We have to remember that United States law code only applies to little people like you and me, but not to big important people like Hillary Clinton:
This is an illustration of Petros Principle 12: The criminals are in DC.
We have to remember that United States law code only applies to little people like you and me, but not to big important people like Hillary Clinton:
This is an illustration of Petros Principle 12: The criminals are in DC.
We have reached the place that Jefferson feared. Most people under 40 cannot tell you what the Soviet Union was or what the cold war was. They never heard of Karl Marx or the Communist Party.
Socialism is a good thing to them because you get things.
Jefferson said when the city residents are piled on top of each other and politicians will promise benefits, from the treasury, if you will only vote to keep them in office, the idea of a Democratic Republic is over. We are there.
We now, thanks to Obama, have a class of people who haven’t worked for a living in over 10 years and could not get a job making enough money to equal the benefits received under the state sponsored benefits programs, so they never intend to work again.
All we need to be the New Soviet System is the government to collect all the guns and be the employer of last resort for all workers. Few will work and all will be paid. The work will have no purpose and life will have none either. Drunks will line the streets and allys and suicides will be the major cause of death.
Socialism always leads to dictatorship and loss of purpose for individuals– I am glad to be old and will be unable to have to witness the destruction of the last best hope for mankind.
Politics is the only job that the persons who caused the problems, asks to be re elected to fix them and they do it with a straight face.
I’ve been aware for quite some time that the “Good Old American Justice System” applies to little people but not the big, wealthy folk.
The video “Is Hillary Guilty?” is a great find and makes this crystal clear Petros.
Regardless of whether Hillary or the Donald gets elected, I think the path from here is a downhill slope for the USA.
As the Donald blows up the Republican Party, Petros takes his eye off the ball and the IBS website becomes a subsidiary of Fox News.
I will now be accused of an ad hominem attack or else of being an Astroturfer.
Yeah, this quickly turning into #Canadians4Trump, which is about as batshit crazy as it gets.
Saw this comment on the previous post: “Yes Petros. But the Book of Psams is not in the religious text that Obama reads.” Not a whole lot of sub to that text – full-on bonkers Obama-is-a-secret-Muslim nutbar fruitcake land.
I’m outta here. Whole point of living in Canada is to avoid this sort of idiocy.
Regarding FATCA, FBARs, CBT and the lot: if you’re a Canadian dual living in Canada, just chill. Relax and lie to your bank – they’re not trying very hard – and whatever you do don’t file US taxes, and the problem goes away.
As my partner and I approach retirement, we visited a financial advisor about preparation a year ago. He gave us advice that triggered a FATCA letter. Since then I have discovered this website, read and learned much and am very thankful for the advice, stories shared, efforts made in publicising our situation, and legal battles commenced. I truly appreciate everyone’s efforts. I have entered streamlined – minimal info, submitted #FBARs, and renunciation appointment is 17th. I must say that I now have little interest in the US election, though unfortunately it plays continuously on New Zealand news channels as well as the usual US sources.
Please stay out of politics which doesn’t have to do with IBS’ core mission.
Why is it that when it comes to USA presidential elections so many people seem to have DDS (Duopolistic Derangement Syndrome)– I see DDS all the time on Facebook. If you say something bad about Trump people assume you support Hillary; if you say something bad about Hillary, they assume you want Trump.
As for me, I am with Treebeard: “Side? I am on nobody’s side, because nobody is on my side, little Orc.”
Here is my view of how elections will change the international tax invasion of the USA:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/06/28/the-united-states-of-america-is-a-juggernaut/
The whole system is corrupt. Nobody is listening anymore.
Hillary is never going to pay for any of her crimes and I am no supporter of Trump either. The US election will be decided on whoever is the least unpopular candidate on the day and who even bothers to vote with this choice. One of my siblings in the USA has said she can’t even be bothered to vote.
I thought about doing nothing after the Fatca letter but not sure how protected we are in the UK. Maybe someone knows? Certainly there is no collection facility I believe but my accountant (maybe scaremongering) told me of some act, what was it called i think it was the Proceeds of Crime act where it could be feasible for a UK person to have assets seized for evasion of US taxes. Farfetched maybe or just trying on the fear factor and you would need to owe tax in the first place.
