WITNESS SEARCH UPDATE FOR CANADIAN FATCA IGA LAWSUIT:
WE STILL SEEK MORE CANADIAN WITNESSES:
Have you experienced marital stress or breakup, or medical or psychiatric illness because Canada turned you and your family over to a foreign country — or because you were afraid and entered into IRS compliance and suffered harm, or because you are in “hiding” and can’t afford to be IRS compliant or to renounce? Be a witness.
No single witness will be “perfect” from a litigation point of view. We will be seeking more witnesses (almost) right up to the time of submission of court documents. Your specific situation, that we cannot predict, might have unique characteristics that would be helpful in the lawsuit.
If you cannot be a witness, please tell a friend who you think might be interested.
— If you are interested in becoming a witness You will describe your harm in a written affidavit which will be made public and you can contact me at stephen.kish.chair@adcs-adsc.ca See our website at www.adcs-adsc-ca
FOR THOSE CANADIANS WHO ALREADY VOLUNTEERED: Unless you have already been informed by me or by our legal team that you will not be a witness, there is still the possibility — or (for some) likelihood — that you will be asked to be a witness. I’m sorry but I cannot estimate the time it will take for our legal team to get back to you with their decision. This is because they need to “mesh” the characteristics of all of the necessary witnesses and testimonies with the actual detailed submission that contains the entirety of their evidence, which are all still evolving. Please be patient in our getting back to you with a decision. Thank you for your help.
Not selfish at all, Cheryl.
EmBee says
April 16, 2016 at 2:47 pm
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie (and the acronyms play havoc) …
IRS — One thing to rule them all
FATCA — One thing to find them
FinCEN — One thing to bring them all
CBT — And in the darkness bind them
@Embee.
SO appropriate and SO true!!
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/04/16/irs-corruption-fuels-billions-fraudulent-payments-illegal-aliens/
From the article at the link:
Imagine my surprise when I found a pile of IRS 1040 tax returns among the tons of trash at a “lay-up site” used by illegal border jumpers near the Mexican border west of Douglas, Arizona. There are dozens of such places where the thousands of border invaders change clothes, discard trash and wait to be taken by their “coyote” to their pick-up location for moving on to Phoenix or El Paso or Houston.
The IRS 1040 forms were filled out and had been used. Hey, who says illegal aliens don’t pay taxes?
I collected the 1040 forms and we noticed all had claimed Earned Income Tax Credits and all also had claimed around nine deductions for children. The average refund was around $4,000. It occurred to me only much later that the American taxpayer may be funding the coyote’s $1,500 fees for smuggling poor Mexicans, Salvadorans — and Iraqis and Vietnamese — across our southwest border
“Four illegal alien tax filers had used the same address and claimed a total of 20 children for refundable tax credits of up to $1,000 for each child. Only one child actually lived at the address, and the other 19 lived in Mexico and had never even visited the United States.
That aspect of the fraud is in fact not really illegal: the child you claim on the tax form does not have to live in the United States. the child can be living with Aunt Rosa in Peru or Grandpa Felix in Algeria.
The IRS response to the fraudulent payments? They refused to comment or to confirm any investigation and refused to meet with reporters to answer questions.
IRS refusal to act on documented fraud by illegal aliens is legendary. “
@Cheryl
*kinda selfish but there you are.*
U are not selfish…. if u were selfish… u would just worry about yourself… solve your problem & move on… u share your info… u cheer on others… u help raise awareness…. that is not selfish… u have your moments… we all do… we wouldn’t be humans if we didn’t… So dust yourself off… take a deep cleansing breath… it will get better….
Thanks US. I know. Accepted. I do feel a little better. I’m looking at a tough week ahead of waiting but it will get better.
@Cheryl @NoName @All:
The IRS is a criminal operation intent on fleecing the American Taxpayer and enslaving them for their own nefarious purposes at the behest of Globalist entities masquerading as either Democrat or Republican congressmen or senators.
It is an absolute outrage !
This has been going on for a long time and is intended to continue for as long as decent people are prepared to put up with it.
The time for complacency in a so called ‘Western Democracy’ has ended long ago.
The assault on law abiding citizens in the US and Canada is to the point of such outrage words simply are not available to express the evil these people perpetrate.
@Cheryl : The assault on all of us is INTENDED to make you feel the way you have stated you have come to feel. Know this: It is YOU who are worthy. It is THEY who are not. Criminal and evil and they do not apologize for it, they continue to assault.
