sweden, do you understand that you are taking upon US punishments into Sweden? Do you understand the punishments that are applicable to bank employees? Has your IGA contract specifically protected Swedish bank employees for prosecution under US law? (no—it hasn’t it doesn’t matter whether you have signed an IGA or not.)

    http://bit.ly/16Zk3Dy

    Shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years;
    Or fined not more than $250,000 for individuals ($500,000 for corporations);
    Or both, together with cost of prosecution.
    http://bit.ly/17ubMYu

    Have you taken into account that the above punishments are US law, and that they are subject to change at any time according to US legislation or US tax rules?

    The Swedish tax treaty with USA is unique, in that it requires Sweden to aid in tax and penalty collection to USA. Have you analyzed if Sweden will then be liable to collect fines and/or extradite bank employees to USA?

    Are you aware that the IGA you are signing for Sweden commits Sweden to everything yet commits USA to nothing? (that Sweden gets nothing but promises in return?) Reference Rep Posey Letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, July 1, 2013.

    clip_image002

    You are aware that an IGA is not a treaty, aren’t you? A treaty needs to be ratified by a legislative body, and the IGA will not be.

    You are aware that the IGA is not connected to the original FATCA legislation, HR 2847, and therefore does not commit the USA to anything?

    Have you analyzed the effects of FATCA upon Swedish citizens living in Sweden? (no).

    Have you analyzed FATCA’s reporting and mechanisms upon Swedish citizens, regarding discrimination according to national origin? Is it such that certain Swedish citizens are the new Jews? Will they be punished? How? Bankrupted? Extradited? Will they be loaded onto transports and sent off to their fate?

    What changes to the discrimination laws will be required in order to search out and find citizens of a particular nationality? Will Eritreans also be searched out and found? Perhaps Muslims? Jews?

    Have you analyzed the IGA? Do you realize that it over-rides existing tax treaties?

    http://bit.ly/HDgecP

    Do you realize that the information you are sending to USA is not considered as confidential tax information (Title 26 information), rather that it is non-tax information (title 31), and hence not subject to the privacy rules which govern USA tax information?

    Have you analyzed the effects of the fact that the information from FATCA and its reporting mechanisms is shared with the NSA, the FBI, CIA and other agencies? Information not only upon US persons, but those that are one contact away from a US person and upon the Swedish FFI financial institutions.

    http://bit.ly/1a17nuO

    What information from the FFI’s will be shared with the other 3-letter US agencies?

    Have you realized that US tax law requires US persons to be financial spies inside Sweden to USA? That these people are then REQUIRED to spy upon Swedish corporations, Swedish spouses, Swedish business partners, and Swedish volunteer organizations? That FATCA requires that US persons (Swedish Citizens living in Sweden) spy upon Sweden?

    http://www.irs.gov/file_source/pub/irs-pdf/f90221.pdf

    http://www..irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8938.pdf

    http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8621.pdf

    http://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html?value=3520&criteria=formNumber

    http://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html?value=8865&criteria=formNumber

    The private financial information of all family members (those who share joint accounts with the US person) will be reported to the IRS, even if they are full Swedish persons and have no US personhood. See section 3 of the FBAR form foreign “joint accounts”.

    Also, trusts which are set up by US persons for elderly Swedish in-laws or any children must be reported.

    The private financial information of a Swedish volunteer organization must be reported to the IRS by any US person who may have volunteered to help pay the bills. See sec 4 of the FBAR form.

    The private financial information of a Swedish corporation must be reported to the IRS by any officer or person signing corporate checks upon the FBAR form

    Form 5471 –A US person shareholder must spy on the entire Swedish corporation. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5471.pdf

    A US person living in Sweden is required to report the private financial information of the Swedish Company to the IRS, Regardless that the company is majority owned by full-Swedish persons.

    Form 926, A US person in Sweden must report loans made to a corporation in Sweden to the IRS, even if owned by full-Swedes.

    Are you aware that Swedish jurisdiction laws have no effect: The fact that a Swedish jurisdiction would impose a civil or criminal penalty on you if you disclose the required information is not reasonable cause (for not reporting to USA).

