The Canadian government’s hypocrisy continues unabated:
Eritrea consulate still extorting ‘diaspora tax’ in Canada, a year after top diplomat expelled over scheme
Stewart Bell, National Post
TORONTO — A year after Ottawa expelled the consul-general of Eritrea to put a stop to a money-making scheme his regime had set up in Canada, the dubious “diaspora tax” program appears to be continuing undeterred. Under the system, the Eritrean consulate in Toronto tells expatriates they must hand 2% of their wages to the repressive African regime. The setup is part of a strategy that “routinely involves threats, harassment and intimidation,” according to a United Nations report.Foreign Affairs officials have repeatedly warned Eritrea to end the practice. Last month, as a condition for maintaining a diplomatic post in Toronto, Eritrea agreed the consulate would not have any role in the solicitation and collection of taxes.
When can we expect to see Ottawa expel the U.S. Ambassador to put a stop to the money-making scheme his repressive regime has set up in Canada?
Priceless comment:
Yipes, there’s a hornet’s nest of Eritreans over there at the National Post. I’ll leave that discussion to Nebri, Concerned_Eritrean, Semere Andom, amanuel mehari, The Truth, ghezaehagos, Job’s Folly, et al.
Cut these guys some slack. They only want 2%!
It will cost you more than 2% of your income to get a professional to tell you what forms to file for US taxes. The answer will only be good for a couple of days since they will change the rules on your accounts by then. The professional won’t know if you should file 3520 or if your pension provider or your cat should file 3520-A.
It’s only 2% of income while the US might want 300%, 150%, 50%, 27.5% or 5% of your assets. They want a hell of a lot more than 2% on your income. They want 20% accuracy penalty. Then interest on the penalty and tax that’s at least 4% compounded daily! They probably don’t even know what compounded interest is in Eritrea.
Loan sharks will probably just break both your legs. The IRS wants to break all four of your legs and stomp on the squishy bits.
Don’t even think about a refund because the special law for the statute on limitations on refunds to people with hamsters expires after 3 years.
@Neill, I know someone whose tax preparation bill was $4000 on $50,000 (CDN) income. 8% just for the tax preparer.
We just paid our tax preparer $1500 to pay $300 or so dollars in US tax, only because we hadn’t paid enough Canadian tax to offset it.
That’s pretty high fee to still remain a second class citizen in Canada, which Eritreans under their diaspora tax are not.
It cost me $8k to have years 03-11 done. 11 was done to catch the tail end of a sale of a PFIC.
After $8k the CPA didn’t file a single form 8621 for any of those years as he is required to do. I had to redo those years again myself using Lacerte and refile 11 with the 8621 and change to sec 1291. He would have charged me a fortune to do that.
I asked him how much he wanted to file 2012. He wanted approximately $1500 because of all the foreign account forms (that he already had in his database). I filed myself with Lacerte for $50 since I already purchased to do the other stuff.
I am filling on paper. Since I know how to fill in pdf with a program I keep thinking about trying to write a program to take a tax return and pull out the data to fill in the forms again. The boxes should be filled with a font that’s taken from my hand writing (or captcha, yep that’s what I will call it. Captcha-file). Then you paper file. Hey! It’s not my problem then can’t read 100 pages of my hand writing.
Another priceless comment to post on the fridge:
Wow. Transfer to the IRS already:
The largest state-owned banks – Sberbank and VTB – have agreed to work directly with the U.S. authorities on the new system. The State Duma, however, was critical of this decision, as the current Russian legislation prohibits the transmission of information about depositors to other countries. After that, VTB officially stated that it was terminating its relationships with American depositors. In turn, the Russian subsidiary of the Austrian bank Raiffeisen, according to RBTH sources, has already begun transmitting information to the U.S. authorities about all clients who were born in the United States.
Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines – http://rbth.com/business/2014/06/19/russia_ready_to_collect_information_on_its_depositors_abroad_37567.html
Also this very interesting bit:
However, in addition to allowing Russian banks to transfer customer data to foreign tax authorities, the bill also obligates foreign banks to report to the Russian Federal Tax Service.
