reposted from MapleSandbox
by Lynne Swanson
#FATCA Americans overseas: Do NOT allow US tax pros scare u into entering US tax system. Many have no business entering!
— Keith REDMOND (@kredmond_global) January 19, 2017
Backing up the above tweet, Keith Redmond posted the following on Facebook:
Dear Members: I just had a lengthy, robust call with an individual who spent 25 years in upper management with the Department of Treasury IRS Criminal Investigation. He confirmed what I thought about the IRS. There is more bark than bite. He stated that there are many, many Americans overseas ho have no business in entering the US tax system and that Accidental Americans UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should enter the US tax system. He confirmed that there are MANY US tax pros who prey on Americans overseas and Accidental Americans through fear and falsehoods. (e.g. you will get arrested, etc.). Any US tax professional who pushes and scaremongers these individuals to comply are not professionals and should not be used! He confirmed that the IRS is NOT going to go after you in your country of residence (most especially if you are a citizen of that country) and the IRS is NOT going to arrest you at the US border. The IRS does not have the resources to do this plus they go after those who have committed a crime not the average American overseas. He stated that Americans overseas need to not succumb to the fear. Excellent conversation and I am glad my views have been validated.
This reflects what I have long believed. Unfortunately, there is still the nightmare of FATCA to deal with. In some countries, anyone born in the US cannot even get bank accounts. We are treated as criminals just for banking where we live.
I asked Keith how his contact explains and justifies this.
Keith replied:
He can’t. He finds the whole situation abhorent…
A Canadian’s Bittersweet Awakening:
The happiest day in my wife’s life will be when she receives THIS. She has contributed to Canada for over 10 years since her landing sixteen years ago and has helped to support this family. After she receives her Canadian citizenship, she will no longer have to deal with the self-entitled types back in the country where she was birthed (It’s not home anymore) who expect her to pay her “fair-share” while she receives no benefits, no representation…or anything connected with the United States; who lift up their hands in self-entitled greed backed by statute, expecting that she will pay their way when it would take food off our family’s table and the clothes off our children’s backs.
She has paid her FAIR SHARE to Canada, for 10 years and counting, for the roads that she uses, for the sidewalks that she walks on; for the education that our children (born in Canada) have received, for the health-care that she and our family receives in Canada and all for the love of our family.
And like my father who took out his Canadian citizenship after emigrating from Japan in 1956 50 years to the day that he landed on Canadian soil; he died a Canadian in 2009; she wants to be a Canadian so that she has the full rights of being able to vote in this country. My father loved this country, yet our country fails to protect the daughter-in-law that he loved, as much as I love.
So to anyone who would dismiss that loyalty, that love of country. who says that she is second-class due to the fact that she is of a citizenship of a country that practices a taxation form that is only matched by that of a 3rd World Banana Republic and supports an administration that has persecuted her because of it: FUCK YOU!!!
I love my country, but my country has betrayed me twice: First when it interned my maternal grandfather’s (grandfather, grandmother, uncles and my mother) family in Slocan. Second when it said to my wife and 1M+ other Canadians and permanent residents (those who have moved here with the intention of gaining citizenship in Canada) that they were second-class citizens) and that “Congress had spoken” as if Canada was a lapdog of the United States or even worse, the 51st State of the Union. I still LOVE Canada, with all my heart and soul, but I stand here a jaded man, bitter and angry, that the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives would relegate my wife and 1M+ others and their Canadian families to the role of second class-citizen.
My wife WILL get her Canadian citizenship; she will become a loyal Canadian; she will vote for the next prime minister of Canada but the satisfaction of my beloved wife becoming Canadian will be bittersweet tempered because I know now that Canada is not the shining beacon of fairness and equality that it holds herself out to be.