    Are you willing to have Swedish banks absorb costs which are greater than the gains which USA will gain?

    Does Sweden have any backbone? Does Sweden negotiate to have an IGA agreement which (it mistakenly believes) is less bad than the FATCA applications upon its banks?

    Is Sweden ready to break international concepts, in making an agreement which is not upon equal terms between nations?

    Do you realize that FATCA is simply a method of transferring money from a prosperous Sweden to USA, via compliance agencies and expensive defense lawyers and US banks?

    Has your risk analysis been comprehensive? Do you realize that your greatest risk in FATCA relations with USA is the risk that you haven’t discovered all of the risks that lie inside the insane US tax laws?

    Without a full analysis of the IGA agreement by US lawyers, how do you know what it is that Sweden is commiting to?

    Shouldn’t Sweden be hiring a US lawyer to analyze what Sweden is signing up for? Someone who fully understands US laws? There are many international lawyers in Washington DC and New York City—many of whom have lobbied for FATCA and helped to write the laws. Their fees are between $400 and $2000 per hour, they could be immensely helpful for Sweden to understand what it is that they are signing up for. Why not take some Swedish money and get some real advice upon US law from a US lawyer?

    Knowing all of the answers above, please explain what it is that you think is about FATCA that could be a benefit to Sweden.

    Swedish Citizen

13. @Swedish Citizen, thank you for keeping us and other readers here updated. Very good questions, and many are applicable to all other countries affected/infested with FATCA.

    The Green Party leader Elizabeth May used a Freedom of Information request to obtain this constitutional law opinion letter re FATCA, which had been sent to the governing Conservatives by a Law Professor and scholar http://www.greenparty.ca/sites/greenparty.ca/files/attachments/peter_hogg_fatca.pdf

    You might have see the latest questions being raised in Canada by 3 of our opposition parties – the Greens, the NDP, and the Liberals.
    http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/03/14/government-responded-to-ndp-written-question-on-fbar/
    http://www.greenparty.ca/backgrounder/2013-01-28/backgrounder-canada-and-fatca
    http://www.greenparty.ca/media-release/2013-03-13/implementation-fatca-likely-unconstitutional-says-leading-constitutional-ex
    http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Rankin-Letter-to-Flaherty.pdf
    http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Rankin-Letter-to-Flaherty.pdf
    http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/Canadian-Parliament-FATCA-Questions-121-and-127-Oct-2528-2013.pdf
    http://blog.tedhsu.ca/2013/10/28/looking-for-answers-on-facta/

    We have no exact equivalent of fiery Sophie in’t Veld the EU representative http://youtu.be/3uVZiFNkDsA , but at least the questions are being raised, and some are now officially recorded in the Hansard records of our Parliament, and other information is posted on some individual Canadian MP websites.

14. Got the banksters too,
    ——————————————————–

    To: svenska bankforeningen
    Subject: FATCA personal penalties for Responsible Officer, RO, risk analysis Swedish banking

    As you are taking upon USA law into Sweden with FATCA and an IGA, do you understand that you are taking upon US punishments into Sweden upon Bank employees? Do you understand the punishments that are applicable to bank employees? Has your IGA contract specifically protected Swedish bank employees for prosecution under US law? (no—it hasn’t it doesn’t matter whether you have signed an IGA or not.)

    http://bit.ly/16Zk3Dy

    Shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years;
    Or fined not more than $250,000 for individuals ($500,000 for corporations);
    Or both, together with cost of prosecution.
    http://bit.ly/17ubMYu

    Have you taken into account that the above punishments are US law, and that they are subject to change at any time according to US legislation or US tax rules?

    The Swedish tax treaty with USA is unique, in that it requires Sweden to aid in tax and penalty collection to USA. Have you analyzed if Sweden will then be liable to collect fines and/or extradite bank employees to USA?

    Have you done a complete risk analysis regarding the applicable US laws upon your work? Do you know everything that you don’t know about US laws? Do you understand that US law changes according to what USA decides?

