Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 16 Comments

Dear xxx:
You keep sending me the same message. I am not sure why since the answer to your rhetorical question is obvious – FATCA does affect all people living in Canada who were born in the USA and retain their citizenship or never had it taken away.

Regards,

Jim
James Turk
David Robinson

James Turk <turk@caut.ca>

David Robinson <robinson@caut.ca>
———————————–

Date: 02/05/2014 02:42PM

Subject: This CAUT member wants an answer.

Under the agreement, financial institutions in Canada will not report any information directly to the IRS. Rather, relevant information on accounts held by U.S. residents and U.S. citizens (including U.S. citizens who are residents or citizens of Canada) will be reported to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). The CRA will then exchange the information with the IRS through the existing provisions and safeguards of the Canada-U.S. Tax Convention. This is consistent with Canada’s privacy laws.

http://www.fin.gc.ca/n14/14-018-eng.asp

Jim, tell me again how FATCA doesn’t affect the hundreds (thousands) of CAUT members that were born in the USA?

16 thoughts on “Canadian Association University Teachers strikes Blow for Human Rights!”

  1. Am I being slow? I am not sure that I understand this post. Would anyone care to explain this exchange?

  3. Turk says he will do nothing. His stooge told me that this would have no effect on anybody when I approached them last year.

  4. That’s a shame. I am sure he hasn’t spoken directly with many of these profs. Some are short termers here but, many are not. Some of them will be caught out in a very difficult situation.

  5. Interesting. Clearly he does not understand the USG’s concept of “US person for taxable purposes” although to be fair, who does really understand that?

    My very non-American and completely Canadian husband is impacted by FATCA and US citizen-based taxation as the US sees his earned income as mine by some sort of voodoo economics. They also do not consider him my legal husband in terms of inheritance. For estate purposes my husband has as much relationship to me as the garbage man. They also don’t recognize the POA or living will that names him in the event I am incapacitated nor do they concede that my being his heir isn’t their business either.

    And for purposes of US taxableness, just about anyone who goes into business with me (and frankly, who would be that stupid at this point) also becomes a USP for taxable purposes by default.

    Is this person you are in communication with capable of reading with understanding and if not, how did they rise to a position of authority?

  6. You ask them!

    James Turk
    Jim Turk is Executive Director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers. Prior to his work at CAUT, Jim was an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, specializing in Canadian Studies, and was Director of the Labour Studies Program at University College. Jim has also been Director of Education for the Ontario Federation of Labour. He is a member of the Executive and of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; a member of Advisory Board of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/U of T; and a former chair of the Ontario Coalition for Social Justice. Jim received his Ph.D. at the University of Toronto, his M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and his B.A. from Harvard University. He was a Knox Fellow at Cambridge University. His most recent book is an edited collection, The Corporate Campus: Commercialization and the Dangers to Canada’s Colleges and Universities.

    David Robinson
    David Robinson is a special advisor to EI on matters related to higher and vocational education, international trade, and intellectual property. David is also the associate executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT), an EI affiliate representing academic and general staff at universities and colleges across Canada. Prior to joining CAUT in 1999, he was the senior economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. He has been a lecturer at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and Carleton University in Ottawa. David is currently based in Ottawa where he lives with his partner and two sons. He spends six months of the year shovelling snow, the other six swatting blackflies while dreaming of one day returning to British Columbia.

  9. Michael Ignatieff must have something to say about this. He is most likely in the same boat.

    On another note, my friends and family members living in the USA are completely unaware of FACTA.

    The media in the US hasn’t given this issue much attention. Americans need to know if they work, and live in other countries they are bound to US IRS. Anyone accepting green cards, and US citizenship should be aware of the life long tax bondage. Transparency is fair in this dreadful situation. Big tax surprises are not the way to govern.

  11. @ ChearsBigEars
    Victory? Not necessarily so. We don’t know whether he (and others) committed suicide out of fear of discovery or whether he was “suicided” because he knew something bad our way cometh and was a potential whistleblower. Something’s up with these bankers going down … but what exactly? I’m going to hold my fire until I get a clearer picture.

  12. How about set up a war chest for top notch legal representation? Set up a crowd funding site. Just think if every ‘US person’ in Canada gave just $5 each each, you’d really have some fire power then.

  13. There are other University Faculty Association members at other Canadian universities who might enlighten them:
    http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/01/20/our-strongest-card-the-canadian-civil-liberties-association/comment-page-2/#comment-153474
    Here is one at Western;
    http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/stories/2012/June/traister_finds_lessons_for_university_union_and_self_during_term-lite.html

    I see this notice appeared in November 2011 at UBC:
    ” ‘US Persons who are Members of the Faculty Pension Plan and/or Supplemental Arrangement’
    November 2, 2011

    Globe and Mail – June 20, 2011 – A tax crackdown by the United States has sent more than one million Americans and green-card holders living in Canada scrambling to figure out how to comply.

    The move is part of a push by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to make sure U.S. taxpayers are paying what they owe on foreign accounts. Unlike most countries, the U.S. requires its citizens to file annual tax returns based on their worldwide income, regardless of where they live.

    UBC advises all its current or former employees who may be required to file US tax returns to seek advice from a US tax consultant with regard to whether there are tax consequences or filing responsibilities with respect to the ‘assets in’ or ‘income from’ their Faculty Pension Plan and Supplemental Arrangement accounts. Failure to meet any such reporting or filing requirements could result in very significant penalties.” http://www.pensions.ubc.ca/faculty/

    I would think that Canadian universities have significant numbers o past or current US citizens amongst their faculty – particularly from the 60’s and 70’s – from the Vietnam and civil rights era. I can think of several. Perhaps many assume that they had been stripped of US status when they came to Canada. And since many academics travel in both directions cross-border in order to work, it wouldn’t be uncommon.

  14. Good points @Ann, re; “Anyone accepting green cards, and US citizenship should be aware of the life long tax bondage. Transparency is fair in this dreadful situation. Big tax surprises are not the way to govern.”

    Exactly, unless your real aim is really to punish and penalize.

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