Here is what I am thinking of submitting to my bank manager. Please note one small change that I made from Stephen Kish’s template highlighted in boldface:
Dear bank manager,
I am a customer at your bank and have several personal and business accounts, as a well as self-serve trading accounts at your discount brokerage.
I understand that on September 30, 2015 Canada CRA turned over private banking information on 155,000 accounts to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Your bank also provided some of this information.
Please tell me whether your bank passed on any of my banking information to CRA for the subsequent transfer of the data to the IRS. I think it is very possible as I was born in the United States and may have presented my US passport as a form of identification when I opened some of the accounts.
I need this information in writing by ASAP so that I can prepare my family for the impact of having the IRS know everything about our bank accounts..
If you are unable to comply with my request, would you please kindly provide your reasons?
Thank you and always a pleasure,
Petros
“Perhaps the Trudeau Government can offer a $2350 tax credit that is allows equal to the US Renunciation Fee”
It would be better if the Trudeau Government would enforce US law. After all, Congress has spoken. Congress enacted the Expatriation Act of 1868. Just enforce the law so Canadians can renounce US citizenship for a fee of C$100 (to be waived for people who have to renounce US citizenship but can’t afford the fee).
@Norman. I think you may be on to something. Our government has already agreed to enforce the US FATCA law in Canada. Why not take it a little further and enforce the 1868 expatriation law in Canada as well? (The US shouldn’t complain, this whole enforcement of US law in Canada thing was their idea in the first place.) For a small fee an individual applies to the Canadian government to officially acknowledge their renunciation of US citizenship in Canada under Canadian law.
The Canadian government issues a Canadian Certificate of Loss of US Nationality. (CCLN) You present this document to your bank. No longer being a US citizen cures any US indicia which means the bank doesn’t have to hand over your financial information to the CRA for transmission to the IRS. Problem solved.
Of course, none of this would be recognized by the US, but who cares? This is Canada, not the US. In this situation the best way to fix stupid is to be even more stupid.
“Of course, none of this would be recognized by the US”
Yes it would be. Even though the US stopped recognizing Canadian citizenship oaths the way it used to, except for sometimes. The US didn’t overturn its Expatriation Act of 1868, so obedience would have to be recognized.