    Do you understand that an IGA implemented by Riksdagen & Regeringen permanently and completely subjects bank directors to USA laws?

    I hope that Swedish Bank Directors are comfortable and well paid in their roles as Responsible Officers for FATCA, in the IGA that they have demanded from Regeringen and Riksdagen.

    Enjoy your Responsibilities!!!!! Keep up the 100% correct work!!!

    Swedish Citizen

15. Thanks, I had started to use the 2 Canadian letters, but they were too much from the inside.

    We generally suffer from having too much good information—-it’s tough to perform if one is a perfectionist.

    The Borg normally takes his responsibility to answer to questions. The parliament members do not.

16. Awesome effort, Swedish Citizen.

17. Thanks Swedish Citizen, your work helps us too – many of the points and issues are the same even though the country is different. The Responsible Officer issue is very important – it will be raised to them here as well – perhaps by protesters at an upcoming Bankster’s and Financial Institution compliance cluster http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/11/02/help-appreciated-for-nov-13-14-toronto-protest-against-fatca-complicit-banks/ An IGA will not help the banksters and their FI friends with their Responsible Officer vulnerability and liability. They are willing and stand ready to throw their accountholders and fellow citizens under the FATCA bus in order to get on with making their profits, but who among them will take on these RO roles? Better stand ready if they seek some new devious way to delegate that liability too onto our governments under an IGA.

18. Pingback: The Isaac Brock Society

19. Letter to A. Borg, Finance Minister of Sweden:

    http://reut.rs/1aJq0pN

    Republicans to Repeal FATCA

    Do you understand that your FATCA IGA reciprocity beliefs require that the US Congress must pass domestic legislation to deliver any reciprocal FATCA data?

    Do you understand that the Republicans control the House of Representatives?

    Do you understand that the House must pass such a bill first?

    Do you understand that any “treaty” would have to be ratified by 2/3rds of the Senate?

    Do you understand that the Senate does not have a 2/3rds Democratic majority?

    Do you understand that an Intergovernmental Agreement is not a Treaty?

    Reciprocity is a key element in agreements between countries. Do you indeed intend to go forward with an Intergovernmental Agreement for FATCA as a unilateral delivery of expensive personal data of Swedish citizens to USA?

    Are you aware that such data upon Swedish citizens is not regarded as US tax information (Sect 26) (it is controlled by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, FINCen, Sect 31)?

    Are you aware that this data upon Swedish citizens is then free for forwarding to NSA, CIA, and any other agency of choosing?

    Are you aware that the data you would be sending would be persons SUSPECTED of having US indicia?

    Are you aware that such persons whose data has been sent have no method of defending themselves against what might happen to them in a 3rd country?

    Which Swedish laws will you be changing in order to implement FATCA in Sweden?

    How much has it cost and how much will it cost for Swedish banks to implement FATCA?

    Have you understood anything about FATCA yet?
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-EVF7CZt_w

    Have you already passed FATCA legislation in Riksdag?

    Is the legislation buried somewhere in the 2014 budget?

    What benefit do you believe that Swedish citizens would have in such a FATCA agreement with USA?

20. And to multiple recipients in the tax committee of Riksdag (parliament), Sophie, the pirate parti rep to EU, and incl. cc’s to the poodle newspapers:

    Are you sure that no one in your family and no one in your circle of friends is a US person? Better check before you implement FATCA.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ConFWM-Pbfc

    Here is the USA penalty for a Swedish Citizen not knowing they are a US citizen:

    FAQ 52.2: Taxpayers who are foreign residents and who were unaware they were U.S. citizens.
    Example 1: The taxpayer was born in the U.S. to parents of foreign citizenship. She grew up in a foreign jurisdiction, unaware that she had been born in the U.S. She has a $60,000 account in the foreign jurisdiction. She has never filed U.S. returns or FBARs. She became aware she was a U.S. citizen when she had to get a birth certificate in order to obtain a passport from the foreign jurisdiction where she resides. Unless she decides to opt out, she is entitled to the reduced 5% offshore penalty. Subsequent to learning of her U.S. citizenship, taxpayer took no action with respect to her foreign accounts that would disqualify a U.S. taxpayer from the 5 percent penalty under paragraph 1, above (this means the penalty returns to the 27.l5% penalty of everything she owns)

