Author Archives: swisspinoy

TradeKing is a privately held discount brokerage firm with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and subsidiary offices in Charlotte, NC.  Its FAQ specifically states that its services are available to all Americans except for non-military personal who live in a particular country or part of the world.

US citizens living abroad
All customers including US citizens must be living in the USA to maintain a TradeKing account. Exceptions may be made for active military personnel stationed abroad.
TradeKing

The act of treating people unequally for living in a particular country or part of the world is listed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as being national origin discrimination.

National origin discrimination involves treating people (applicants or employees) unfavorably because they are from a particular country or part of the world.
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

EEOC states that it is illegal to discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person’s national origin

Under the laws enforced by EEOC, it is illegal to discriminate against someone (applicant or employee) because of that person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.
Prohibited Policies/Practices

So, Tradeking is illegally discriminating against Americans living abroad.  Yet, when I called the the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to inquire further, I got transferred around until I got transferred to an invalid number terminating my inquiry.

In the mean time, Americans living abroad are still being denied financial services inside and outside of America due to their national origin and as a result of US policy.  The image on the left was contributed to the Economic Policy Journal by one of its readers.

…Other people who come forward aren’t even sure they’ve done anything wrong.

Marvin Van Horn and his wife live in New Zealand, where they have a checking account and retirement savings. They weren’t intentionally hiding anything from the IRS. But he heard a story on the radio about offshore tax cheats — and realized that the rules might apply to him.

So he decided to go through the IRS’s voluntary disclosure program. He learned he would have to pay back taxes for six years, which came to about $20,000. That seemed fair, he said. But then there was the penalty: $172,000.

Van Horn says the penalty would have gutted his retirement savings. So he appealed. And after 851 days (he was counting), the penalty was reduced to $20,000.

There’s a spectrum in these cases, attorneys say. There are people who went to great lengths to hide money, people who didn’t know they were hiding money, and a lot of people in between.

One other thing about the 39,000 people have come forward so far: They’re probably a drop in the bucket. Somewhere between five and seven million U.S. citizens live abroad. Fewer than 1 million of them declare offshore accounts, as required by law.

NPR

I love the comments!  As for NPR, there is much room for improvement.  It could expand on this:

Lois Lerner, the senior executive in charge of the IRS tax exemption department and the federal employee at the center of the exploding scandal over the IRS targeting of conservative, evangelical and pro-Israel non-profits, was given $42,531 in bonuses between 2009 and 2011…  Her annual salary in 2009 and 2010 was $172,200, and $177,000 in 2011 and 2012. With the bonuses, Lerner was paid a total of $740,931 for the four-year period.

Washington Examiner

With scandals like that, it is no wonder that the US government needs to heavily fine the politically unrepresented!

By James M Bennett on 05/15/2013 in fair tax

We FairTax supporters have been contacted by two different gentlemen who are United States citizens who live abroad. One lives in Paris, and the other lives in Tokyo. Both support the FairTax. Why should six million US expatriates support the FairTax? And why does their support matter?

Expatriate Americans are unique in the world. United States citizens are subject to income taxation on their worldwide income even if they have no home in the United States.

This curious rule puts the United States in an exclusive club of countries. As best we know, the only other members are North Korea and the Philippines. One might understand the Philippines, who inherited our tax code when they became independent from us in 1946.

By contrast, a French citizen, or a Japanese citizen, who lives in the United States and who has no home in France or Japan has no income tax obligation to France or Japan. The French and Japanese expat, as well as the US expat, is subject to the full body of law of the host country.

Why then, should a US expat be required to file a federal tax return in addition to the return required by the host country? Is this requirement fair?

To be sure, there are provisions in the Internal Revenue Code to avoid technical double taxation. There is also a so-called “foreign earned income” exclusion of $95,100 (but that amount counts in pushing remaining income into higher tax brackets). However, the US expat gets the worst of both tax worlds.

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I might be misunderstanding this somehow, but does it imply that Americans living abroad are not entitled to a Foreign Earned Income Exclusion?

Corporations have used numerous and creative means to avoid their tax responsibilities. They have about a year’s worth of profits  stashed untaxed overseas. According to the  Wall Street Journal, about 60% of their cash is offshore. Yet these corporate ‘persons’ enjoy a foreign earned income  exclusion that real U.S. persons don’t get.

Source:

Ayn Rand USA: In 20 Years Corporate Profits Are Up 4X and Their Taxes Have Fallen by 50% — Meanwhile the Workers’ Payroll Tax Has Doubled
AlterNet

On this, Wiki writes:

 Citizens and residents living and working outside the U.S. may be entitled to a foreign earned income exclusion that reduces taxable income.

Dangerous FBAR’s and FATCA’s are known to slurk around in the wee hours of the morning outside of US jurisdiction.  To combat self-responsibility, all US persons and only US persons have now been prohibited from working late-night shifts or consuming local beverages which might encourage them to act independently.

MANAMA, Bahrain — A 1 a.m. curfew is now in force for all U.S. personnel, civilians and dependents in Bahrain, Navy officials announced Thursday.

Previously, curfew times varied depending on a servicemember’s rank. Dependents, civilians and contractors could stay out all night as long as they were with at least one other person.

The new policy retains a prohibition on public consumption of alcohol between midnight and 5 a.m.

Lt. Marissa Myatt, a U.S. Navy 5th Fleet spokeswoman, said the new policy simplifies and clarifies the previous regulations.

