In a new article at CNBC, Mark Mazur, assistant secretary for US tax policy writes:
Governments across the globe are recognizing the growing support for tax fairness, and with the United States at the lead, the world community is making important progress to expose these hidden financial accounts and stop offshore tax evasion.
Over the past few years, FATCA has become the global standard for fighting international tax evasion. The U.S. has partnered with like-minded governments to find efficient ways to implement the statutory reporting requirements. Progress has been substantial: The U.S. has signed intergovernmental agreements with 22 countries, and many more have either reached agreements in substance that are awaiting signature, or are well along in the process.
Read full article here: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101452453
**U.S. has partnered with like-minded governments**
What a load of crap. US has said… do it or we will take 30% of your funds & we will not give back.. so its a win/win for the US. Money will be raining in for the US no matter what.. gov’t or US tainted people.
Everyone will give all info to the US… they will get almost nothing in return & to top it all… they will have to spend millions… billions… to obey who in turn… will charge everyone for it. The US will not have to do much at all but crow… See everyone is on board with us… No… no one wants to be legally robbed by gun point with unjust & unfair practices
It makes me sick when I see these FATCA apologist articles that trumpet the OECD CRS. Yoy may, or may not, agree with the OECD standard but it is a residency based exchange of data and therefore does not breach the Privacy and Human Rights laws in the reporting country. Nor does it come with a threat of a 30% sanction for non-compliance.
The standard of journalism in these reports is truly depressing.
I think you’ll like my comment. 😉
Sad to say, it’s just more proof that all expats should renounce or relinquish asap.
The spin doctoring in that article is on a par with a You Tube radio show done by conspiracy nuts.
I did like your comment, atticus — and you spurred me on to tell my family’s story one more time. Take note author of the CNN Commentary, Mark J. Mazur, assistant secretary for tax policy, Department of the Treasury.
@pukekonz
I wish I could but I am not a US citizen… just a person who’s family got a GC because it wasn’t a big thing… since we also had residence in other countries.. paid all tax due to each country if owed. I would love to give up the GC but we are treated the same as a citizen giving it up… its expensive… to come up to date will wipe us out of our funds via the penalities. Plus I have family in the US… I want to be able to travel to the states. Because of this… traveling via the borders have been filled with anxiety… because who knows what info is going to pop up… what if I didn’t return a dang library book or whatever? So giving up anything is not easy for everyone… We waited for over 10 yrs for the card yrs ago… jumping through complicated hoops… now we wish we never even had one…
@atticusincanada
Great comment !!
I REALLY want to read the comments about this article posted to CNBC and perhaps add to them……but I don’t do twitter or facebook, and there are no links or list of comments attached to this CNBC article on my screen. Where do I find this? Atticus, how did you do this?
Pierre I used Disquis which allows me to comment on all sorts of different sites.
@ Pierre D
If you are a Mac user (like us) then the Camino browser will not show Disqus comments. The Safari browser works though.
Thanks for the help attempts, but I’ve brought up the same article through Safari, Chrome and Firefox, and nowhere do I even see a comments board or even a way to see one……nor Disqus. Does one need to be a logged in member of CNBC? They have an invasive sign-up procedure. I’m on a Windows Vista laptop.
@ PierreD
I’m stumped (easily done). Have you tried I.E. (Internet Explorer)? There is no need to sign-up with CNBC. I eventually signed up with Disqus though. I think it’s creepy and I don’t like it but I couldn’t curb my penchant for commenting so I relented.
I doubt this Treasury guy wrote that. It was probably ghost written by a PR firm. It reads just like PR fluff. And if you think about it – that’s pretty remarkable. Why would anyone in the government feel the need to have something published in a mainstream news outlet about some obscure thing called FATCA that practically no on in the homeland has heard about?
Is that a sign that FATCA is threatened, or that its handlers feel like it’s threatened?
A local MLA’s (BC) secretary’s brother in law is a US citizen and is caught up and worried about this. His wife suggested they get divorced if it would help him. ???
C’mon…CNBS? Viewership tanking because EVERYONE believes they are crooks….boooo yahhhhh
Jim Cramer: Abandon the Dollar Now, US Is ‘Laughingstock’
“He pointed to gold’s performance. Prices soared over $30 an ounce during the trade on Thursday. “Obviously” someone was putting money into the metal instead of the dollar, Cramer noted.
The world believes the US has basically “lost control,” he said.”
“Gold is the natural vehicle to counterbalance this behavior and is going higher once again,” he added.
http://www.moneynews.com/InvestingAnalysis/Cramer-dollar-gold-US/2013/10/18/id/531767
It appears that no one is over there except the Isaac Brock Choir. 🙂
@serfingUSA says- as a former publicist you are basically correct. PR firms write articles and then the “writer” of the article approves what he “wrote” and then they send it to the media outlet.
on the bright side of things that seems true, that someone is starting to get scared – they know fatca is under attack.
Similar to the Myths of Robert Stack?
@US_Person_Foreigner . . . similar situation here. Also too many mistaken steps along the way (couldn’t afford advice even if it were available) to be be seen in kindly light by the IRS and paying even the smallest penalties on the list would strangle the little business that pays our day to day bills. So the urging to renounce or relinquish leaves me frustrated.
@Gordian
There is no way we can afford to bankrupt ourselves. Not only myself but I have to think about the others in my family who are in the same boat. This GC is a cancer. I am not a citizen of the US… They want to punish GC & others who have no voice or vote. Then to top it off… if we do give it back… we are treated as citizens & pay dearly for the right to leave. Yrs ago… even the professionals told us to just ignore the stuff outside the US & pay the taxes on it there… We did that… My family deeply regrets the GC.. don’t get me wrong… it did offer us a chance to better ourselves.. but the price is too high now.. If anyone is reading my post & are thinking of getting a GC or whatever… DON’T… There are plenty of countries who will welcome u & will just wave bye-bye when u leave… Unlike the US who will hunt u down & take as much of your funds as they can… The stress of this is terrible… We have to hide the US taint & make sure no one knows so we can live regular lives… as frigging second class citizens…
Just more typical American propaganda, twisted facts and outright lies. It’s repugnant.
@US_Person_Foreigner
Once the truth about what the real consequences of having a US green card are become common knowledge, no one will ever want one. The US green card lottery inevitably calls to mind Shirley Jackson’s short story, “The Lottery”.
Having looked at a broad sweep of FATCA articles, the sense I get is that some foreign governments are indeed now in favour of GATCA, partly because they are desperate to do anything to address the underreporting of offshore wealth.
@Gordian, @US_Person_Foreigner
Something needs to be done about the taxation of U.S. persons abroad, particularly at the lower end of the economic spectrum. I find the situation of poorer ‘legal permanent resident’ emigrants really troubling. My Representative finally got back to me (fifty days after I wrote him and largely referring me to Camp’s work, but it is something nonetheless). Thank you for sharing your stories, though. I am writing a scholarly article looking at how taxation took the form it did and will look into the greencard holder issue.
Publius,
I will look forward to the scholarly article you are writing! It troubles me deeply and I included that in my submission re the Canadian IGA to our Finance Department: