Dear Mr. xxx,
Thank you for contacting me about the ongoing situation regarding the potential for Canadian citizens born in the United States to be pursued for US income tax by the IRS.
As you know, the situation is complicated and the legal status of Canadians born in the US, the threat of IRS action, and the possibility of real punitive action is still unclear. As a Canadian citizen born in the US, I can assure you that I share your concerns and am dedicated to defending the equality rights of all affected citizens.
I am dedicated to taking action on your behalf. I have sent correspondence to the Prime Minister on the issue. The government has taken the position I urged and is forcefully advocating that the US stop targeting law-abiding Canadians in pursuit of those US citizens hiding in the Cayman Islands.
In addition, I recently met with the US Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson. He is also very much absorbed by the controversy. His main message to me was that I should share with my constituents his wish that we “stay calm.” He indicated to me that he understands the issues and is working closely with officials at all levels of government in the US and Canada to find a pragmatic solution to this problem.
You are not alone in this situation. Many are seeking a solution to the problem. I will keep you posted as I work to find a sensible approach. In the meantime, please keep me posted through my constituency office of any changes in your situation.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth May, O.C., M.P.
Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands
Leader of the Green Party of Canada
@ badger
Calgary411 spoke with Esther Thompson. Maybe she can give us an update. I too wonder how Esther and her sister Betty are doing.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/02/22/ambassador-jacobsons-70-year-old-grandma/
Jacobson is a bit too slick for my taste’s but for whatever its worth he isn’t going to be around too much longer.
I don’t know if the next US ambassador will be any better. I heard that the next one will be from Goldman Sachs.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2013/04/03/pol-us-ambassador-to-canada-obama.html
Em and badger,
I have very recently talked with Esther just after her Calgary renunciation appointment. She was visiting relatives in southern Alberta before returning to her home in Saskatachewan. She now awaits her CLN. I’ve relayed information on the steps she will now have to complete next year.
Esther’s sister is still contemplating renunciation, so has taken no expatriation action yet. She is fearful that she will have to relinquish, along with her US citizenship, her US social security. I have also sent information to Esther, for her sister, that that is not the case.
I am waiting to hear back.
I will also add I am all for sensible solutions but sensible solutions cannot simply be Canada changing its laws while at the same time the US refusing to changes their laws.
badger, bubblebustin, Tim,
The adjectives I would use for Ambassador Jacobson are “clownish”, “unresponsive”, “dismissive”, “uncaring”, and I’m searching for one that means “does not stand up for the US persons in the country where he holds Ambassordorship”.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/11/02/us-ambassador-to-canada-david-jacobson-we-are-not-irresponsible/comment-page-3/#comment-85448
hmmm, Calgary…maybe puppet?
Yes, bubblebustin, that would apply as well.
(Off to fight another battle — Alberta funding cuts for the work program of maintaining, cutting wood and supplying camp grounds and disabilities year-round camp that benefits my son. This is the reason I want nothing of the RDSP I hold for my son and save for his future after I’m gone to go to the US.)
Maybe our best allies in repealing/resisting FATCA are famous and influential accidental Americans. Ironically it would seem that the Prince of Monaco, his siblings ( and all their legitimate and illegitimate offspring?) are probably US persons. An article in the Spokane Daily Chronicle (January 22 1957) quoting the State Department confirms Princesse Caroline’s US citizenship. Have they renounced? If not what will be the consequences? Albert signed an exchange of information agreement in 2009 with the USA. . .
If you want to learn about Jacobson, I suggest that you read his blog:
http://blogs.ottawa.usembassy.gov/ambassador/
Here is a great post where he talks about having lunch with the Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada:
http://blogs.ottawa.usembassy.gov/ambassador/index.php/2011/10/21/october-12-2011-ottawa/
Here is his description of spending Thanksgiving (US of course) in Montreal:
http://blogs.ottawa.usembassy.gov/ambassador/index.php/2011/11/24/november-24-2011-montreal/
Both posts reveal much about him. Remember that he is here to represent the US government. He is NOT here to represent US citizens in Canada. Remember: The US government is NOT the same as its citizens and – surprise, surprise.
Therefore, Jacobson is nothing but a “mouthpiece” (if that) for the Obama administration.
That said, his public comments can be useful. “Stay calm” — could be interpreted to “do nothing”, “sit tight”, etc. Why do anything if Jacobson suggests not to?