“…if they WANT to, if you are caught somehow, the IRS can still throw the book at you. Because it is the law. ”
‘Exactly. If they have evidence of actual tax evasion, AND the sums involved make it worthwhile, AND the person has signed one of those penalty of perjury jurats, THEN they can ask the residence country to extradite the person to stand trial in America’
I wonder. I didn’t evade taxes but IRS employees created enough evidence to make an allegation of fraud, when I didn’t know what they were talking about. The sums involved … well it’s around US$11,000 that they stole from me, but they’re protecting a gang of identity thieves that TIGTA reported as stealing US$6,500,000,000 per year. The IRS sure did coerce me into signing some of those penalty of perjury jurats after I showed them why they’d be perjury and again after I showed US Tax Court why they’d be perjury. Is extradition needed, I don’t know. I filed motions for injunctions to compel the IRS to prosecute me criminally the way they threatened to do, and I would voluntarily go to the US embassy to be arrested, but they still refuse.
I’d like very much to be arrested by the same FBI agent who blew me off when I first presented evidence of malfeasance by IRS employees, around 7 years before TIGTA reported about Monica Hernandez. But it doesn’t have to be him, anyone will do. Since courts won’t allow discovery in civil cases and won’t appoint a lawyer in civil cases, I need a criminal case. But they still refuse.
“I had to work in estimations”
You’re allowed to work in estimations when you have to, but you can’t declare that your estimations are estimations. You are coerced to sign the jurat declaring that the numbers are true and correct to the best of your knowledge and belief, i.e. you are coerced to declare perjury, and that’s exactly what you have to do. As long as you don’t WILLINGLY commit perjury, 26 USC section 7206 doesn’t penalize you for it.
On the other hand, if you tell the truth, you get penalized for impeding the administration of US taxes. Don’t do it.
“Who knows what will happen to the effectiveness of the IRS under the new administration? As referred to yesterday in the media thread — Bloomberg, January 19, 2017: Mnuchin calls for boosting IRS despite House plan to streamline”
Oooh, good question. Maybe the IRS will get the resources it needs to put Mnuchin in jail?
“Is it even possible to repeal CBT? There’s no actual CBT law, as far as I’m aware. Unless I’ve missed something?”
26 USC section 7701(a)(30)(A)
‘(30)United States person The term “United States person” means—
(A)a citizen or resident of the United States,’
Also:
‘(39)Persons residing outside United States If any citizen or resident of the United States does not reside in (and is not found in) any United States judicial district, such citizen or resident shall be treated as residing in the District of Columbia for purposes of any provision of this title relating to—
(A)jurisdiction of courts, or
(B)enforcement of summons.’
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7701
“Aren’t constitutional amendments repealed?”
The 18th was. Others just get overturned by court rulings.
‘“among the several States”
Other nations are NOT a State of the United States’
It doesn’t matter how many entities aren’t states. The wording says the US doesn’t have to care about states:
“WITHOUT APPORTIONMENT among the several States”
The US thereby declared itself capable of taxing all of the income of the government of China together with incomes of all persons and companies regardless of whether they ever had any connection to anything outside of China, and all of the income of persons and companies in Canada that it wishes to tax.
(Legislation says the US decided not to use all of those capabilities. Chinese nukes might also persuade the US not to use all of those capabilities. The constitutional amendment just says the US doesn’t have to care about irrelevant details such as what is a state.)
The IRS and indeed the entire American government has trouble finding their backsides with both hands. if you accidental Americans just lay low and if you ever decide to visit the U.S. simply travel on the Passport of the country you consider your home and say nothing about your other citizenship, the immigration dept will never know you are a U.S. Citizen.
Live your life without the IRS as a partner and they won’t know you exist. heck there are around 30 million adults born in America who have social security numbers and do not file a tax return and when the IRS calls their number they simply deny having any individual income and they get off without any penalty. They spend on average about 61k a year and file no tax return and the IRS never asks them to come in or file a tax return.
Absolutely! The US will be busy enough picking off the ones with US birthplaces that you have nothing to worry about for a long time, if ever!
@ND:
Well spotted.