The only benefit for me to come into compliance was to renounce. Don’t want to be watching, waiting, looking over my shoulder or snared by some other law that gets passed that makes it harder to be invisible.
“I thought about doing nothing after the Fatca letter but not sure how protected we are in the UK. Maybe someone knows? Certainly there is no collection facility I believe but my accountant (maybe scaremongering) told me of some act, what was it called i think it was the Proceeds of Crime act where it could be feasible for a UK person to have assets seized for evasion of US taxes.”
Complete nonsense. Why not check it out before repeating it?
Glad to know it’s nonsense but checking it out didn’t leave me wiser. i am not that good at reading between the lines of laws. in fact i am probably a perfect candidate for a condor to instill fear into because having thought myself legal with everything my whole adult life, finding out all this stuff was such a shock.
There’s no need to read between the lines, it’s obvious from the wording of the Act:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/29/section/6
Since both conditions are required, and it’s not possible to be convicted in the Crown Court for “evading ” US taxes, the Proceeds of Crime Act CANNOT be used by the IRS and nor can any other UK legislation.
Anyone who has been misinformed about this by a tax advisor might like to raise this misconduct with whatever professional body the tax advisor belongs to, if any. If he’s a maverick, Citizens Advice might be able to offer advice as to what action can be taken against him to put a stop to such tactics.
@ iota
I don’t want to debate this law. This was said to me by a very well respected accountant here in the UK and he also participates expat talks. I said UK person, i did not say US person. basically my plan to renounce without filing might back fire some day. because i also considered that. I considered everything before deciding. So my comment was how safe are we in the UK. I feel pretty safe from collection but the UK was one of the first to cave in to the IRS I am told. Who knows how things will change in future. we could have good change or bad change. I don’t want to hang around and wait. I want to get out now while it is still possible for me to get out.
My siblings have said yes but what if things get bad in the UK, don’t you want another option. that’s actually sensible advise except it means more waiting to see and I just don’t want to wait to see. We all have to do what we have to do to survive and how we feel the most safe.
Seeing who is running for election makes the choice easier for me. I can see things getting very bad in the USA whoever wins.
@UKRose, I’m not debating anything. What you do is up to you. I’m stating the facts, as shown by the legislation, and I’ve given the link to the legislation so that any UK residents who might come across this thread and be alarmed, can go and have a look and see for themselves that there’s no risk of their assets being seized by the IRS.
Usefully, the Proceeds of Crime Act also includes, under Part 5 Civil Recovery (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/29/part/5), a clear definition of what constitutes unlawful behaviour:
Making it crystal clear that not paying taxes to the US is not unlawful in the UK.
@UKRose
I would have that question cleared up by somebody professional. I don`t think your accountant was saying this to scare you and/or make money off of you. Not all professionals are crooks.
Laws have been twisted and turned to benefit anybody. Th legal reading of it oftentimes turns out other than we expected.
I agree – with the caveat that a solicior is more likely to be able to answer questions about legal interpretations and be held accountable for the accuracy of his/her comments.
I do not consider compliance condors, especially those who set up shop outside the borders of the USA, as practitioners of a legitimate business. Their main purpose is to profit from application of extraterritorial laws upon their clients. In Canada, we kicked out the Eritrean tax collectors. I would hope that we would do this to the cross border compliance industry.
It’s a bit like hiring an estate agent to sell a house.
The estate agent’s contract is with the party who engaged him and who will ultimately be paying him: the vendor. The agent is supposed to be working to further the vendor’s interests. But the party whose happiness the agent has to ensure, if he wants to make money, is the buyer.
Similarly, the US tax advisor is engaged by the client, and the client’s interests should be paramount. But the party whose happiness the advisor had to ensure, if he wants to make money, is the IRS.
Consequently, estate agents care far more about buyers’ happiness than they care about vendors’ happiness, and US tax advisors care far more about IRS happiness than they care about a client’s happiness.
