Swedish Citizen made a comment on a previous thread from back in February of 2013. It deserves a wider visibility and reading. It provides a good example of letters that can be used more generically when writing any Countries Finance minister.
Thought I would highlight it here along with a letter he also wrote the Swedish Banksters.
The entire post is after the jump..
Just Me has given me information to stop Reading Brock and start delivering results.
Subject: USA laws in Sweden: Guaranteed to deliver Swedish data to the NSA and CIA
Dear Finance Minister Borg,
You are in the process of accepting the American law FATCA, written by American lawyers, in the interest of Americans. According to Faktapromemoria 2012/13:FPM150 at http://bit.ly/1co9GJX
“Riksgälden och Sveriges advokatsamfund har inga synpunkter på förslaget. Riksdagens ombudsmän (JO), Företagarna, Sparbankernas Riksförbund, Svenska Riskkapitalföreningen och Utländska försäkringsbolagens förening har avstått från att svara”
Have you not done a full analysis and risk analysis upon the USA FATCA regulation and your Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA)?
Have you not demanded that your own jurists review the legal commitment that Sweden is making to USA? Do you make legal commitments without using legal advice?
Do you understand that the definition of “US person” is owned by USA and not controlled by any IGA? You do understand what US person is today, don’t you? Today, it includes many Swedish citizens living in Sweden, some of them who may have never set a foot in USA or ever had any connection with USA. Look it up or refer to my previous emails.
What is the risk of the definition of “US person” changing? Is it controlled in your IGA agreement? (no). The definition of US person changed as recently as this summer in similar situations—have you controlled in your IGA that it isn’t going to change again? (no)
As you are taking upon USA law into Sweden, do you understand that you are taking upon US punishments into Sweden? Do you understand the punishments that are applicable to bank employees? Has your IGA contract specifically protected Swedish bank employees for prosecution under US law? (no—it hasn’t it doesn’t matter whether you have signed an IGA or not.)
Shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years;
Or fined not more than $250,000 for individuals ($500,000 for corporations);
Or both, together with cost of prosecution.
http://bit.ly/17ubMYu
Have you taken into account that the above punishments are US law, and that they are subject to change at any time according to US legislation or US tax rules?
The Swedish tax treaty with USA is unique, in that it requires Sweden to aid in tax and penalty collection to USA. Have you analyzed if Sweden will then be liable to collect fines and/or extradite bank employees to USA?
Are you aware that the IGA you are signing for Sweden commits Sweden to everything yet commits USA to nothing? (that Sweden gets nothing but promises in return?) Reference Rep Posey Letter to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, July 1, 2013.
You are aware that an IGA is not a treaty, aren’t you? A treaty needs to be ratified by a legislative body, and the IGA will not be.
You are aware that the IGA is not connected to the original FATCA legislation, HR 2847, and therefore does not commit the USA to anything?
Have you analyzed the effects of FATCA upon Swedish citizens living in Sweden? (no).
Have you analyzed FATCA’s reporting and mechanisms upon Swedish citizens, regarding discrimination according to national origin? Is it such that certain Swedish citizens are the new Jews? Will they be punished? How? Bankrupted? Extradited? Will they be loaded onto transports and sent off to their fate?
What changes to the discrimination laws will be required in order to search out and find citizens of a particular nationality? Will Eritreans also be searched out and found? Perhaps Muslims? Jews?
Have you analyzed the IGA? Do you realize that it over-rides existing tax treaties?
Do you realize that the information you are sending to USA is not considered as confidential tax information (Title 26 information), rather that it is non-tax information (title 31), and hence not subject to the privacy rules which govern USA tax information?
Have you analyzed the effects of the fact that the information from FATCA and its reporting mechanisms is shared with the NSA, the FBI, CIA and other agencies? Information not only upon US persons, but those that are one contact away from a US person and upon the Swedish FFI financial institutions.
What information from the FFI’s will be shared with the other 3-letter US agencies?
Have you realized that US tax law requires US persons to be financial spies inside Sweden to USA? That these people are then REQUIRED to spy upon Swedish corporations, Swedish spouses, Swedish business partners, and Swedish volunteer organizations? That FATCA requires that US persons (Swedish Citizens living in Sweden) spy upon Sweden?
http://www.irs.gov/file_source/pub/irs-pdf/f90221.pdf
http://www..irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8938.pdf
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8621.pdf
http://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html?value=3520&criteria=formNumber
http://apps.irs.gov/app/picklist/list/formsPublications.html?value=8865&criteria=formNumber
The private financial information of all family members (those who share joint accounts with the US person) will be reported to the IRS, even if they are full Swedish persons and have no US personhood. See section 3 of the FBAR form foreign “joint accounts”.
