Just saw the play: The Power of Harriet T.
The scene where she crosses in Canada and said that the Fugitive Slave Act doesn’t apply up here gave me the creeps!
Just saw the play: The Power of Harriet T.
The scene where she crosses in Canada and said that the Fugitive Slave Act doesn’t apply up here gave me the creeps!
LE MONDE ECONOMIE – 18.02.2013
Noncompliant US taxpayers living abroad are getting nervous. If an informant seeking a hefty IRS reward, or FATCA doesn’t rat them out first, then the State Department will. This can happen when the noncompliant taxpayer renews his US passport.
Traditionally, the functions of the US Treasury and the Department of State were completely separate. However, we are seeing a continued erosion of this distinction as troubling economic times continue. The US passport renewal form mandates that the applicant supply his Social Security Number (SSN) if he has one. http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/79960.pdf
Read more here:
Some people are worried about the future of the U.S. dollar and they believe that moving from the States is a way to distance themselves from its possible decline.
Well, yes and no. While diversifying your asset holdings by currency is often a wise move, the truth is that if you’re a U.S. citizen you’ll never be able to walk away from the dollar completely — even if you move overseas. Likewise if you’re a Canadian or citizen of any other country — it’s hard to totally divorce yourself from your national currency.
Here are two reasons why…
Read more here.
US citizens finding it difficult to open bank accounts
Some banks might even cease to provide banking to American residents
Published Monday, February 18, 2013Some banks might cease to provide banking services to their American customers, while others are reported to refuse new customers based on their American nationality.
Why?
Supposedly, the recently enacted Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) by the US government is the reason for banks to close its doors to US citizens.
Since January 1 this year, all foreign financial institutions must report or disclose financial accounts and investments, balances, receipts, and withdrawals held by US persons/taxpayers or held by foreign entities in which US persons/taxpayers hold an ownership interest directly to the US Inland Revenue Service (IRS).
When institutions fail to report or disclose information the consequences can be grave, one of the penalties being the withdrawal of US Dollar clearing rights in New York, a penalty feared by banks.
“For a bank which operates in the United Arab Emirates which has its currency linked to the US dollar this would be nothing short of catastrophic,” wrote a bank in a letter to its American account holders.
In the same letter, it implies that the recently enacted law might lead the bank to decide to cease operating bank accounts for US citizens: “While we await further clarification from the IRS regarding reporting requirements, it appears on the face, that these will be onerous and will involve substantial costs for [the] bank in terms of people, process and systems.
“The bank is currently reviewing its options – one of which is to cease banking for individuals who fall under Fatca regulations. We are hopeful that it will not be necessary to adopt this course of action but it will depend a great deal on the requirement placed on the bank in continuing to maintain accounts for individuals covered by Fatca.”
Meanwhile, US citizens are reported to have been refused by banks when they wanted to open a new bank account. A woman speaking on an online forum for expats living in the UAE said that she, being an American citizen, tried to open an account at a bank but was flatly refused without a reason being given.
According to the Financial Secrecy Index, America ranked #5 in 2011 in banking secrecy, trailing only after Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. It was only a financial secrecy leader in terms of its global scale weight of 0.208.
RANK | Secrecy Jurisdiction | FSI – Value | Secrecy Score | Global Scale Weight |
1 | Switzerland | 1879.2 | 78 | 0.061 |
2 | Cayman Islands | 1646.7 | 77 | 0.046 |
3 | Luxembourg | 1621.2 | 68 | 0.131 |
4 | Hong Kong | 1370.7 | 73 | 0.042 |
5 | USA | 1160.1 | 58 | 0.208 |
To solve this problem and become the world’s largest and most secret tax haven, America created FATCA to destroy its competition, forcing other countries to provide America with financial data while rejecting reciprocity. With America pushing Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Hong Kong to drop down the ranks in financial secrecy, will America finally succeed in achieving its goal of becoming the world’s largest and most secret tax haven at the expense of innocent Americans abroad whom it harmed in the process?
Not only is America becoming the largest, most secret tax haven in the world, but it is also the only nation in the world, along with the dictatorship of Eritrea, which robs money from the coffers of other nations through citizenship-based taxation. Were the G-20 to expel all major providers of financial secrecy, it would not only become more legitimate, but also significantly smaller (a G-15?), without the American tax haven.
As the world’s most secret and largest tax haven, America will lead in creating a criminogenic environment for a litany of evils that hurt the citizens of rich and poor countries alike through fraud, evasion and avoidance of financial regulations, insider dealing, embezzlement, wholesale bribery, non-payment of alimony, money laundering, tax evasion and much more besides.
This was just drawn to my attention – apparently it comes from Namecheap.com which is (I believe) an Australian based ISP.
Lagoon, a pre-1995 relinquisher, recently sought the opinion of three lawyers in the expatriation field, all of whom felt that it is not necessary for relinquishers of that era to file with IRS. Lagoon’s account first appeared as a comment on the Did you relinquish before February 6, 1995 thread, but due to its detail is worthy of a post of its own.
Lagoon writes:
More information about my consult with three lawyers. I am not comfortable posting their names without their permission. I can tell you how I found them though.
One lawyer is quoted on this site. I contacted him for a personal consultation and gave him the details of my case. The lawyer is very conversant with the issues related to relinquishment vs renunciation and the changes in tax law over time. We spoke about risk, and that the issues for relinquishers are like a double low probability combination. If I wanted certainty, the lawyer could, if I wanted to spend between $5-10,000 go forward to get an opinion letter from IRS. If I did that the first consult they would have with IRS would be on a no names basis, to ask questions about whether or not IRS would issue an opinion letter (or something to that effect, they are my lay person words). While I would like to do this, so that there could be something in writing from IRS on this matter, I really don’t have that kind of money to spend. However, going this route would give the ‘certainty’ that we are all seeking about the issues of concern related to the need to contact IRS after relinquishing.
I just sent this to every MP:
What is your Party’s Position on FATCA?
The Green party has released its position on FATCA.
One million voting Canadian citizens and their families and friends are waiting to hear your party’s position.
http://www.greenparty.ca/statement/2013-01-28/backgrounder-canada-and-fatca
Sincerely,
Wikipedia’s list of public figures who gave up U.S. citizenship from the 1930s to the present day has reached nearly 100 entries. This list is far from complete — hopefully friends of Isaac Brock from around the world can suggest some additions, as right now it’s heavily weighted towards entries from the Caribbean and from East Asia. However, it is large and diverse enough for us to make some interesting observations.
From 1994 to 2006, I can confirm only a single report that a public figure in Wikipedia’s list gave up U.S. citizenship but did not appear in the Federal Register or the 1995 Joint Committee on Taxation report before it: South Korean actress Han Ye-seul. After 2006, however, the reports of public figures who gave up U.S. citizenship without ever appearing in the Federal Register start expanding rapidly. 2006 was an interesting year in other respects as well: it was the first year in which the number of “published expatriates” ever showed a significant decrease.