@nonymous re: “Regarding FATCA, FBARs, CBT and the lot: if you’re a Canadian dual living in Canada, just chill. Relax and lie to your bank – they’re not trying very hard – and whatever you do don’t file US taxes, and the problem goes away.”
Although this approach may work well short-term, it may not a couple years from now. The hunt for Canadians deemed ‘US persons’ seems to be starting rather slowly and not over enthusiastically with Canadian politicians (was going to call them Canadian leaders but they’re not)
trying to appease US tainted Canadians with consoling words that sound to me like ‘don’t worry we’re only pulling down your pants, not penetrating you’. But why should we trust that things won’t get more intense after our pants are down around our ankles?
And lying only keeps your pants up for awhile. Eventually you may be surprised to find that you will be asked to show proof of non-US birthplace in order to keep them up. Then what?
So here’s a UK-based US tax advisor talking about the Proceeds of Crime Act. (I don’t know if it’s the same one that advised UKRose, but I do know it’s the one who told me I should be paying more tax on my UK pension to the US, than I was paying to the UK.)
The tax advisor is speaking to UK tax advisors, not directly to potential clients.:
Hillary Clinton did not earn the Democrat candidacy; it was rigged for her in states like California. (The electronic ballots can be flipped electronically). Whenever there is >2% discrepancy between exit polls and the results, there is a strong probability of rigging. Election fraud experts (who prevented an election rigging in Ohio in 2012) have filed a lawsuit to determine the true results, although since the other side always has 60 days to respond, it will not change Hillary being the candidate.
What is so scary is that most of the press is so blatantly pro-Hillary, she has no accountability for the horrible things she does. The leaked documents from Wikileaks confirmed that her campaign was giving orders to what the press should air or publish. They continue to do so. The Russians are blamed for the leaks for the stupid excuse that they are pro-Trump.
I spent hours viewing Julian Assange of Wikileaks interviews on YouTube. Keep in mind that the REASON Julian is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London is to avoid extradition to the USA, which pays NO attention to the fact that the UN has cleared him.
Since Julian Assange sticks to his policy that he will not confirm or deny his sources, (his policy is to leave it up to the sources to reveal themselves if they so choose) all he will say is there is NO PROOF that the Russians are the source of the leaks that exposed the corruption in the DNC, favouring Hillary over Bernie Sanders. He also quotes the head of the DNI, who is head of all intelligence agencies in the U.S., to support his position. [I find it far more credible that the source is someone in the NSA or FBI who either supported Bernie Sanders or was upset that Hillary Clinton got away with her unsecured server/documents after the FBI director cleared her.]
However, since Assange cannot bring himself to compromise his integrity, he is accused of colluding with the Russians to damage Hillary. They accuse him of helping another country interfere with America’s SOVEREIGNTY in its election process!! (Yeah, right).
Chuck Todd of “Meet the Press” even had the gall to ask Julian Assange, “Are you hoping these leaks elect Donald Trump as president?” He then wanted to know what financial connections Assange’s group has with Russia, e.g. a TV show. Then he said we’re told there is more information on Clinton to be released and asked him, “Are you timing your leaks for maximum impact on the Clinton campaign?” Todd also told Wikileaks that their releasing private information, like the “millions of Turkish women” hurts people. Assange replied that this story is a FALSE story of the Clinton campaign. (In other interviews, he says their policy is to block out a string of numbers such as credit cards numbers leaving only the last few digits, e.g. XXXXX-323). Over and over on various interviews, Assange has stated that his organization keeps the data pure and pristine, and an 100% record over 10 years, it is guaranteed to be true before it is published. In the case of the DNC leaks, Julian Assange says that there is CLEAR PROOF of sabotage in the leaked documents, and that is why they released it before the convention [out of consideration for Bernie Sanders supporters].
In one interview, Assange said that they have the documentation of her actions in Libya, proving that what Hillary Clinton says she did is not true. In another interview, Assange said that they have proof the Clintons have received large financial contributions from the Russians, whereas there is no proof of Trump ever receiving a contract from Russians, for example, to build anything in Russia. Since this information doesn’t help Hillary’s campaign, it will not be viewed on American press. If they get their wish and she does become president, she could start WW III, Wikileaks could expose her, and in the end, the press will blame someone else and attack Wikileaks. It won’t be her fault!
