From “JC”:
https://fatcalegalaction.com/ now live.
Attorney Bopp has issued a legal opinion on FATCA stating three constitutional claims, with strong legal merit, can be brought against the legal requirements imposed by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR).
Yes FBAR!
According to James Bopp, Jr., “It is our preliminary opinion that the potentially meritorious claims are a violation of the treaty power, an 8th Amendment Excessive Fines Claim, and a 4th Amendment Search and Seizure Claim. . . . We believe that these 3 claims form the basis for a successful suit that would stop the damage that FATCA and FBAR have inflicted of U.S. citizens.”
The meat of the claim: Bopp FATCA Legal Opinion
At the start of the Legal Opinion, Mr. Bopp highlights Allison Christians’ arguments regarding the legal status of the FATCA IGAs signed by countries around the world.
The legal status of these IGAs is unclear and susceptible to challenge. They are not treaties under U.S. law because they have not be en submitted to the Senate for advice and consent pursuant to the Treaty Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Art. II, sec. 2, c l. 2. Nor ae they congressional-executive agreements because Congress has not authorized the Treasury Department to conclude the IGAs as part of the FATCA implementation effort. Instead, the Treasury Department appears to be treating the IGAs as treaty-based agreements, interpreting the information exchange provisions of existing tax treaties and tax information exchange agreements already in place with FATCA Partners. However, Allison Christians, a tax law expert and associate professor of tax law at McGill University in Montreal, argues that none of the IGAs are properly considered treaty-based agreements. Allison Christians, The Dubious Legal Pedigree of IGAs (And Why it Matters), Tax Notes International Vol. 69, No. 6 (Feb. 11, 2013).
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I am donating $1000 now and likely more in the future. Best money I ever spent.
I just hope it is used wisely and the happy to contribute to the sword that cuts off the
head of the FATCA snake. If it takes US Treasury sec. Jack Lew with it that would be a bonus.
Absolutely without question the WORST Sec of Treasury the country ever had.
The guy has no morals and thinks only what is best for government, regardless if it steps
on the little people. Good job Jack! Your signature won’t be on US currency for much longer
What’s the difference between Republicans Abroad and Republicans overseas? Canadians can only join Republicans Abroad because there isn’t a sea?
What is wrong with their site? I tried to donate and it said something was wrong with the amount entered. Then when I tried to leave the page it said I might be billed twice? HUH? That certainly doesn’t sound like a serious place to be. Sounds more like they want to cheat you!
@Polly,
I tried to donate at the site and got an error. I tried again and got the same error. Checking my credit card though showed two charges. I contacted them. Helped them debug the issue by getting some screen shots and they cancelled the two extra charges (1 by misstate and 1 as a test to get the screen shots).
They said they fixed the error later on. So they seems to be bringing the site up and are having some problems.
Solomon Yue posted this image on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/SolomonYue/status/506926277597863936/photo/1
transcription:
Anyone seen the original source for this? Did DemsAbroad post it on their Facebook page or something? Couldn’t find it with TinEye or Google Image search.
@Eric
It was posted on DA’s Facebook page. DA’s willing to throw those they claim to represent under the bus to discredit the Republicans. Pretty nutty behaviour, IMO.
@Neill
Great! No better way than to scare people off from the start. Looks like they haven’t corrected the error and it also looks like ( appears at least) they are trying to con people. If they take double the amount off my account- that feels fraudulent. And as an aside- I have NEVER seen an error on a page that took double before. You try to leave and it says something like “your payment will be booked again”. Thats horrendous! Somebody tell them to clean up their ACT. ( Piss me off….!!!)
Both lawsuits are equally important for Canadians with US taint. The stateside lawsuit needs to get underway quickly because Team Obama (Robert Stack et al) still feels free to knock about expats at will without any pushback.
I just contributed USD 500 to FATCA Legal Action. No problems whatsoever using their online donation portal.
I will contribute another CAD 500 to ADCS-ADSC next week.
These law suits are going to set me back some. But I simply cannot allow a totalitarian government to get away with such wanton abuse without doing my part to fight against it.
Thank you ADCS-ADSC and thank you Republicans Overseas for making these lawsuits happen.
But most of all, thank you to all the brave souls (plaintiffs and witnesses) who are putting themselves directly in the line of fire from the meanest bully on this planet.
A big hat tip of respect to each and every one of you!
John Smith,
Thank you for the kind words, especially meant for our Plaintiffs and Witnesses who are making the lawsuit possible.
My thanks to you as well, John Smith — and as always to the plaintiffs and witnesses putting themselves on the line. For those who agree with John,
Join the fight with your donations at http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/.
