CBC News: US FATCA Law Catches Unsuspecting Canadians in Its Crosshairs

Update January 16, 2014: Comments to this CBC News article are now closed.

I have sent a thank you to CBC reporters who interviewed me.

From: caroltapanila
Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 9:03 AM
To: Amber Hildebrandt, CBC ; James Fitz-Morris
Cc: Prime Minister Stephen Harper ; Kevin.Shoom@fin.gc.ca ; Michelle.Rempel@parl.gc.ca ; Kevin.Shoom@fin.gc.ca
Subject: Another thank you for the awareness you’ve provided the Canadian public…

Amber and James,

I see that comments are closed for the CBC News article with so many comments. I thank the commenters who supported me and the persons who tried to answer questions and educate on what is happening with US FATCA law coming across our border. I hope that many now realize it is the US’s citizenship-based taxation that makes it possible for the US to leech funds from US Persons in Canada, their Canadian government and each Canadian taxpayer.

More and more will be underlined the absurdity and the unfairness of all of this but that will not be resolution. Some (like my for my son and others whose “foreign” identification will not show a US place of birth, MAY HE FORGIVE ME FOR HAVING SOLD HIM OUT, although his “foreign financial accounts” are identified in the Foreign Bank Account Reports that I’ve “complied with” and sent to the US). It will be that some can be more easily nabbed and put through the wringer of the injustice of FATCA combined with US citizenship-taxation than others. None of this will be equitable and none of it should be as US Person “ignorance” allows criminalization by the US.

With the coverage you have interviewed us for and CBC has provided, I hope that more in Canada have learned of the powerful club the US has with its citizenship-based taxation – and, in my family’s case, that a smaller segment ARE ENTRAPPED, no two ways about that. The US could do something about this. It appears they will not. I’m not holding my breath. And, I am in despair that the other governments of the world can not show some strength and solidarity in saying NO to FATCA that reaps so much collateral damage for their own people.

As has been said by others, and I agree, in regard to the “streamlined compliance”:

But why the hell SHOULD anyone have to? And if they don’t for whatever reason – whether they don’t qualify, or they don’t hear about until its too late, or they don’t want to – then all bets are off, and IRS can penalize them to their hearts content. Finance Minister Flaherty has expressed approval (given blessing to?) the Streamlined program.; this presumes that Canadians with a US status SHOULD make all efforts to become compliant with USA’s immoral citizenship based taxation laws.

I will support all US Persons in whatever choices they have to make for themselves and their families. Yes, we all have to make our own choices. We still hold out some hope that our Canadian government will say no to FATCA. We still want to know from our government if ALL Canadians have the same rights, no matter where they were born, their discrimination by “nationality”.

Even the thought of the US being able to tax gains in our very Canadian personal residence sales that Canada does not makes me want to scream.

So, again, I want to thank Gwen for helping get the CBC coverage better rolling and you two for so respectfully interviewing me. Because of you, there are others in Canada now aware and starting their own research so they can eventually make decisions for themselves and their own families. US Persons in Canada and around the world are so scattered. It is unfortunate that we are not one big US Person group that could go out in solidarity to express the outrage we feel about yet more US collateral damage, this time us!

We have all have a hurt of this betrayal that in no way will ever be erased. It is helping me to have spoken out.

Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the opportunity.

Carol Tapanila

PS: I would love the opportunity to reach the person who commented about her, in this instance profoundly disabled son, who will be affected. Above all, I am glad that I reached her in this story but I am unable to tell her that – unless she was able to sift through the many comments to see my tardy reply to her.

********

My comment in 1800 words or less to those commenters who believe we and others like my family and my son should be turned over to the US IRS:

Carol Tapanila

I DID NOT know my child was a US citizen. Not a problem if the US taxed based on residence as all the other countries of the world (except Eritrea, condemned for their same).

The US criminalizes my ignorance. Many will be considered ‘mentally incompetent’ — also dementia or brain injury. My son cannot renounce US citizenship because of mental incapacity and I cannot do so on his behalf. No amount of money from my retirement savings to pay a US tax lawyer makes it possible. Seems entrapment unless US DOS tells me otherwise. From my Washington, DC immigration/nationality lawyer:

DOS persons have “sympathy” for such cases. However, the developmentally disabled person will have to have FULL understanding of what he’s doing; if any question of lack of comprehension and grasping meaning and importance of ramifications, they could NOT approve such a case. From DOS point of view, US citizenship is precious and they have therefore established fundamental requirements for “compelling reason”. Even though there is the risk that a person’s financial resources could run out before his/her life was over, they will never approve a renunciation for financial / economic reasons. DOS has NEVER had such a renunciation case approved due to “compelling circumstances”. I could sue – persons he talked with at DOS are SURE no one would ever win such a case as the courts view the discretionary action that DOS has would take precedence.

There should be an ‘opt in’ to US citizenship, not an ‘opt out’.

Do ALL Canadians have the same rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms or to be waived for ‘US Persons’ Canadians, 2nd-class Canadians by virtue of ‘so-called’ US citizenship? Canadian taxpayer money turned over to the US.