@UKRose,
Even in terms of assistance in collection of actual US TAX, the US does not have many agreements with other countries that contain any such provision, and even when it does, there are limitations and other practical roadblocks;
Ex.
“…Of the 64 income tax treaties the US has negotiated, only 5 of them have expanded collection provisions — Canada, Denmark, France, Netherlands, and Sweden. Even though these treaties contain somewhat robust collection assistance provisions, there are many ambiguities and uncertainties as to their parameters. Twenty-four bilateral income tax treaties have a limited tax assistance collection provision, but these are so ambiguous that commentators have noted they probably have very limited use. …..”
http://blogs.angloinfo.com/us-tax/2013/04/01/how-can-the-irs-enforce-tax-collection-overseas/
I realize that you are in the UK, and not in Canada. Here is what our CRA (Canada Revenue Agency) said in response to a Parliamentary question asked by a NDP MP Mai, re the FBAR and enforcement in Canada:
“…….Part (t): The CRA understands the question to refer to exchanges of information under Article XXVII of the
Treaty. In this context. the answer is none. FBAR is not covered under the exchange of information
provision in the Treaty because il is not a tax. Therefore. the CRA cannot and does not exchange
information related to FBAR. The IRS can only request that the CRA exchange information for the
purposes of taxes.
(i): While the CRA does have internai deadlines to respond to exchange of information requests. they are
not applicable to FBAR because information is not exchanged for FBAR purposes.
(ii): As the FBAR falls beyond the scope of the Treaty, the CRA has no basis to undertake bilateral
cooperation on this matter, nor has CRA cooperation been requested by the IRS.”…..
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/03/14/government-responded-to-ndp-written-question-on-fbar/comment-page-1/#comment-4823090
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/03/19/cra-replies-regarding-fatca/
I also later read;
FATCA and FBAR Reporting by Individuals:
Enforcement Considerations from a
Canadian Perspective
Andrew Bonham*
CANADIAN TAX jOURNAL / REVUE FISCALE CANADIENNE (2012) 60:2, 305 – 54
https://www.ctf.ca/ctfweb/CMDownload.aspx?ContentKey=7ae51268-fbf4-4abf-a07a-41c7be3af7f6&ContentItemKey=c3e8c6ab-f4f9-45b3-8d34-c8dde8c018a2
Things may change, but for now, it appears that for those who stay out of the US and who have no US sited assets, there is little that the US can do from afar. – especially re the non-tax penalties. And it appears doubtful that the IRS has or will obtain the resources to actively and extraterritorially pursue minnows or those who owe little or nothing in US tax.
I understand however, the desire to sever oneself in as permanent and surgical a manner as possible. Excepting that often entails significant expense in legal and accounting fees, or doing it oneself and accepting the possibility of inadvertent errors as a layperson. In my case though, even the very high fee US tax lawyer and their accountants made (and did not catch) several significant errors – egregiously stupid ones, as well as a math error that carried over, and which the lower fee crossborder accountant I used for my final submission caught – though they then created yet another error themselves.
Early on, the distinction between assistance in collection re the FBAR vs. actual US tax was one that I was unaware of, but it is significant.
See http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/03/14/government-responded-to-ndp-written-question-on-fbar/comment-page-1/#comment-7641219
@ Jan
“[I find it far more credible that the source is someone in the NSA or FBI who either supported Bernie Sanders or was upset that Hillary Clinton got away with her unsecured server/documents after the FBI director cleared her.]”
