bubblebustin has asked me to post Julie Kessler’s recent article which appeared briefly on her blog and immediately picked up and published by The Los Angeles Daily Journal. Several from Brock approached her to see if it could be available as a resource here.
For her sensible, informative contribution Julie Kessler is nominated for the Isaac Brock Hall of Fame.
Here is part of the email received by those who helped make this article now available:
Thank you all for your emails and your praise of my recent article, which is much appreciated. One of my main objectives in writing, especially in articles having to do with the law, is to try and humanize it so that others may reflect on its collateral cost and effect.
Following is a link to this previously referenced article on FATCA and its unexpected collateral damage, written by attorney and author Julie L. Kessler, which appeared in the October 18, 2013 edition of The Los Angeles Daily Journal, the largest west coast publication providing legal news of interest and other legal information: The expats’ dilemma–article published in the L.A. Daily Journal The expats’ dilemma–article published in the L.A. Daily Journal
Julie advises that you may also now subscribe to her site to be notified by email of new articles as they appear by clicking on the “W” button next to the Twitter logo in the top right hand corner of my site’s home page. Articles are normally posted twice a week depending on the news and my other commitments.
Julie’s Twitter handle is @JulieLKessler and her book’s Facebook page is Julie L. Kessler, Author.
Happy reading!
From:
Julie L. Kessler
Attorney at Law
Licensed in California, Hawaii and The District of Columbia
Author of Fifty-Fifty, The Clarity of Hindsight
Award Winner
2013 Paris Book Festival and
2013 New York Book Festival
www.JulieLKessler.com
P.O. Box 1582
Manhattan Beach, CA 90267
Tel: 310/403-0009
E-mail: JulieKesslerEsq@yahoo.com
IRS Circular 230 disclosure: To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS and other taxing authorities, we inform you that any tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties that may be imposed on any taxpayer; or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
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that is confidential and protected by privilege from
disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, you are
prohibited from printing, copying, forwarding or saving
them. Please delete the message and attachments without
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Ce courrier électronique et ses fichiers joints
peuvent contenir des informations confidentielles
et protégées par le secret professionnel. Si
vous n’êtes pas le destinataire de ce courrier,
vous n’êtes en aucun cas autorisé à l’imprimer,
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ses fichiers joints, sans l’imprimer, le copier,
le faire suivre ou le sauvegarder,et d’en
informer son expéditeur immédiatement.
Impressive—and into a law journal.
@ Bubblebustin
Without your e-mail exchange with Julie Kessler we’d probably not be able to read her FATCA piece and it is very good, both passionate and intellectually persuasive. Thank you. It goes to show you never know when a connection you make will produce a dividend for everyone.
This is a wonderful article! She gets who expats are for the most part. Average, every day citizens not rich island dwellers. She gets the problem with a foreign spouse and your banking issues as well as the need to report on a foreign spouse to the U.S. causing issues in families.
She gets those who are between a rock and a hard place. If you cannot move back, if you cannot bank where you live, if you cannot disclose a foreign spouses bank details then you can only renounce. What’s worse is that no one should be put in that position.
The U.S. really is causing far, far too many problems for innocent families abroad and needs to fix FATCA to get who they say they want it to get while not continuing on this penalty fund raiser on innocent expat families abroad. Thanks so much for getting this posted. It was a pleasure to read that.
Happy to help. As mentioned, there were a few of us working to get Julie’s article up here again. It was a pleasure doing email exchanges with her.
Interesting, I asked her a couple of days after it was printed in the Journal how the feedback was, and she said not one reader responded!
Kudos to Badger for catching the article when it first appeared on Julie’s blog.
@bubblebustin
re: not one reader responded!
and that is why the FATCA story and its consequences gains no traction in America….
Just had a conversation with a guy and his wife who own a little vacuum shop in Bellingham about his sister living in Brisbane Australia with her UK husband. And of course, I could not keep my mouth shut. I had to mention that I was sorry she was becoming toxic material. He was puzzled, and so I tried to briefly explain about the IRS offshore jihad.
His response, “Well, she doesn’t have to pay taxes to America for her earnings down there!”
Then came my condensed version of the facts of life related International taxation American style.
He was stunned! “But she doesn’t get any U.S. government services”, he said.
“Bingo”, said I, “but it doesn’t matter. She is on the hook for life.”