Also, trusts which are set up by US persons for elderly Swedish in-laws or any children must be reported.
The private financial information of a Swedish volunteer organization must be reported to the IRS by any US person who may have volunteered to help pay the bills. See sec 4 of the FBAR form.
The private financial information of a Swedish corporation must be reported to the IRS by any officer or person signing corporate checks upon the FBAR form
Form 5471 –A US person shareholder must spy on the entire Swedish corporation.
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i5471.pdf
A US person living in Sweden is required to report the private financial information of the Swedish Company to the IRS, Regardless that the company is majority owned by full-Swedish persons.
Form 926, A US person in Sweden must report loans made to a corporation in Sweden to the IRS, even if owned by full-Swedes.
Are you aware that Swedish jurisdiction laws have no effect: The fact that a Swedish jurisdiction would impose a civil or criminal penalty on you if you disclose the required information is not reasonable cause (for not reporting to USA).
Are you willing to have Swedish banks absorb costs which are greater than the gains which USA will gain?
Does Sweden have any backbone? Does Sweden negotiate to have an IGA agreement which (it mistakenly believes) is less bad than the FATCA applications upon its banks?
Is Sweden ready to break international concepts, in making an agreement which is not upon equal terms between nations?
Do you realize that FATCA is simply a method of transferring money from a prosperous Sweden to USA, via compliance agencies and expensive defense lawyers and US banks?
Has your risk analysis been comprehensive? Do you realize that your greatest risk in FATCA relations with USA is the risk that you haven’t discovered all of the risks that lie inside the insane US tax laws?
Without a full analysis of the IGA agreement by US lawyers, how do you know what it is that Sweden is commiting to?
Shouldn’t Sweden be hiring a US lawyer to analyze what Sweden is signing up for? Someone who fully understands US laws? There are many international lawyers in Washington DC and New York City—many of whom have lobbied for FATCA and helped to write the laws. Their fees are between $400 and $2000 per hour, they could be immensely helpful for Sweden to understand what it is that they are signing up for. Why not take some Swedish money and get some real advice upon US law from a US lawyer?
Knowing all of the answers above, please explain what it is that you think is about FATCA that could be a benefit to Sweden.
Swedish Citizen
Got the banksters too,
——————————————————–
To: svenska bankforeningen
Subject: FATCA personal penalties for Responsible Officer, RO, risk analysis Swedish banking
As you are taking upon USA law into Sweden with FATCA and an IGA, do you understand that you are taking upon US punishments into Sweden upon Bank employees? Do you understand the punishments that are applicable to bank employees? Has your IGA contract specifically protected Swedish bank employees for prosecution under US law? (no—it hasn’t it doesn’t matter whether you have signed an IGA or not.)
Shall be imprisoned not more than 3 years;
Or fined not more than $250,000 for individuals ($500,000 for corporations);
Or both, together with cost of prosecution.
http://bit.ly/17ubMYu
Have you taken into account that the above punishments are US law, and that they are subject to change at any time according to US legislation or US tax rules?
The Swedish tax treaty with USA is unique, in that it requires Sweden to aid in tax and penalty collection to USA. Have you analyzed if Sweden will then be liable to collect fines and/or extradite bank employees to USA?
Have you done a complete risk analysis regarding the applicable US laws upon your work? Do you know everything that you don’t know about US laws? Do you understand that US law changes according to what USA decides?
Do you understand that an IGA implemented by Riksdagen & Regeringen permanently and completely subjects bank directors to USA laws?
I hope that Swedish Bank Directors are comfortable and well paid in their roles as Responsible Officers for FATCA, in the IGA that they have demanded from Regeringen and Riksdagen.
Enjoy your Responsibilities!!!!! Keep up the 100% correct work!!!
Swedish Citizen
Ok guys, it is done and it is up, sorry for the delay, click here: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/11/22/123-questions-to-ask-your-government-about-fatca/
Might be a few bugs in the document, but we are working them out, others are welcome to review it and advise on mistakes or just use what is there. Hope it helps!
Sweden signed this agreement because it *had no choice*. This was not done lightly. Contrary to what we sometimes think, the Swedish government is not stupid; stupid would have been to fight the US on this. The USA successfully extorted Sweden with the threat of 30% withholding, same as every other country in the world (indirectly through their banks). This was economic warfare, plain and simple, and the USA trumped Sweden. The only way to have fought this would have been for the entire EU to make a single response, but the USA singled out each country and threatened them. If you want to place blame, place it squarely on the USA, in particular the Democrats and – as much as Swedes love him – President Barack Obama.