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
Atticus, Petros is right. FBAR is not a tax form and therefore has nothing to do with the tax requirements for renouncing. Zero. I wouldn’t worry about it.
Dash….a quick google shows that SINs that have been dormant for 5 years are automatically flagged as dormant, in an effort to avert fraudulent use of SINs. There are numerous online posts about this, going back a number of years.
@The Mom A Google search? First off, Google is an American company–not qualified to comment on Canadian affairs. Do you have a Canadian source for this info? Also, in Canada someone’s mother is referred to as Mum, not Mom.
But more to the point is the fact that I’m not objecting to reasonable efforts to prevent fraud. The issue here is that the information being requested here goes far beyond what would be needed for a reasonable fraud detection effort. I have, for example, sometimes had credit card issuers ask me to call in to verify info on my account to prevent fraud. The matter is always resolved (with the credit card issuers) in a few minutes. Here, however, the matter with Service Canada could NOT be resolved with a simple phone call. The level of information being requested goes far beyond what should reasonably be requested in such circumstances. If Canada doesn’t tax based on citizenship–something that is very fundamental to IBS` raison d’etre–then it is quite simply none of Service Canada’s business what I have been doing outside of Canada.
Also, I established an online account verfiying my US address with Service Canada–twice. I have not moved since notifying Service Canada of my current address. I log into my account regularly–every few months. The idea that I am some kind of a stranger to Service Canada who has not been heard from in over five years quite simply does not match the facts. Something smells very bad here.
Okay, so not filing FBAR does NOT make you covered. I will renounce, file whatever tax forms are required of me, show my bank CLN and be done with all this. I don’t feel I can comply with FBAR filing because of the penalties and if I am no longer a U.S. citizen I don’t see how they would even apply to me. Of course since State seems to say you need to file six years of FBARS then maybe they could invalidate your renunciation at some point…just trying to think of all the weirdest angles. I never would have thought this way before but, now I think they have become so over reaching and bizarre down there who knows what is next!
I read Victoria’s post this morning, it is indeed a great read!
Pingback: The Isaac Brock Society