Another possible source of the DNC leaks is one of its own staffers, Seth Rich, who was recently murdered in Washington, DC. It could be he developed a conscience regarding the dirty tricks being played out during the Democrat primary.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/08/wow-breaking-video-julian-assange-suggests-seth-rich-wikileaks-dnc-source-shot-dead-dc/
I see the presidential election in the USA as being totally manipulated to get the NWO’s top pick of Clinton into the White House, by hook or by crook. Sanders was used to bring more voters into the Dem party and then shuffle them over to Clinton after his arranged departure. Trump is being used to eventually say or do something so outrageous that his supporters will either stay home on election day or go over to Clinton. Even if these voters don’t migrate to Clinton, there’s those terrible black box voting machines to ensure a victory for her. So this election is a huge farce, all bread and circuses for the masses. But this time it’s a deadly farce because with super war-monger Clinton in power, the odds are greatly increased for WW3. It’s pretty obvious why Clinton’s schedule up until October 19th includes only 3 rallies and almost every other date on her calendar is a fundraiser. She knows she doesn’t need the minions to get in, only money from her rock-solid base, the millionaires of America and beyond.
http://investmentwatchblog.com/wow-hillary-has-only-three-scheduled-appearances-between-now-and-october-19th-and-trump-has-rallies-once-or-twice-a-day/
I said “Making it crystal clear that not paying taxes to the US is not unlawful in the UK.”
However, I’ve subsequently learned, if an illegal act such as deception is committed (for instance by lying), then (if detected) the UK AML legislation could in theory apply – even if the taxes in question are US taxes.
@EmBee
@Petros
@All
I was talking recently with a journalist friend (decidedly on the Left, not a Trump fan but who thinks Hillary is a loathsomely corrupt warmonger) here in Pergamon (a/k/a Washington DC, cf. Rev. 2:13), who said he’s never seen anything like it. The media doesn’t even pretend to be neutral: just a constant bang bang bang on latest Trump malapropism (on the Khans, or Second Amendment, whatever, or made up ones like the crying baby, whose mother said it was bunk), while skating over the Seth Rich addition to the #ClintonBodyCount, “pay to play” between the State Department and Clinton Foundation (inquiry into which DOJ evidently quashed), and what is perhaps Hillary’s biggest vulnerability, her health (I mean her physical health, not her sick mind and morals).
Add to that a steady parade of Republican boobahs and mandarins coming out against Trump (some overtly for Hillary though most pretending there’s some other alternative) http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/10/politics/donald-trump-republican-opposition/ PLUS a veritable Who’s Who of the Deep State responsible for every God-awful mess abroad, in both a GOP list http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/09/us/politics/national-security-gop-donald-trump.html?_r=0 and a bipartisan list https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/files/2016/08/NATO-statement-Final-080416.pdf?tid=a_inl . In a sane society, most of these people would be in jail, not telling us who’s unqualified to keep implementing the same disastrous policies.
And let’s not forget the former Acting CIA Director who’s calling for assassinations of Russian personnel (and Iranians) in Syria. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-09/former-cia-acting-director-and-hillary-supporter-we-should-kill-russians-and-iranian Sure! All in good fun! What could possibly go wrong?
As Jonathan Swift famously observed, “When a true genius appears, you can know him by this sign: that all the dunces are in a confederacy against him.” Whether or not Trump’s a genius, there’s no question the dunces – or more like it, the scoundrels – are out in full phalanx. It’s like they’ve assembled the cast of the Star Wars bar scene and sicced them on him.
As I have said, purely on FATCA and RBT, this election is a no-brainer. http://nationalinterest.org/feature/gop-woos-americans-abroad-democrats-tell-them-get-lost-17208 (<== BTW, I noticed this still hasn’t been posted on Brock, even though it *is* relevant to cores issues, though no more partisan than the posting we’re commenting on here.) But even if those issues didn’t exist, we are talking about a phenomenon I’ve never seen before, even in a system as corrupt as ours has become.
Feel free to complete the sentence “Trump is bad because ______________________”. But I defy anyone to come up with anything that matches a criminal psychopath fronting for the most destructive forces in America and globally (evident from her CIA and Pentagon praetorian guard http://www.opednews.com/articles/Pentagon-CIA-Form-Praetor-by-Finian-Cunningham-CIA_Hillary-Clinton_Pentagon_Warmongers-160809-982.html ), and who may also be very, very sick.