Dear Supporters,
Many of you probably predicted that I would not be saying this today, but this message is not a dream: You came up with yet another $100,000 payment — now making a total of $400,000 provided to the Arvay team.
In the last twelve days you actually donated more than $40,000 — an amazing achievement for small donors. This accomplishment proves to all those people who want us to fail — that we are very determined.
You gave until it hurt and then you gave a lot more. It’s hard not to get teary-eyed over the generosity of our supporters, who have come through every time.
We know that the pace of your litigation is painfully slow, and this is unfortunately as expected. The Government will continue to do its best to slow down the process, but we now have the assistance of a case management judge to help keep the process moving more fairly.
We filed in August 2014 and it has taken a very long time (one year) before we are finally into a (summary) trial (August 4-5, 2015). We cannot predict the outcomes of this trial, based on only part of our arguments and, with your continued support, we will prepare for all possibilities.
[Happy birthday Gwen!]
Thank you for your trust,
Stephen Kish,
ADCS-ADSC Chair,— on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, their families, and the ADCS-ADSC Directors
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Chers amis et donateurs,
Certains d’entre vous avaient probablement pensé que je ne pourrais pasvous annoncer une si bonne nouvelle aujourd’hui. Mais voilà : ensemble, nous avons réussi à ramasser un autre montant de 100 000 $, ce qui fait un total de 400 000 $ à remettre à l’équipe de MeArvay.
Dans les 12 derniers jours seulement, vous avez donné plus de 40 000 $, un exploit tout à fait extraordinaire pour des « petits donateurs ». À tous ceux qui souhaitent nous voir échouer, cette réussite prouve que nous sommes des plus déterminés. Et que nous réussirons.
Vous avez donné jusqu’à ce que ça fasse mal, puis vous avez donné encore. Difficile de rester insensible devant une si grande générosité.
Nous sommes bien conscients du fait que notre litige avance de façon péniblement lente. Malheureusement, tout ça est normal. Le gouvernement continue à ralentirle processus, mais on nous a maintenant attitré un juge responsable de la gestion de notre dossier qui veillera à ce que le processus progresse de façon plus juste.
En août 2014, nous avons engagé une poursuite contre le gouvernement canadien. Près d’un an plus tard, nous avons enfin la date pour notre procès sommaire : les 4 et 5 août 2015. Impossible de prévoir le dénouement de ce procès, basé uniquement sur une partie de nos arguments juridiques. Mais avec votre appui, nous serons prêts pour toutes les possibilités.
(Bonne fête, Gwen !)
Au nom de nos deux plaignantes, Ginny et Gwen, de leurs familles et des directeurs de l’ADCS-ADSC, je vous remercie de votre confiance.
Stephen Kish,
Président de l’ADCS-ADSC
Thanks Bubblebustin. Lets see if they let me back in.
Apparent you’re a go, Walt. Post away!
Sent to me by a fellow-Brocker:
As we painstakingly amass the required legal fees to fight our own government, let this sink in………………..
http://www.calgaryherald.com/News/canada/Taxpayers+paid+legal+bills+Tory+robocalls+case/10842228/story.html
Have people seen the following? This is a new and somewhat disturbing twist:
http://themanatee.net/2015/02/19/atlantic-lotto-to-ban-americans-from-winning/
This is from one of the comments from the Globe and Mail article. It appears, if I understand it correctly, that banks are sharing FATCA data on customers not only with CRA/IRS but also with Atlantic Lotto. Atlantic Lotto’s claimed purpose is not because of a fear of IRS compliance but rather because the US persons will be paying US tax and taking money out of the province/country–but they are using the FATCA law to get the data.
Again–if I understand this correctly this is a new (at least for me) and dangerous twist.
@ Dash1729
LOL and one more time … The Manatee is a satirical website. And yes, this was posted before on Brock. The Manatee is the New Brunswick version of The Onion.
@ Dash1729
I should have also included this link …
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments/comment-page-124/#comment-5602966
@EmBee
Ah…OK!
@EmBee
And I’m sorry for not recognizing that it was satire but to be honest it was no more Kafkaesque than much of the FATCA related news that is, sadly, very real.
@ Dash1729
No sorry needed. It reads like real life. I had a little hunch and searched The Manatee + satire and turned out it was. 🙂
Good news.
Lunch today in Australia. The conversation turned to the FATCA form. I heard from an Australian (only) that they got that form, refused to complete it, and they had some very nasty language about it that I am unable to reveal here.
One may only hope a sizable number of nonUS persons getting that form react in the same way. When the banks have to ratchet up and start threatening account closure for nonUS persons – this will really make the banks think twice as when have they ever threatened to close accounts for people who don’t owe them anything. That would be very anti customer focused.
Perhaps we may encourage such behavior by nonUS persons to help “throw a wrench into the works.”
@JC
I’m confident that people will find the targeting of any minority repulsive. They’ll wonder if they’ll be next.
