Crossposted from the RenounceUSCitizenship blog:
Interesting that @USTreasury acknowledges it can relax #FBAR for #Americansabroad but chooses FULL ENFORCEMENT https://t.co/3UfFUPZcLH
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) March 7, 2016
The above tweet links to a posting on a Facebook group that reads:
US DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY ACKNOWLEDGES THAT IT CAN STOP FOREIGN BANK ACCOUNT REPORTING (FBAR) BY AMERICANS OVERSEAS BUT CHOOSES NOT TO!
The US Federal Register which reproduces Treasury’s deliberations, where it (1) acknowledges that it has the authority to exempt Americans abroad from the FBAR filing requirement and (2) makes a considered, conscious and purposeful decision to NOT exempt Americans abroad from the FBAR filing requirement. https://www.gpo.gov/fds…/pkg/FR-2011-02-24/pdf/2011-4048.pdf.
You should read from the beginning (if you can stand it), but if you go page 4 you will find the statement which is evidence of the clear, unambiguous, purposeful and wilful decision to NOT exempt Americans abroad from the FBAR filing requirement. The bottom line is on page 4 of the pdf (page 10237 of the Federal Register) which clearly states in the first full paragraph in the second column that:”
With respect to the comments raised by United States persons living abroad, FinCEN does not believe that an exemption is appropriate simply because a United States person chooses to live outside of the United States.”
The excerpt from the Federal Register is here:
As you know, the primary effect of the FBAR requirement is to impose regulatory burdens, terror and penalties on Americans abroad AND to make them less employable.
In any event, Treasury states:
With respect to the comments raised by United States persons living abroad, FinCEN does not believe that an exemption is appropriate simply because a United States person chooses to live outside of the United States.
Could you please:
Comment on specifically why you believe (if you do) that Americans abroad should NOT have to disclose their “foreign bank accounts” to the IRS.
“AICPA Recommends Changes in IRS Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program”
Yeah? Do you, or does AICPA, think the IRS will listen to AICPA after the IRS didn’t listen to the IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate?
Well maybe. If AICPA pays bigger campaign contributions than the IRS’s Taxpayer Advocate, maybe Congress will tell the IRS to listen to AICPA.
Reuters writes that the FinCEN Director, Jennifer Calvery, has submitted her resignation to take a compliance role at HSBC, a large international bank based in London:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-treasury-anti-laundering-head-join-hsbc-sources-231620592–finance.html
The Economist once criticized FinCEN for not remanding HSBC for its money-laundering activities:
“It is striking that no 311 measures have been taken against banks in strategically significant Middle Eastern countries where money-laundering is a big concern, such as the United Arab Emirates, or against any banks from Western countries, including America itself, that have been caught facilitating money-laundering on a large scale or operating with woefully inadequate controls, such as Wachovia and HSBC.”
http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21653673-bank-rejects-american-accusations-it-abetted-financial-crime-fearful
I’ll scratch your back if you’ll scratch mine.
Banks get bailouts, Bankers never arrested or go to jail. Normal people living outside the U$A with greater than $10,000 (1970 banking secrecy act, not indexed) must be up to something! Compare annual cost of living, food, rent or mortgage to that annual $10k limit, no way people can live on less!