What SHOULD have been done by the Conservatives and PROMISED by the Liberals, if elected, is that the IGA could have stood as a stop gap IF three things were inserted and insisted upon:
Number One: NO information without probable cause and a warrant that frees institutions from liability for releasing information. They NEED a LEGAL, suspected REASON for the information backed by a judges order.
Number Two: Canadian Citizens and Permanent Residents are excluded from the IGA entirely.
Number Three: That all designated NON Reportable accounts are ALSO non taxable by US IRS.
Inasmuch as the IGA , as insisted upon by US Treasury is illegal as US Treasury has NO authority to insist on any such thing as an IGA nor has it been brought before Congress to be ratified nor has it any Treaty authority. In Fact it OVERRIDES the Canada US Treaty; it should have been rejected outright by our government. And any decent government would have done so.
ALL the things suggested by Prof. Christians and Prof Cockfield should have been implemented by the Conservative government, whose majority on the Senate Finance Committee overrode these most prescient suggestions as well as their objections in total. Liberals SHOULD have undertaken
all of those suggestions , including their own, the minute they were sworn in!
They have done nothing and intend to do nothing. THAT is on their heads.
For all the rest of us who have lived in fear and anger, dealing with the feelings of inadequacy, guilt and unmitigated rage at the total injustice and evil intent of it all, we:
Now realize that the avenues of escape and restitution lie with one lonely lawsuit in Canada under assault by inappropriate court rulings and globalist UN , OECD and banker interests.
The Bopp Suit seems stalled in the US. NO idea of the status of that.
An obvious error in the Judges ruling in our Summary Trial leading us to the litigation we all are anxiously awaiting to begin.
It cannot be overstated that our freedom hangs by a thread. And a very thin one at that.
Meanwhile, evil and criminal exploit continues by all departments of the United States to not only fleece the US citizen living on US soil but every person on the planet who has or ever has had even the thinnest of connections to the country.
Meanwhile illegals are given money, food,, shelter, healthcare and so called jobs as well as tax credits in which they receive returns averaging over $4000 each, nothwithstanding tax credits for children, most of whom do not live in the US. Some receive up to $20,000.00 per year from this fraud alone. The IRS knows about it and brag about it. And make known their intent to DO NOTHING about it. This is in the billions of tax dollars from US taxpayers, year after year EVERY year for at least a decade and longer.
This is a global effort to end individual freedom for the interests of a very few.
Once the IRS through FATCA is through with everyone, OECD kicks in to finish us off. Forever.
Then the TPP locks up any and all avenues of escape.
An awful burden on the Arvay team. An awful burden on our leaders here at Brock and ADCS.
But they are up to it and they WILL bring it!!
Take heart all. It is always darkest before the dawn.
“God Willing and the creek don’t rise”
I’ll just listen over and over to Rachrl Platen’s “Fight Song”
This is IBS…
Like a small boat
On the ocean
Sending big waves
Into motion
This has to be me…
This is my fight song
Take back my life song
Prove I’m alright song
My power’s turned on
Starting right now I’ll be strong
I’ll play my fight song
And I don’t really care if nobody else believes
‘Cause I’ve still got a lot of fight left in me.
So, in assessing risk, my concern is not with the IRS ( they can go fuck themselves) or CRA, I am fully compliant and have nothing to hide. My fear, and what I need to consider when thinking about offering myself up as a witness, is my own financial institutions. Anyone who wants to participate in economic growth needs to be tied into Canadian financial institutions. Although I have been a credit union member since 1977, savings accounts at my local CU don’t really count as “growth”. So does anyone have a guess as to what the risk is of the FIs pouring through the court documents to find names of witnesses and then threaten those witnesses with account closures? So much fear, so much speculation, so much absurdity.
@ Cheryl
Never heard that song before but your snippet of the lyrics intriqued me so I found the youtube … it’s inspiring … thank you …
Glad you liked it Embee. Yesterday was “wrecking balls inside my brain” day for me!!! Ha! Ha!
@No name
Other people may have a different experience, but I’m not aware of any Canadian financial institutions threatening to close accounts because of the IGA. The Canadian threat seems to be to turn data over to the CRA, not to close the accounts. The threat to close accounts seems to be a European thing and seems to be a common European financial institution response to FATCA but I’ve been following this issue for nearly 3 years and I’ve never heard of that threat being made in Canada.