But repealing it wouldn’t have the effect of making non-US-resident USCs not subject to US tax. To do that, new legislation would be needed – legislation creating a new category of (say) Non-Resident Citizen, to sit beside NRA in the IRS taxonomy (ha ha).
Which brings home the difficulties. Would the US Congress ever entertain even for a moment the idea that one category of persons should have residence rights and voting rights etc, yet not be subject to taxation?
My guess would be no. They struggle to understand why they can’t tax “aliens” who’ve never seen or thought about the US, so why would they vote not to tax a citizen, and how would that go down with the folks down home that they have to keep happy?
Making it easier to renounce might be a more achievable aim. Persuade them to get rid of the punitive aspects of the exit tax; stop trying to force citizenship on minor children (wherever born); bring the renunciation fee back in line with what other countries charge; and generally behave like a civilized country instead of a hormonal teenager. A better solution for all, no?
“Well spotted.”
I discovered it accidentally around a year ago, and later saw that Eric had already posted it on IBS.
“But repealing it wouldn’t have the effect of making non-US-resident USCs not subject to US tax.”
Right. What needs partial repealing is definition 30(A) not 39.
“Would the US Congress ever entertain even for a moment the idea that one category of persons should have residence rights and voting rights etc, yet not be subject to taxation?”
Get rid of the voting rights (which are only partial anyway) and put them in the same boat as US non-citizen nationals. They are subject to taxation in the place where they reside, don’t have to file US forms unless they actually have income from the US, but have the right to move to the US if they wish. (Some non-citizen nationals were stripped of that right but later they were stripped of non-citizen national status too. But they still had to put their hand over their heart and recite the pledge of allegiance to the US flag in school every day.)
“Making it easier to renounce might be a more achievable aim.”
No kidding. They should pass an expatriation act. Oh wait they already did, in 1868. They just don’t obey it.
“Get rid of the voting rights (which are only partial anyway) and put them in the same boat as US non-citizen nationals. They are subject to taxation in the place where they reside, don’t have to file US forms unless they actually have income from the US, but have the right to move to the US if they wish.”
Yes, that might work, if the US Congress could be persuaded to do it. Which, personally, I doubt, but what do I know.
The voting rights restriction, while I would embrace it, runs counter to years of bipartisan efforts to allow citizens abroad voting rights. At least partially based on the idea that if you need to pay taxes you need to be represented/vote. “Le serpent qui se mord la queue” in French.
Of course other countries… allow/encourage voting abroad, and even have members of parliament elected by and dedicated to them, while not having CBT, such as France. But France has its own little CBT-like exception with Monaco, a place where only French (and US of course) citizens have to pay income tax.
The more I think about it, reading recent posts here, including that one reminding us that the IRS will not come after 99.99% of us, the more I realize that FATCA is truly the main problem, and that its repeal, while not solving CBT, would allow RBT (again) for most practical purposes. All the more reason to hope the GOP will respect its platform. And hope they don’t swear to replace FATCA with “something even better – tremendous”.
‘…and hope they don’t swear to replace FATCA with “something even better – tremendous”. ‘
Indeed.
@JusticeForAll…..yes Keith is being pressured but frankly expats are at the boiling point!! My opinion of the compliance jackals…..F&%£ Them!
@Fred(B), I go back and forth on the need to replace CBT with RBT/TBT assuming FATCA is gutted.
The GOP has the tools to gut FATCA and then kill it which in theory rolls back the clock. But I can not go back to the day of bliss…..nor can you…..nor can anyone else and that does include those with a CLN.
Will the GOP replace FATCA? NO.
Will the Democrats resurrect FATCA? It is in the nature of Homeland Democrats to think of it.
@Brockers……for those that travel to the USA and rely on travel insurance….I had a small claim denied because of the fine print that basically was even though my kid is an EU Citizen she instantly transformed into an American when we visited and because US Citizens must have ACA compliant coverage and they are not an ACA Compiant insurerer they could deny the claim.
@BC-Doc…..”P.S. My guess– just under a year for FATCA repeal, never on CBT. I do hope I’m wrong on my CBT guess.”