Source: Russia Beyond the Headlines – http://rbth.com/business/2014/06/19/russia_ready_to_collect_information_on_its_depositors_abroad_37567.html
Yes, the Conservative Harper government’s hypocrisy is staggering.
Thanks to Canadian MPs and Senators who have stood up for the Canadians that the implementation of the US FATCA IGA targets.
Cross-posting the status of Bill C-31: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/06/01/its-time/comment-page-17/#comment-2052135
CBC weighs in:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/eritrea-collecting-money-for-the-dictator-from-expats-in-canada-1.2680616
If I was Prime Minister, you would see just how fast the US Consulate General gets called to 24 Sussex and told to “You and your lackeys have 24 hrs to GET OUT of Canada. If you don’t we will remove you. We have no room for negotiation with a country that persists in trying to apply their own nationalist laws to another sovereign nation for the benefit of economic sanction. Within 48 hours, the borders will be closed and we will offer amnesty for all Americans resident in Canada as ‘economic refugees’. We will not negotiate nor do business with economic terrorists and any banks who have signed on as FFI signatories with the IRS will be investigated as per criminal conduct under the Privacy Act of Canada.”
FATCA is a war of attrition. The USGs strategy is ignore all the uproar, let them go to court, if they win we’ll cross that bridge, but the longer this goes, we’ll get FATCA normalised.
I hope the constitutional challenges redress this balance towards Residence Citizens to get them carved out. However we all the USG has robbed all remaining US citizens of the financial freedom to go abroad and live their financial dreams unhindered.
My comment online…
What’s the fuss? The Canadian Government is allowing the USA to do exactly the same thing in practice via FATCA, so if it is good for the USA goose, than why not Eritrea? Actually why not any country that wants to extract wealth out of Canada. They now have a road map. FATCA and Eritrea. Go for it, drain the Canadian treasury dry. Demand the right to tax your citizens living in Canada, and they will allow it. In one case the Canadian government capitulates to FATCA demands, and in the other case the Canadian government “huffs and puffs” that you can’t do that, but then does NOTHING to stop it. Spineless is a term that comes to mind.
Viva Cuba, Viva Eritrea!
Canada was a member of the “coalition of the willing” which attacked Iraq based on a pack of American lies.
Canada is a member of the ‘coalition of the willing for FATCA” which is preparing to attack everyone tainted with US indicia.
Very few countries have the courage to protect people being persecuted by the Americans, not even when it comes to their own citizens. They will only do it if they have to.
As USX likes to say, sauve qui peut. Renounce US citizenship if and while you still can.
The problem with the Eritrean tax is what the Eritrean government does with it. The tax itself has been around for a while and until it became clear that Eritrea was supporting conflicts, the tax was not controversial and was even occasionally praised as a way that a poor country could benefit from its diaspora.
As a system of citizenship-based taxation, the Eritrean tax is fairer to the taxpayer living in a high tax country. It only applies to passport holders and those who want to do business in Eritrea. There are no ‘accidental Eritreans.’ It is transparent. There is hardly any gap between the amount of tax collected and what it costs the taxpayer. It does not mess up people’s retirements nor does it impose the most tax at times when people are least able to afford it, such as when they are unemployed.
“The problem with the Eritrean tax is what the Eritrean government does with it. The tax itself has been around for a while and until it became clear that Eritrea was supporting conflicts”
And what does the US do with its tax money? It wages numerous conflicts (overt and covert) on every continent on the planet.
As I recall, Canada didn’t join the US in Iraq. Perhaps not because Chretien has testes but because he’s related to the Desmarais family with interests in Iraq oil. Nevertheless, it was a big deal at the time that Chretien stood up to Bush.
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/06/20/implementation-of-the-us-fatca-iga-has-been-given-royal-assent/comment-page-1/#comment-2077146
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