“The reality is that the intergovernmental agreement was put in place to protect the interests of Canadian banks,” said Spiegelman, a cross-border tax and estate planning attorney with Altro Levy in Vancouver. “To avoid a U.S. tax penalty, banks are willing to participate, but Canadian privacy law forbids them from disclosing account information to a foreign government. So Canada stepped in as the middle man in hopes of lawfully complying with U.S. rules. This lawsuit will determine whether it worked.”
The article isn’t new but worth highlighting if only as another source of inspiration to continue your support!
http://www.mnp.ca/en/media-centre/press/2014/10/8/fatca-fight-heads-to-federal-court
@JC
Another nasty little surprise for non-US persons coming up is that according to reports from Switzerland and Italy, institutions are starting to enforce inheritance and gift taxes on investments in U.S. stocks and shares transferred between NON-US PEOPLE!, holding the transfers up until the IRS says it is o.k. to release them. So, anyone with more than $60,000 in U.S. holdings could have their estates held up (in more ways than one 🙁 by the IRS. One article mentioned the case of an entirely French individual who had died with considerable U.S. stock holdings and the entirely non-U.S. heirs were still waiting for the IRS’s o.k. after eighteen months. Zut alors!
@publius
Just more work for the IRS when they least need it. Boy are the banks running scared that one might slip by them.
Publius. Your post is worth a special mention.. VERY FEW people know that if your estate has more than 60k of US assets your executor is supposed to file a U.S. estate tax return.
So, suppose your dear old Dad bought 100 shares of Apple a few years ago and his executor is a trust co. Nasty surprise. Even though he owes nothing, the extra accounting and executor fees amount to multi thousands and big delays.
@Publius, re: “Another nasty little surprise for non-US persons coming up is that according to reports from Switzerland and Italy, institutions are starting to enforce inheritance and gift taxes on investments in U.S. stocks and shares transferred between NON-US PEOPLE!, holding the transfers up until the IRS says it is o.k. to release them. So, anyone with more than $60,000 in U.S. holdings could have their estates held up.”
Did you read this in an article somewhere?
Is this what the future is going to be like for anyone with US inheritances? – i.e. good luck trying to get your $ out expediently, and god forbid you should also happen to be a non-compliant US person living outside the plantation.
@DukeOfDevon,
I think you may have cleared up my concern. In other words, the estate was held up because of filing issues regarding the deceased, not the heirs whose non-US person status didn’t matter.
Correct. The filings are intrusive, onerous and expensive even though no tax is owing. The best plan is to sell your US assets before you finish the back nine.
Here is a related link to what you ask, WhiteKat: http://hodgen.com/inheritance-dual-citizens-and-expatriation/
Calgary, Thanks for the link. I guess the main thing that a ‘hidden’ US person who is beneficiary of a US inheritance has to worry about is that her/his FFI will then be clued in that she/he might be a US person and start asking questions.
Probably now comes with some kinds of strings attached.
Calgary, What do you mean?
This probably belongs on the expat tax thread.
WC and Calgary You are conflating 2 different situations. In one a non-US person or dual is inheriting from a US estate. A US estate can give to anyone, even a Martian, provided the estate is settled and forms filed and the IRS issues a release.
The second situation is that of a non-US person who dies holding US assets valued at greater than 60K. Entirely separate issues.
@Duke, Yes – wrong thread. But I think we get that we are talking about 2 different scenarios here.
@WhiteKat
Yes, there was one detailed Swiss article (predictably) and an Italian article. The Duke of Devon is correct that it is the mere ownership of U.S. assets that causes the problems for the unwary non-U.S. person’s estate, regardless of recipient. The articles suggest that a completely non-U.S. person’s estate would owe tax on U.S. assets, although the media have been wrong in the past. Does anyone know for sure? Also , some countries get an estate tax exemption on an amount equal to the gift tax plus $60,000, so can people there hold more U.S. investments without ending up in IRS purgatory?
“Fiscalité américaine: L’Irs taxe des successions ne concernant pas des ressortissants U.S. mais contenant des actifs américains”
“Same level of thresholds for succession involving a US resident taxpayer will be tax exempt to 5.5 million. But if the owner of the wealth was not a US taxpayer, the exemption threshold goes back to 60,000 dollars, which can lead to particularly high taxation. Of course, the double taxation agreements (DTAs ) can offer protection.”
“Tax Corner Occhi puntati sulle imposte di successione statunitensi”
“These taxes are payable in the United States also against individuals who at the time of death are not US citizens or resident for tax purposes in the United States (so-called non-resident alien, NRA ), with reference to the assets located in US territory ( US situs property ) as, for example, shares and bonds issued by US companies. If the gross value of assets held in the United States exceeds the amount of $ 60,000, the appropriate declaration must be filed and the tax is due with progressive rates ranging from 18 up to 40 percent for the portion of the assets that exceeds one million euro. Nevertheless, the tax was rarely applied in the past, especially with regard to investments in a financial assets portfolio, for the lack of knowledge by the heirs of their obligations under the US law as well as the practical difficulties in implementing the tax.”
In other news, someone broke a bank’s front window in Thailand today and the bank said it was because of FATCA.