Again: please remind Mr Bopp that the penalties of 25-50% of that “stash” hidden abroad is actually one fourth to one half of everything an expats owns! Because they dont have any stash- they just have ALL their assets abroad. If that isn’t unconsitutional- I don`t know what is.
@John Smith,
Awesome. You made my day. I will be contributing again this week.
@Polly Good point about the 25-50%. “stash” abroad is actually one forth to one half of everything an expat owns.
Now how is that turned into a constitutional argument that is a solid one that Mr. Bopp may pursue? It does have to do with CBT and the assumed “foreign” accounts are accounts of US residents intent on tax evasion with additional penalties to reflect this. Could this then fall under the 8th amendment of excessive fines. The Bopp claim addresses FBAR penalties under this – so in their sights! Not just about FATCA.
@Polly and many here have been focusing on FATCA/FBAR/CBT for some time and may have insight and knowledge that the hired legal help may not.
Read the Bopp opinion.
I found this. It says it is maybe not a good case to challenge the 30% witholdings against FFI as those holdings may be considered legitimate tax. So in the opinion, they say they will not pursue the 30%. HOWEVER, there are two 30% witholdings that apply in different cases: one that applies to FFI and one that applies to individual account holders. I have Tweeted Simon Yue about this 30% account witholdings for “recalcitrant” account holders who do not divulge their US Personhood (or for whom the bank makes a mistake, your local CRA makes a mistake, or the IRS makes a mistake).
@SolomonYue Bopp opinion missing 4th Amendment on 30% seizure of account holder based only on compliance, not tax.
@Polly Another area where I know is not right. The inalienable rights of liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We may argue that through US regulation these rights are not applied evenly no matter where people live in the U.S. or outside. FATCA, FBAR, and CBT really stack up against US citizens tax resident abroad. I call it discrimination. But then how does one tie this to specific U.S. law. It would need a case in front of the Supreme Court to make it stick (but on what basis do we bring it to the Supreme Court, and I am still working on my law degree so maybe Mr. Bopp may consider this).
Or, it could be a case of leadership. The President and others swear to an oath of office to uphold the Constitution. They could say, hey, this is wrong, we are going to right it (go Republicans). Or, they, the leaders, could recognise it for what it is – substantial US Government discrimination against US Citizens tax resident aboard – and they could have an affirmative action plan to help right the discrimination.
@JC
Yes- I was thinking along the lines of “excessive” fines. And they ARE excessive.
Lately I have also been thinking about how many many people America is rounding up to tax. 7 million expats, 13 million green card holders, add on to that even the grandchildren of american citizens ( if they can find them) and spouses and border babies and all the rest, as well as US corporations – and we are looking of a taxable population that far exceeds the population of Switzerland ( 8 million). It is like gaining a whole new country to tax. Or maybe 2 or 3!
Did anybody else read that Obama is thinking of changing the law to oppose inversions by making ANY company which makes most of its profits in America a “US person” for tax purposes? I wonder what BMW will say to that? It would mean that BMW would be taxed on the sale of its cars worldwide! It would mean that BMW would be taxed on its sales of cars in Germany TWICE!
@calgary411
“Hopefully, you will have that contact soon.”
I hope so. Because of my contacts in the Republican party, there is a window of opportunity right now where I could potentially get the ear of some of the candidates–but that window of opportunity won’t come again until 2016 and the fall campaign season for 2014 is slipping by quickly at this point. But I need the chance first to talk to the people involved in the action on the US side to strategize about how I can best help.
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Court finds $10,000 FBAR penalties NOT excessive:
…”No 8th Amendment Violation. The IRS imposed $10,000 per year penalties on the accounts. The court found that the imposition of such maximum penalties were not an 8th Amendment “excessive fine” violation. The court found the penalties were not disproportionate to the offence, since Congress authorized them without regard to the size of the unreported accounts, and the actual size of the account not reported here (account with balances between $300,000 and $550,000).”…
http://www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/court-approves-fbar-penalty-and-addresses-previously-unknown-issues/#.VUD6m4hHarU
I donated also $500 few months back… I am also writing my Congressman.
This whole situation has taught me a lot, though. Couple of them you all already said (stupidity on a law, IRS abuse of it to extort people,…) but some of them show an ever more puzzling face of humanity. The lawyer in the IRS creating and defending what they know is wrong and abused to terrorize many citizens. Who is the terrorist now? They must pay pretty well… And how about the many people affected by the FBAR, risking their wealth by accepting that a mistake filing one may wipe out their wealth? With them in the millions it should be easy to strike down these laws but yet…