I am thinking that it might be a good idea for somebody to do a complete post on the Sask sisters incorporating the original newspaper article and what has happened since. Perhaps somebody who now knows them. It should be called “Jacobson’s Grandmas”. A post might get broad circulation in the world of “US Citizenship Abroad”.
Here is a really good article explaining why Canadians don’t need a US embassy:
Consulates are sufficient:
Great idea re an update on the fate of ‘Jacobson’s Canadian Grandmas’. They may feel uncomfortable about speaking to the press, but I think an update to their story would be appealing to the Canadian Press. What’s not to like about the Big BAD greedy unjust persecution of innocent Canadians by the vicious US IRS – juxtaposed by a picture of Jacobson repeating that the US and IRS is not unreasonable or unsympathetic? And explain just how much the sisters and others like them have had to pay in professional fees to get a resolution.
We can’t take Jacobson’s statements to the bank. Literally. Under a FATCA IGA if it is signed in Canada.
And you’re right, the interpretation of ‘stay calm’ could mean multiple things. But, even if his underlying message might be ‘do nothing till you hear further’ , pending any changes, can we put that down in any future submission to the IRS if they ask what steps we took to become ‘compliant’ once we learned of ‘our obligations’? Confusing that he says ‘stay calm’, and simultaneously, the GAO and IRS seem to be back to issuing threats for those who file quietly or going forward – thus herding people towards OVD or Streamlined.
Don’t look to US Congress for “sensible” lawmaking…
Congress enacted a law in 2005 — under lobbying from NRA & gun industry — that gives gun manufacturers and dealers broad immunity from being sued. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act shields the gun industry from product liability lawsuits. That includes the “Crickett” children’s rifle used in the recent accidental shooting of a 2 year old girl by her 5 year brother in Kentucky.
Congress also wrote into Medicare Part D a prohibition for the federal government to use its massive purchasing power in negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for better prices for seniors’ Rx drugs. A later 2007 proposal to permit the federal government to negotiate Rx drug prices was also blocked in the Senate.
You’re missing something big here. Jacobson’s message to ‘stay calm’ is HERESAY!
@badger, the Swiss learned that whenever America asks for something, it then asks again for more again afterwards, and more and more with no end in sight.
For those of you who’ve received letters from Ms May containing the message to ‘stay calm’, you should be asking her why she’s not urging the Ambassador to convey that message himself. Surely she must know the danger a second hand message like that poses to herself and to so many who are looking for direction. Give your head a shake Ms May, the cost of carrying Jacobson’s water may prove to be more dear than you realize. Who will the fingers point to when he reneges yet again? Fool me once…
That is a very good point @bubblebustin. There is no context to judge what the Ambassador may mean, it isn’t a promise of anything, he provides no explanation, no forum for questions or clarification. He might gain unintended and unwarranted legitimacy by virtue of being conveyed by a sincere and trustworthy source. If he really wanted to convey his sincerity, and really intended to help us, he has lots of forums and ample opportunity.
Instead of writing empty feel good propaganda on his website http://blogs.ottawa.usembassy.gov/ambassador , he has had years to post something meaningful there instead of the pap like: ……..”I encourage all American citizens living in Canada (there are more than a million of us) – and any of our Canadian friends who want to join us – to volunteer in your communities. Find an organization that needs help. Visit a lonely neighbor. Shovel the sidewalk of a senior citizen who has trouble doing it on his or her own. Do something to make your community just a little bit better….”http://blogs.ottawa.usembassy.gov/ambassador/index.php/2013/01/16/january-15-2013-ottawa/ . Guess what Ambassador. We live here. It is our permanent home. Many of us were born here. Opposing arrogant US incursions into Canada’s economy via FATCA and US extraterritorial citizenship-based taxation and the obliteration of the assets of Canadian families trumps your facile advice to shovel snow for a neighbour if we want to do something to help fellow Canadians. And renouncing and relinquishing US citizenship are good options too – so we don’t pass the burden on to the next generation in Canada. And so we can live and prosper like any other Canadian can. Which the US is actively preventing us from doing – which you well know.
In case you have haven’t seen it yet a big left wing advocacy group just went after Rand Paul in the US over FATCA. Hoping Rachel Maddow and MSNBC will pick it up tonight.
@ calgary411
Thanks for the update re: Esther and her sister Betty. All does not sound perfectly calm with Jacobson’s grannies. You are such a dear for helping these two women work their way through the US tax dys-system AND for helping so many bewildered souls who have found their way to Brock.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/local/article/311594/3/SSA-comes-after-man-for-895-overpayment-they-made-to-his-mom
I reckon this will not be surprising to anyone here but these screw-ups still make my head shake. My husband got his mother’s SS cheques stopped right after her death (the funeral home took care of it ) but he never got a year-end statement from the SSA for her final tax filing. It might have been a foreign address issue. Our pesky Canadian postal codes just cannot be entered into US computers sometimes. (This happened with his mother’s health insurance company.) Like the fellow in the article my husband also has the same name as his father who passed away 20 years before his mother. I just hope there aren’t any outstanding overpayments lurking around from decades ago that we know nothing about. Pity the poor SS employee they have assigned to look through all those dusty files for such things. ACHOO!
@badger
Can you please repost your link to the comment below. It will be useful to refer to in submissions to other governments to highlight the effect this is having. The link you posted refers back to this thread.
That quote: “in the many dark hours before I became compliant (sacrificing 40% of lifesavings for fees to become so ) I considered divorce and/or suicide to protect my british family.” came from @FalseAlarm on this thread: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/05/01/fatca-response-from-elizabeth-may/comment-page-2/#comment-314697
Thanks, Em.
When I have finished writing some letters in support of the program my son and others work for each weekday, a program which could be slated for deep cuts in “Persons with Developmental Disabilities” Alberta funding, I will contact the Saskatchewan sisters once again for a further update and to see how much of their story they are comfortable to further share. It may not be until the first CLN is received.
I don’t know where else I should post this, but I think it’s another example of ways we can get the word out about FATCA and the negative effects of citizenship based taxation.
I wrote this letter to the executive director of my province’s Condominium Home Owner’s Association today, for which I’ve already received a response:
“Dear Mr Gioventu,
I am a condominium owner, (former profession withheld) and a Canadian with US citizenship. It should be of grave concern to the BC Condominium Owners Association that all US persons who have signing authority for banks accounts associated with BC strata corporations are required by US law to provide detailed reports on those accounts to the Internal Revenue Service. This law has been in existence for many years but until recently has been relatively unenforced. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) passed by the US lawmakers in 2010 requires all Canadian banking institutions to identify and report their US customers to the IRS beginning in 2014. The penalty for a US person not filing a Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) can be up to 50% of the value of the account.
‘US persons’ include US citizens by birth or naturalization, US green card holders living in Canada, Canadians born in Canada who attained US citizenship through one or more parent at birth, ‘accidental Americans’ who were born in the US through necessity but have never lived in the US since birth, US adoptees living in Canada, ‘snowbirds’ who meet the US’s substantial presence test for tax filing obligations.
The IRS states:
“In addition to reporting your worldwide income, you must also report on your U.S. tax return whether you have any foreign bank or investment accounts. The Bank Secrecy Act requires you to file a Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), if:
You have financial interest in, signature authority, or other authority over one or more accounts in a foreign country, and
The aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.
More information on foreign financial account reporting requirements is in News Release FS-2007-15, Foreign Financial Accounts Reporting Requirements and Publication 4261, Do You have a Foreign Financial Account?”
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Income-from-Abroad-is-Taxable
Please feel free to contact me should you like more information.”
The Executive Directors response:
“Hi-: Thanks for the heads up. I would be interested in more information. There is also a question of Privacy matters which we would need to address and discuss, because as a result of this requirement, any such disclosure could potentially be a breach of PIPA or RESA under trust fund protection.”
PIPA: Personal Information Protection Act.
RESA: The Act that governs money held in trust by a brokerage.
I haven’t yet responded. There are some valuable informational links at ACA and I’ll suggest legal advice. Other recommended reads/suggestions for him? Condo associations will also have to concern with issues surrounding discrimination based on nationality should they prohibit US persons from positions where accessing financial accounts is necessary.
Feel free to use my letter should anyone else feel inspired to write to their province’s condo associations too.
@StGeorge, sorry about the problem with the link – going round in a loop. I’m trying to find the original quote post on here, but haven’t so far. It was only a day or two ago, but which thread, I’m not sure.
@Badger, I believe that it is this one:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/02/07/what-facts-will-not-support-reasonable-cause-arguments-for-fbar/
I didn’t find the exact quote, but it does summarize what was mentioned in the post.
You want this: crystal london Submitted on 2013/05/01 at 3:46 pm – When it proves that hard to find stuff from just a few days ago, you know that Brock has become a genuine data morass. Theme: the more the file grows, the worse it all gets.