“How does she get out of it?” asked the wife.
“Simple”, I said, “Renounce or relinquish your citizenship!”
“I think I will go home and have a drink”, said his wife.
I left with the shop with the words FAT CAT ringing in their ears, and suggested they start googling FATCA, the worst law most Americans have never heard of.
Thanks for your efforts writing to the author Bubblebustin!
@badger
You’re welcome. If helping her helps us, I’m in! Julie is now looking for information on renunciation numbers. Unfortunately, like the NSA, we’re swimming in such a volume of data that it becomes difficult and time consuming trying to gather information concisely. Is there someone more knowledgeable than me who’d be willing to giver her the Coles (Cliff) notes on the issues surrounding the gathering of renunciation numbers?
@Just Me
I’m afraid that unless someone in the homeland has lived abroad or has a loved one who does, they won’t get it. Citizenship based taxation is such an abomination to those who cherish freedom, the mind won’t allow itself to recognize it at first. Once they do, the cognitive dissonance results in either denial or trauma. We see examples of both every day, the Robert Stack’s of the world and the people you met yesterday. It’s hard to be neutral on the subject, once you grasp it.
Julie understands the issue of FATCA combined with US Citizenship-Based Taxation because she HAS lived abroad. She can easily put herself into the shoes of any of us who choose to live abroad as citizens of other countries (and legal residents) rather than return to the US. She gets the “freedom” part of it. She gets the hypocrisy of the US holding onto CBT while the rest of the world taxes on residency.
Her whole well-presented article goes over the head of *most* in the US homelanders. It also goes over the heads of most in other countries, including many ‘US Persons Abroad.’ I think the only way to understand it all is to personally experience the consequences in one’s families.
Thank you, Julie. It is a wonderful article, with your tying it to your value you place on your US passport because of the gratitude for hard-earned US citizenship in your family history. I wish readers would see the continuation of your personal situation into the loss of real “freedom” in living abroad and so many US rights are going down the drain with FATCA and CBT.
A suggestion from Julie Kessler:
“I see that there were a number of interesting comments on the Brock page following where you linked my FATCA article. That’s great. I would suggest that those readers copy and paste those same comments into the comment section of the FATCA entry on my web site. My site gets a different demographic but a number of lawyers so I think the additional exposure for those affected by FATCA would be good. It certainly can’t hurt.
Also, just received word another article I wrote on a different topic was picked up by the LADJ and will appear Tuesday.”
Thank you all for your comments.
@Julie L. Kessler…
Thanks for your contribution, and attention you have drawn to the issues facing American’s abroad.
I saw your post, and want to be sure others do..
A lovely honor from the Isaac Brock Society
Your efforts at warning others about the negative consequences of bad citizenship taxation policy combined with FATCA is truly giving Americans ….
The Scarlet Letter..
As this author on the American Thinker says…
…and Julie, this is right on: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/11/01/financial-sense-roundtable-expatriate-roundtable-has-the-government-alienated-americans-living-abroad-by-criminalizing-the-innocent/. I hope you have time to listen to this EXCELLENT Financial Sense Newshour Roundtable Discussion: http://www.financialsensenewshour.com/broadcast/insider/fsn2013-1022-expatrt-j8d3k9s.mp3 and perhaps use it on your site.
@Calgary411…
It might be good to put that newshour podcast up as a separate post, do you think? I know it is buried back there on the thread, but now that it is out, maybe we need separate visibility for newcomers, you think?
I did bring it forward yesterday after my return from Calgary protest day: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/11/01/financial-sense-roundtable-expatriate-roundtable-has-the-government-alienated-americans-living-abroad-by-criminalizing-the-innocent/, with the link to the full segment: Financial Sense Newshour, ” Expatriate Roundtable: Has the Government Alienated Americans Living Abroad By Criminalizing the Innocent?”
It doesn’t take long to get lost in all the posts. It is so good, maybe it should be a link in the Resources or somewhere else on the right-hand side of the home page?
@Calgary..
Good idea. Things get lost quickly in all the comments…
I just heard from Julie that as a result of her FATCA article, the LA Daily Journal has now given her her own weekly column there! That’s great news, because she’s a great writer who offers thoughtful balance to any subject she covers, imo. I’m sure she’d be happy to send anyone some of her latest articles if you emailed her. Congratulations Julie!
julie@julielkessler.com