Do others have a different experience? For example, recently a letter was posted from TD to “Baby Elle”–a baby who was born in the US to Canadian parents who then returned to Canada and opened a Canadian bank account for the infant. The threat in the letter was to turn the data over, not to close the account. See the following:
http://maplesandbox.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/TD-Baby-Elle-Letter.pdf
Obviously coming forward as an affiant involves risk and if no one is willing to take any risk whatsoever, the lawsuit will not and IMHO does not deserve to succeed. (Although, at a minimum, the two plaintiffs have clearly been willing to take the risk and I would have hoped that in a pinch their testimony enough would be sufficient.) But the evidence that I’m aware of is that the risk of account closure–at least in Canada–is pretty low.
ALL – The three active gals (group name “CAUSED”) are at it again. We have just coordinated a 1-page news release under the email-subject title of:
SEEKING WITNESSES – an article for Cdn-US bordertown publications.
The following article (with our names at the bottom sent via one of two email addresses (since only two of us were willing to leave our email address), has been, over this weekend, sent to about 150 local news papers/on-line-services along the US-Canadian border. We, of course, have no idea how many will pick up this plea and publish it – – we can let you know if we hear back from any of them with a “YES” (or at least wanting more info). But, in the meantime, feel free to copy and send to your own local paper (maybe under another title such as ‘ WITNESSES NEEDED – US Persons living in Canada.’ You will be helping CAUSED and “the cause”!!!!!
“A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” … except if you are deemed “US”
Trudeau’s Liberals have spent much of their short time in power undoing legislation passed by the previous government. Salient amongst these are laws that effectively divided this country’s population into various classes of citizens, ranging from Harper’s coveted “old-stock” right down to those who could readily be deported and relieved of their passport. It is a great pity that the items on the house-cleaning list have not included the “enhanced” tax agreement with the United States that has effectively reduced Canadians deemed to be also “US Persons” to the status of second-class citizens.
Even if they are citizens of other countries, US law claims all US-born individuals (and their offspring no matter where born) as US citizens. US law also claims them as permanent taxpayers no matter where they live or work. Consequently, approximately one million Canadian citizens and residents (probably unbeknownst to most) are claimed to be US taxpayers.
The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a US law passed in 2010 for the purpose of locating all “US Persons” who hold financial accounts outside the United States. That includes these one million Canadians. Are you one of them?
If you are such a “US Person”, and a Canadian (or share a joint account with one) and have never officially renounced your US citizenship, you are now a member of one of the most under-privileged “classes” of people in Canada. Thanks to the Agreement to implement FATCA in Canada, you are at risk of having your name, bank and investment account numbers and all details reported to the Canada Revenue Agency (which will then hand over all this information to the US Internal Revenue Service). Bank information thus received by the IRS will not be deemed confidential there and could at any time be sent to any other US law enforcement (or other) agency.
Buried as Part V within the massive omnibus budget bill C-31 in 2014, the FATCA Agreement received little attention from parliamentarians. Members of the then Opposition, both New Democrats and Liberals, spoke powerfully against this Agreement. But, now in power, the Liberals are defending the measure. Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier said at the April 14, 2016 Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics meeting that the Liberal Party has now had an opportunity to read and consider the Agreement more fully and, therefore, is able to support its provisions. These provisions do nothing less than introduce national origin/parentage discrimination into Canada’s financial system, making it risky for naturalized Canadians with US connection, and those born in Canada to US parents, to hold certain types of accounts or investments particularly if their combined accounts are valued at more than $50,000. Affected particularly harshly will be retired naturalized Canadians who have lived here for decades.
Affected Canadians are not taking this lying down. A Constitutional Challenge has been launched against the Attorney General of Canada and the Revenue Minister that will be prosecuted in the near future. One of the finest teams of experts in Canadian constitutional law has been engaged, is fully funded, and is actively seeking anyone willing to file an affidavit with the court detailing the difficulties they have experienced as a consequence of Canada’s acquiescence to FATCA.
If you have suffered – – or will suffer – – harm because of Canada’s Agreement to implement FATCA in Canada, please contact: stephen.kish.chair@adcs-adsc.ca.
“A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian” must be true for all citizens of this country.
@ Cheryl
The wrecking ball went through my brain in 2012 and I’m still struggling through the rubble.
Excellent!
