UPDATE JANUARY 21, 2016
WHAT:Solving U.S. Citizenship Problems: Accidental Americans
WHEN: Saturday January 23, 2016, 2:00-4:00 pm EST
This meeting is being moved online/conference call via UberConference and will make it possible to participate from outside the Toronto area. Please pass the word!
REGISTRATION & ADMISSION: please register by submitting admission cost of $20.00 CAD via Paypal to: information@cbtlawsuit.ca
Please note you do not have to be a member of Paypal in order to pay/register.
Once registration is complete we will email you the details of how to log in, etc.
Generally, an Accidental American is:
A citizen of a country other than the United States who may also be considered a U.S. citizen under U.S. nationality law but is not aware of having U.S. status, or has only become aware of it recently during adulthood.
* born outside the US/in their own country due to their parents’ U.S. status; OR
* born inside the U.S. to non-U.S. parents residing in the country temporarily for work or study and then return to their own country in their early childhood OR
* born inside the U.S. but adopted by parents who live in other countries,
Most people simply accept that the U.S. has the right to proclaim they are American. Others are questioning whether the U.S. can impose citizenship on someone born outside the country who does not want it and had no choice in the matter (even if his/her parent(s) registered their birth with the American consulate). There is a court case in India where a father is being sued by his son for registering his birth in the U.S. while the father was there on a work visa.
All Americans are required to report their worldwide income and file tax as well as information returns if living outside the US. This includes Accidentals even if:
* they have never actually lived in the U.S., whether for employment, education, etc.
* they have never had a Social Security number, a passport, voted or filed taxes
Due to the long, porous border between Canada and the United States, the highest number of accidental Americans is likely to be found in Canada.
Children were often born in the US because the only hospital was on the other side of the border, then returning to Canada after a few days to live out the rest of their lives as Canadians (only). The United States “claims” these people and are aggressively trying to locate them via FATCA/IGA reporting.
Given the fact that the U.S. never enforced the law, never engaged in an effective outreach program to let people know of their obligations, it is particularly upsetting to these individuals that they are expected to file and pay in the same way as those who are resident in the United States.
And yet, If they wish to end their U.S. citizenship, they are required to come into tax compliance for the 5 years prior to their renunciation, complete form 8854, swear all requirements have been completed under penalty of perjury and pay the $2350 USD fee to the Department of State in order to receive a CLN. Any tax be due and the fees from the accountant or tax lawyer of course, would be added.
The program will explore various options available for consideration. Please join us in order to get the facts before you take action!
WHEN: Saturday, January 23, 2016 2:00 – 4:00 pm EST
WHERE: UberConference
REGISTRATION & ADMISSION: Please register by submitting admission cost of $20.00 CAD via Paypal to: information@cbtlawsuit.ca Please note you do not have to be a member of Paypal in order to pay/register. Once registration is complete we will email you the details of how to log in, etc.
WHO: John Richardson, B.A., LL.B., J.D. (Of the bars of Ontario, New York and Massachusetts), Toronto citizenship lawyer- citizenshipsolutions.ca and Co-chair of the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty & the Alliance for the Defeat of Citizenship Taxation.
Information presented is NOT intended or offered as legal or accounting advice specific to your situation.
@John Richardson
I realize you’re zeroing in on CA issues– but setting up a screen via laptop for other US person’s “caught-in-the-net, to participate via Skype, would add numbers to your event…even if only as viewers?
Most enlightened countries applaud their citizens who live outside their countries, for obvious reasons, but do not impose taxes onto them because they can afford it or because some lame politician decided it would be a safe Income without any need to provide services or to bear any expense for their existence.
It was folly when the Romans did it and it is folly now that the money grabbing U.S. is doing it.
Rome collapsed from within and we are heading in the same direction.
It is a very strange thing. Jefferson saw the condition we now find ourselves in. #1. Most of us have taxation without representation. #2. Cities are a crowded mess, leading to anarchy. #3 A progressive income tax on income once imposed grows to a point where the citizens who ”work” for government are the only ones who prosper, the rest either flee or stay as prisoners in bondage. # 4. Government meant to be the servant of the people becomes government lording over the people.
He wrote a simple one page document with his solution outlined on it. We protect that document with guards and soldiers, but ignore that Declaration when government makes a small percentage of its people pay the ultimate bill for all the rest.
What a guy. I can envision him spinning in his grave at our stupidity for letting those weasels get away with what they have done.
@Jane
Thanks for your interest in this! The program is not limited to Canadian issues. We will be doing more/varied formats in the future but due to the short timeframe, this Saturday will happen as listed.
John Richardson and Patricia Moon,
Glad to see this new format for getting information to the people who need it. I hope more and more persons who ARE *Accidental Americans* will find their way to these sessions.
All the best for this next opportunity to provide information for *Solving US Citizenship Problems: Accidental Americans*. Bravo!
Justin Trudeau needs to get a personalized invitation to this event. With modern technology he can probably even participate if he’s in the back seat of his limo or the fancy jet he’s flying around in at our expense.
You’re right, maz57. I’ll help pay his $20 admission (and/or that of appropriate Liberal government representatives / Canadian media) so there is no excuse for not taking advantage of gaining needed information and hear how it is affecting *Accidental American* Canadians.
Always remember the truth and keep it in your mind. There is no such thing as citizenship. It’s not like some bureaucracy is part of your soul. Bureaucrats manufacture documents and bureaucrats enforce what is written on documents. Lines on the map mean a lot to bureaucrats, too.
@Calgary, Hmmm, sending comp tickets so politicians could listen may be an interesting idea.
Yep. politicians can choose to participate or they can decline the invitation. If they participate they can no longer claim ignorance about the issue. If they decline it can then be reasonably argued that they are simply not interested in hearing about the concerns of the people.
@maz57
…or that they are too busy taking care of other official duties.