    Here is the penalty process for a Swedish citizen saving in the various Swedish tax-free retirement plans (which are always taxed-up to the USA tax rate by USA)

    FAQ 54

    If you have a retirement or pension plan in a foreign country (other than a plan described in FAQ 54) for which you believe there is no U.S. reporting requirement and that you believe should not be included in the offshore penalty base, you should contact the OVDI hotline at (267) 941-0020.

    WHAT PENALTY APPLIES FOR A SWEDISH CITIZEN (who USA calls a US person according to USA laws) LIVING IN SWEDEN? You don’t know, and you will never know for sure, because these are US laws. US laws change whenever USA decides to change them.

    FATCA IS A USA LAW. FATCA IS BEING IMPLEMENTED TODAY AT SWEDISH BANKS, TO FORCE SWEDISH CITIZENS TO PROVE TO THE BANK THAT THEY ARE NOT US PERSONS, AND SIGN A USA DOCUMENT ACCORDINGLY (W8-BEN). THE ALTERNATIVE IS AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT FOR FATCA (IGA) WITH USA, WHERE SWEDEN WILL FORCE ALL OF ITS BANKS TO COMPLY TO USA LAWS, AND SWEDEN WILL CHANGE ALL OF ITS LAWS AND GRUNDLAG TO ACCOMMODATE APPLICATION OF USA LAW IN SWEDEN.

    If you, yourself, open a new account in Sweden, you must sign W8-BEN stating that you are not a US person. All of your family members, also.

    FATCA negotiations work like this:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-EVF7CZt_w

    This letter from Swedish bank association details all of the Sweden laws that must be changed in order to be able to implement FATCA in Sweden. Don’t forget also that discrimination by nationality must also be updated in the Grundlag.

    http://www.pwc.com/us/en/financial-services/publications/assets/pwc-fatca-swedish-bankers-assoc.pdf

    Oh, by the way, did you know that USA reciprocity is a joke? If you want reciprocity, both houses will have to vote to give it to you. The Republicans have the majority in the House of Representatives, and here is their position on FATCA (repeal):

    http://reut.rs/1aJq0pN

    The FATCA repeal resolution met in committee today in USA and was met with applause—above all of the other resolutions.

    I know that my letters have zero effect upon you, and that you care nothing about Swedish ethnic minorities. None of you (other than one) have ever answered any of my letters so I expect that you won’t answer this one either. I’ve talked with many of you on the telephone and the result has been that you have created more support (other than one) for these discriminatory laws. So, here is one more letter for all of you to delete from your mailbox.

    Enjoy your USA laws in your Swedish banks and your millions of dollars of compliance fees from Swedish banks to USA compliance companies and your desperate codependent belief that USA will reciprocate. The only thing you will get back from the USA IRS is MORE DEMANDS.

21. http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Fragor-och-anmalningar/Fragor-for-skriftliga-svar/Fatcaavtalet_H111383/

    I hit all the leadership 1.5 weeks ago with the Repugs repeal info and other stuff (I think I posted copies above).

    The question above is simply a question asking A. Borg Finance Minister what the status is on the negotiations for the FATCA, because it is getting tight. Sounds pretty uninteresting.

    However, I know the bloggers that I linked to in my explanations, and those bloggers informed me that upon the receipt date of my emails that indeed the hits on the sites in Sweden were as many or more as the recipients of my emails.

    The other thing that is interesting, is that, previously, I had always been directed to discuss these issues with the tax matter “ledamoter” (official leaders in each committee). That is whom I had sent all of my letters. However, the guy that writes the question is from the committee that deals with worker rights, civil rights, and other questions. This means it went into the Social Democrat (part of the minority block) tax committee leader, through the organization, and over to the civil rights Social Democrat leader. In my previous discussions, that Social Democrat tax guy Leif Jacobsson had been supportive of our plight, but the entire Social democrat organization had later written a huge release about how great they thought FATCA was.