@ LM
Bravo to all three of you for doing this for our cause. I’m hoping the excellent lines you cast get a nibble. [fingers crossed on my left hand and FATCA finger raised on my right]
No name and Dash,
Canadian Bankers Association: http://www.cba.ca/en/consumer-information/40-banking-basics/597-fatca-and-the-canada-us-intergovernmental-agreement-iga-information-for-clients-
I don’t see how, even with this, they can say these account holders do not face discrimination by national origin from other Canadians who do NOT have their financial information turned over to the CRA to in turn be turned over to the IRS. Shall Canada, then, send ALL Canadians’ financial information on to the CRA even if the CRA would not (we hope) turn that information over to the IRS? All Canadians should ask themselves that question.
LM,
Thanks to the three of you for taking this additional action and reporting on it. Hope it raises more awareness! and someone will come forth as another witness — or plaintiff.
@Cheryl
I’m happy to see you’ve perked up. Funny your posted “Fight Song” used a similar analogy to what going through my head just before I read it. I think of Brock in terms of being a lifeboat rather than an ordinary boat however, with many a participant (often Calgary411) ready to keep others from falling overboard or slipping below the surface of despair. For myself, I’m probably the most cynical optimist you might meet here. You must have caught me on a good day 🙂
@Dash1729
“The guidance given by the Canadian government to its financial institutions is similar, Bloomberg BNA wrote. If self-certification is not complete or is completely absent, the account is treated as reportable. However, the Canadian guidance goes a step further and states that in no way should the institution refuse to open an account or deny service if the account holder doesn’t provide the requisite self-certification.”
http://sovos.com/blog/fatca-self-certification-could-cause-headaches-for-financial-institutions/
@LM
Thank you, CAUSED, for your article. Best of luck to you in getting it published somewhere, ANYWHERE!
@ Calgary411 – I have been at my computer too long today – – getting sloppy. In my above note I should have mentioned my co-conspirators: MuzzledNoMore and Pastbeyond66. These two have been AMAZING and a lot of fun working with!!!
We (CAUSED) tried – – we really tried – – to educate all the members of the Standing Committee on Privacy and Ethics and Access to Information; 2 weeks before they were to meet with the Minister (this past Thursday) we pulled together and sent to each of them a detailed letter outlining all the important issues (including the US stance that reported information WILL NOT be necessarily kept within the IRS but is not considered “tax info” so could be shared with other agencies AND about the lack of reciprocity).
But, watching the Committee for the whole 2-hour meeting, it seems no one read this information. They were asking questions we had already answered rather than challenging her on her misperceptions. What a waste of time. These guys (and they are ALL GUYS – x3^m&#w@pxz! – , are useless!!!!!!!!!
I know, Mr. Dusseault has been a great supporter, but questioning of the “guests” was much too polite. I mean, you watch committee hearings from the US and the questions are tough and hard hitting – – these were milquetoast. Sad. Angry. Terribly discouraged.
Anyone think we could get a meeting with the Privacy Commissioner?
@ LM
When status quo cements itself into parliamentary process it takes an enormous amount of energy to break things up. You could tell that all three guests and the chairman did not want to shatter the status quo and unfortunately the questioners only brought a tiny ice pick with them when dynamite was needed. All I can do is echo your “Sad. Angry. Terribly discouraged.”
“IRS refusal to act on documented fraud by illegal aliens is legendary.”
That’s because the IRS is too busy acting on trumped up accusations of fraud against victims of the IRS’s own identity thieves.
“The Canadian threat seems to be to turn data over to the CRA, not to close the accounts.”
TD Waterhouse, in Canada, closed my account in 2002 because I tried to find out if TD Waterhouse acted correctly when deducting 30% US withholding from Canadian sourced interest income in my Canadian account, in addition to correctly deducting 10% Canadian withholding from the same Canadian sourced interest income since I live in Japan.
You want to get a prospect list for FATCA witnesses and donors – http://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-hacking-your-phone/
Go to a ‘Hackers’ Conference and get the bank’s FATCA data and use it against them and the US Government.
They’re collecting the database and it can be used to create descent.
Re this quote from Cheryl: “The most important impact on me of FATCA is not about money. It is about the value of me as a person and as a citizen. It is about the social value of people and communities, about justice, about so much more than money and it leaves me bereft sometimes.”
I think the rest of us here at Brock would echo your eloquent statement. We all go to that low place you were in and I’m glad you’re feeling like you’re climbing out the other side of that hole today. It’s so good to have the support of this community. Were it not for Brock I don’t know where I’d be today.
The Mom and EmBee and anyone else waiting to watch…
Still not up on ParlVu this morning, but I have this reply so will keep checking the site: