Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 105 Comments

Globalnews.ca reporter Anna Mehler Paperny is hoping to interview Canadians who have renounced US citizenship in the last few years for a story on citizenship/IRS/FATCA-related issues. Ideally she would like to use people’s real names.

Pls contact:
Anna.Mehler Paperny (at) globalnews.ca
(416) 443-6003

105 thoughts on “Globalnews.ca looking for Canadians who recently renounced US citizenship”

  1. KalC
    The Canadian court will not collect for foreign government under revenue rule.
    Can The IRS tries to extradite a Canadian for not filling US income taxes where the tax bill would be zero?

    But the real purpose of the extradition would be to get you on FBAR.
    Are you actually receiving IRS letters?

  2. I’ve been waiting for this moment. I will call her in the morning. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

  3. I am not worried about extradition on FBAR. I am worried that I know I DO have to travel there and as someone renounced and possibly assessed a fine I may be caught up when crossing the border at some point in the future.

    @Angela, so very proud to hear you will participate and call the reporter. She is a very nice woman and really seemed very interested in getting the details down correctly. Thank you for calling! The more the better!

  5. Money. To answer your first question, the us can not and would not be dumb enough. Extradition requires probable cause for a serious offence . It costs the system tens of thousands of dollars. Think about it. Relax a bit.

  6. The article WhiteKat referenced indicates that globalnews.ca requested through FOIA information on renunciants in January 2012. In June 2013 they received the below response.

    http://static.globalnews.ca/content/interactives/documents/general_news_bucket/130812_ly_citizenship.pdf

    “Based on the subject matter of your request, we consulted the Bureau of Consular Affairs. The American Citizen Services (ACS) units at our embassies and consulates abroad, in coordination with their corresponding Department of State office, the Office of Overseas Citizen Services (OCS). After renunciation has been completed, the Office of Passport Services (PPT) maintains renunciation records. ACS, OCS and PPT do not compile renunciation statistics. Renunciation records are privacy protected name-retrievable only; for a third party to access such records, you would have to provide the name of each person who has renounced, and also obtain written authorization from that person.”

    The last sentence of the above paragraph makes me think that their FOIA request (not linked) asked for names as opposed to numbers in which case the response may be reasonable although it took them 18 months (!!!) to deny the request. I hope that Shadow Raider’s request fares better and that it is addressed in a more reasonable timeframe. With three different areas within the State Department maintaining records of renunciations you would hope that at least one of them would be able to count the number of records. But maybe that’s asking too much. At least they didn’t say it was “classified”.

  7. http://globalnews.ca/news/782020/why-are-so-many-american-expats-giving-up-citizenship-its-a-taxing-issue/

    It’s a good article and I noted that we have “freeborn” in the article and “power” in the comments and those Brockers will know what I mean. I would have liked to have seen less emphasis on the questionable renunciation stats and more on the personal impact of FATCA on real people wanting to have real lives again but I realize that with FATCA and CBT there is always too little space to cover such complex issues. Nice to see Roy Berg and Allison Christians weighing in. The authors did a good job of researching and true to form … “The IRS did not respond to questions by publication time.”

  8. @em

    “The IRS did not respond to questions by publication time.” They never will, they’re on furlough.

    It’s a very good article and they managed to cover a lot of territory. Maybe they’ll do follow up ones that will cover more of the impact it’s having on Canadians affected by the ‘toxic trio’ CBT, FATCA and FBAR.

  9. KalC
    The only US money I received is the 20K on survivor rights condo. Which they have 10% withholding and it was worth a lot less then when I was put on deed. But this would be the back door to extradite me. Then they can make their layer fees If i was still alive and did not give all remaining money to the Government of Canada before I am extradited. I just hope that Canadian extradition was a full court system.
    But between FBAR, deemed disposition on my Canadian holding, penalty for failure to file exit tax etc etc and paying Canadian taxes when I sell my assets I am broke. Most of my net worth is unrealized capital gains and RRSP. If I was a spend thrift this would not be a problem I rather give it all to Canadian government. In fact I have way over contributed on my installment to CRA. Call it extra save money

    Has a Canadian ever extradited to for failing file non resident or closing taxes? Supplying the correct taxpayer ID. The IRS has gotten a lot worse since Obama.

    I am paranoid about this because so many crummy things have happened to me. This is also causing me a lot of emotional issues, as it brings up the crummy things my father did. He promised things and lied.

  10. @money,

    I am not clear on all the particulars of your situation, but if it makes you feel any better, I have had a series of crummy things happen to me to that go way back also, so that it almost feels like the past was preparation for the now.

    Try not to overthink things too much. It will cut your life short.

  11. @money,

    100 years from now, everyone of us here, posting at IBS, will be history. Try to find a way to deal with the USA menace without letting it steal all the good from the time that you have left in this world.

  13. There’s an angle to be worked here. Ted Cruz’s mindset that led him to believe that even though he was born on Canadian soil he wasn’t Canadian is typical of many Americans. It’s as though there’s a widespread belief that where you reside is your dominant citizenship and negates all others, especially if it’s American citizenship. Now he’s hot to trot to renounce Canadian citizenship. That should shut the mouths of those who choose to call us traitors for doing the same with our US citizenship, ESPECIALLY if we’re doing it to get the government of a country we no longer have ties to off our backs! Ted Cruz is doing it and he’s not even being harassed by the Canadian government.

  15. What’s good for the goose, good for the gander. What’s good for “accidental Americans” in Canada is good for “accidental Canadians” in the US? Has Mr. Cruz gone to a Canadian consulate to formalize his renunciation? Is the door open for “accidental Americans” in Canada to run for the US presidency? Maybe one of them would be a better choice for the US? Shall we ask President Obama these questions or shall we ask the US Ambassador to Canada? Really, who would answer these questions?

    Ironic; this does beg clarification on what is just — from Ted Cruz? It will be interesting to watch what happens.

  17. Seems to me that this is an opportunity …. Cruz himself is probably getting a wake up call … but may not realize how much more difficult it is to renounce US citizenship …. or the penalties suffered by Americans and duals abroad due to retaining their (accidental or otherwise) US link. Folks need to get to Cruz and his handlers somehow. The US media is reporting on Cruz to some limited extent …. but they need to be shown the bigger picture … the question is how. Since Canada does not impose citizenship based taxation the work for Cruz to do to renounce will be minimal if indeed it is possible …. he was born in CANADA ! BTW I wonder whether Cruz can also claim to be Cuban since his father was born there?

  18. @Calgary411

    I don’t know why this news is making me so mad. Maybe it’s the hypocrisy that Americans show when it comes to their citizenship?
    You made a good point, maybe Ted Cruz is one of these misinformed who believes he’s already renounced Canadian citizenship by just saying he has.

  19. It’s a pity in some ways that Canada allows renunciation by mail – if Cruz had to go to a Canadian consulate in Texas to renounce there would be an opportunity for a teachable moment in private for a consul who was briefed on the issues and that way inclined.

  21. Calgary 411 …. I feel the vexation too …. I never fail to be annoyed by the arrogance of the ignorant or is that the ignorance of the arrogant …. hmmmm …. also get vexed by those who are wrong and strong in their wrong. Still I take my blood pressure medication and a few deep breaths and try to find reasonably polite ways to object.

  22. How dumb does a person have to be to not know that they are Canadian under those circumstances? I wonder being that dumb if he’s even a US citizen? The arrogance and the ignorance, indeed!

  23. Dumb …. maybe just plain ignorant. Seems to me that most homelanders are clueless as to the world around them and seem to be spoon fed pap by their media whether due to their own ignorance or their pursuit of some agenda or other.

  25. Hey bubblebustin we seem to be all reversed in our typing today .. you and I. Some how we are typing US when we mean Canada ….. hmmmmm … are we that excited that a high profile US politician is now getting caught up in the web of accidental and dual citizenship ? We should be ! Kenya should tax Obama ! and Indonesia should tax Obama ! Mexico should tax quite a few million US residents and citizens …. and CUBA should tax half of Miami! even Iraq and Afghanistan have quite large contingents resident in the US now …. they should be taxed by their home countries too !

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