    So, Sweden is thinking about it, and they are dragging their feet on the IGA, probably because I know that A. Borg gave a counterproposal to US Treasury which was different than the IGA cramdown given them.

22. WHY NOT HAVE A FEW EVENING BEERS AND REMIND THE SWEDISH GOVERNMENT OF THEIR SERVITUDE TO THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER?

    I just fired this off to all the Swedish reps in the tax committee who will organize the FATCA acceptance laws.
    —————————————–

    FATCA for Sweden–a net transfer of 1.8 billion SEK from Sweden to USA

    I’m reading your “Finansdepartementet Fi2014/2687, Skatte- och tullavdelningen, Genomförande av avtal mellan Sveriges regering och Amerikas förenta staters regering för att förbättra internationell efterlevnad av skatteregler och för att genomföra FATCA” with great interest.

    http://www.regeringen.se/content/1/c6/24/44/55/c23cac44.pdf

    FATCA will raise 8.5 billion USD for USA during the next 10 years. This will be achieved by locating Swedish citizens living in Sweden who will be forced to pay some US taxes but more so will be forced to pay US penalties for not having reported themselves yearly to the US crime unit FINCEN. (the penalty for Swedish citizens living in Sweden who are US persons who have not reported themselves yearly to this crime unit upon an FBAR form is up to 50% per year (6 yrs) and jail time (FATCA is not governed by section 26 US tax law it is governed by section 31 US criminal law)

    With the FATCA program, it is calculated by US figures that Swedish citizens living in Sweden and other residents of Sweden who are also suspected of being US persons will then pay 57 million to the United States IRS because of FATCA.

    There are zero persons in the United States of America who are hiding their money in Sweden in order to avoid taxation.

    Sweden’s banks will pay much more than 200 million USD (to US compliance firms PWC, KPMG, etc) in order to implement FATCA. (You have the figures but you haven’t released them to the public).

    USA will not reciprocate anything, as the IGA that you signed is illegal according to US law. It WILL soon be in the United States Supreme Court.

    Sweden will soon lose more than 257 million dollars to the USA while gaining nothing. That is, unless, the USA promised you something that is worth more than 257 million dollars.

    Here is an analysis by a top legal professor upon the legality of your IGA
    http://taxpol.blogspot.no/2014/07/irs-claims-statutory-authority-for.html

    Some quips from that report:
    What provision of 6011 is IRS suggesting confers the authority to negotiate agreements with other governments without Senate advice and consent? Does IRS mean to imply that each and every authorization that Congress gives Treasury for the prescription of regulations is an implicit authorization for Treasury (or its implied designees in other departments) to conclude agreements with other governments? If so, this is a surprising claim of executive power that is inconsistent with the treaty power described in Article II of the constitution. I would think Congress would like to know under what interpretation of Congressional direction to the Secretary to issue guidance, IRS or Treasury would conclude that it now holds the power to make treaties on behalf of the United States.

    I’ve also attached a letter from a prominent Congressman who blows the legality out of your agreement. (Posey Letter to Jack Lew July 1, 2013)

    pssst—there is a lawsuit taking this to the Supreme Court, by a top constitutional Lawyer—-google it. You also might want to contribute—donations are anonymous.

    The Brooklyn bridge is always for sale. I’m sure you can buy that, too. You might even get a certificate of ownership from the seller. It’s looks very similar to an Intergovernmental Agreement.

    Good luck with the formulation of the Swedish government. Why not ask Obama to come over and lead the Swedish government? It looks like he’s doing it already. He’s really not all that busy except for playing golf and signing IGA’s.

    Swedish Citizen

    ps. My Jewish friends and relatives of friends have also been located by members of the Swedish government during the 1930’s and 1940’s. This is nothing new. We are used to it and expect it from Sweden, who are collaborators with dictators.