Excellent……positive thinking…..which you know is very important. 🙂 🙂
FATCA is easy to get rid of as I have argued since the election but its like “How does your family cook a turkey?” EVERY family has its own way to cook a turkey…..sigh……
I think we can also neuter FBAR because the Secretary Treasury has the authority to remove Nations so because Canada has robust money laundering laws….the USA does not need FBARS on accounts in Canada. He can also raise the filing threshold and index it with inflation.
Yes….CBT is the difficult goose to cook. Replacing it with RBT would be tricky thats why the RO proposal of TBT seemed brilliant because it could gain Democrat appeal. CBT changes would require Democrats onboard.
The OTHER thing we could get is;
1.) Amend the FEIE to the FIE…….see what I did there? That way it excludes pensions and alike……
2.) The Secretary on his own could also make the filing of an overseas tax return not required if you are below the FEIE or FIE amount.
“@Brockers……for those that travel to the USA and rely on travel insurance….I had a small claim denied because of the fine print that basically was even though my kid is an EU Citizen she instantly transformed into an American when we visited and because US Citizens must have ACA compliant coverage and they are not an ACA Compiant insurerer they could deny the claim.”
I would hope that you could argue that “American citizens who are bona fide residents of another country are presumed, under this law, to have minimal essential coverage.”
https://www.americansabroad.org/media/files/files/95e44394/healthcarelawextract.pdf
@Bubbles, I was going to argue but when I was shown the small print it was a definite gotcha clause. And as much as I hate to say this when Americaness gets exposing in the financial industry which the insurance industry is wrapped up in…….you just want to vanish without a sound into the night.
@Bubblebustin
All roads lead to renunciation!
@Brockers…..the biggest part of getting us out of FATCA, IGA land, FBARS and CBT is the nuts and bolts of how do you do it.
In regards to FATCA, IGAs, and FBARs…….we gained an important lesson on Friday with the first major Executive Order on Obamacare. Here is a link to the full text of the Executive Order and it can serve as a template on repeal of FATCA, abolishing the IGAs and bringing FBARs into the 21st Century.
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/trump-obamacare-executive-order/index.html
Ah yes, Nightingale. I remember him well (unfortunately). After he wrote this article in 2014 …
http://www.mnp.ca/en/media-centre/blog/2014/9/5/fatca-is-not-your-enemy
… I commented on Brock that, “Kevyn Nightingale sure ain’t no Florence, is he. He prefers bombs to balms. And FATCA is just that — a bomb tossed into every country outside the privileged place call the USA, designed to blow up competitive and weaker economies alike, no matter how much US citizen/person collateral damage occurs. There’s a reason that economic sanctions, which is what the 30% withholding threat amounts to, are considered to be an act of war.”
Just thought some might be interested in what Keith’s compliance condor stalker looks like (top photo in that article) and what advice he was hawking in the past.
http://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=30609
He’s no Canadian for sure. And should be exposed as a Canadian traitor.
George TOR, your comment about having your travel medical insurance claim denied is quite disturbing to me. Would you be able to elaborate? Does this “GOTCHA” clause apply to you anywhere in the world, just in the USA…what? What is the wording of this clause, and how many people would this cover? I’d like to be forewarned. Does anyone else have relevant input?
GTOR: The compliance industry is dangerous. That’s why this place is so useful to get informed and take charge. In my opinion tax preparers and various agents can be used to help navigate the field but one must keep control of the process and have the final say. One also needs to control the information they get. For instance nobody needs to know if a house is sold or an inheritance occurs.
Evidence against the advice is Boris Johnson. He got pursued.
Yet perhaps he was behaving as a U.S. resident with filing tax returns. There is a box on there do you own your home. One year ticked the next not? Then this may raise flags with the IRS.
So according to the advice, he should not started filing U.S. tax returns? He still could have gotten a U.S. passport without bothering to comply with U.S. tax laws?
Apologies, I have not read all the 100 comments.