“It’s smart to get people off the streets,” she said. “Nothing good happens after 1 a.m.”

Source

“RT segment from April 15, 2013 in ‘honor’ of US income tax day. Features noted figures Jet Li and Eduardo Saverin, who recently quit their American citizenship for tax reasons. Freddi M. Weintraub, a tax attorney, provides insight into the law surrounding expatriation. Segment concludes with an interview with Mike Gogulski (me), who renounced his US citizenship in 2008 for political reasons and has lived without any nationality since — a stateless person.”

nostate.com

Another individual made the mistake of wanting to work in America.  Bad idea.

By Nick Greenizan – Peace Arch News
Published: May 03, 2013 8:00 AM

George wants to go home.

Home to his fiancée and her 14-year-old son in Blaine, Wash.; and home to all his possessions, currently packed and awaiting transfer to Ohio, where he and his new family were planning to move last month to start a new life.

Instead, for the better part of three weeks, home for the 45-year-old Ontario native –  who asked to be identified only by his first name – has been the backseat of his Acura TL, which he’s been living in with his dog since being denied re-entry into the United States on April 16, a day after the Boston Marathon bombings.

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My favorite part of the article is the talk about the job title:

and told me they were not approving my TN visa, and that he didn’t really think I was a computer-systems analyst,” George explained. “He’d looked at my resumé and nowhere was that job title listed – it was always something similar, like application developer or software developer. But it’s all the same thing.”

It’s all the same.  Depending upon the situation or who I talk to, my job title could be computer-systems analyst, software analyst, application developer, software developer, software engineer, computer specialist, information technology, database administer, solutions architect, programmer, technical supporter, web developer, business information developer, etc.  The line between what one does and how it is called is not very clear and the more experience that one has working in other areas, the better.

By the way, last week on a week vacation, I drove 5 times into France, 5 times into Italy, once to Monaco and once to Switzerland with nothing but an expired Swiss id card which I used to check into the hotel and for a few other things.  Yet, nobody cared.  It’s not America.

Die Auslandamerikaner sind erbost

Bernerzeitung – Jon Mettler – 30.04.2013 11:05

I attempted a quick translation of the the latest news.  Please excuse spelling mistakes or other errors:

Americans Abroad are Furious

The strengthened US tax laws are heavily burdening Americans in Switzerland.  They are reporting the serious consequences this is having on their jobs and family lives.  Now, this is inciting resistance.

The nerves of many Americans in Switzerland are on the edge.  The reason is the hardened move by the USA against tax cheats.  Two abbreviations are causing the hair of Americans living abroad, also called Expatriates or short Expats, to stand up: FATCA and FBAR.

FATCA and FBAR

The FATCA-law is the same as an automatic exchange of information (see box).  The FBAR-report demands from US citizens that they expose foreign accounts with more than 10000 dollars.  This includes business accounts with spouses of a different nationality.  Americans also have to report foreign bank connections for which they have signature access, even when they have no direct beneficiaries of these accounts.

What Fatca and FBAR actually cause, is seen with the following examples in Switzerland:  A private banker with a Swiss and US passport got fired by his employer.  The man is convinced that such is related to his US citizenship because he reported the accounts of his clients to the IRS over which he had signature access.  With such, he violated banking secrecy and Swiss laws.

Facing the divorce

An American who lives together in Switzerland with her Italian husband is going through a divorce.  Her husband is not willing to allow the US government see their shared banking connections.  She is also burdened with the uncertainty of having correctly declared her financial data in the past.  Now, she fears punishment from the US tax authorities on their joint account.

A third American reported that his bank account got cancelled.  He lives and works in Switzerland.  Yet, he needs a local bank account to pay his bills and mortgage.  Other expats feel restricted in their profession or fear returning to the US.

Those involved fear being openly named.  Too great is the fear of being targeted by the US tax authorities.  One exception is Edward Karr.  He is Co-president of Republicans Switzerland, president of American International Clubs in Geneva and financial adviser of his own company.  “This is how far we are now.  The US authorities are ensuring that simple Americans fear speaking openly with journalists”, said the 44 year old.  Karr also experienced the rigorous methods of the US-fiscus.  As the holder of a simple salary account by a large Swiss bank, he gets redirected to a special counter for US citizens whenever he wants something from the bank.

Karr is unhappy about the situation facing his fellow countrymen abroad.  He created a working group for Americans abroad which listens to the concerns of 20000 to 24000 estimated expats.  At the end of 2012, the working group led in Bern, Basel, Zürich, Genf, Lausanne and Lugano citizen meetings.  These so-called “Town hall meetings” were very emotional, reported some present.  US ambassador, Donald Beyer, was confronted with fear, anger, panic, uncertainty and feelings of betrayal.

Damaged national pride

Expats fail in understanding why their own nation practices general suspicion of tax evasion – while they view themselves as being good national representations. That continuously more dual citizens in Europe are abandoning the US pass, strongly targets the national pride of Americans abroad.

The working group further wrote a report on its recognitions and recommendations.  The most important demands are:  The USA needs to abolish citizenship-based taxation.  Instead, it needs to tax based on residency.  Furthermore, Americans living abroad need representation in Washington and an ombudsman service.

The working group wrote in September 2012 to every individual member of US congress in Washington, to raise their awareness of the miserable situation expats are in.  The reaction from the capital was limited.  “There were a few responses, written from the student workers in the parliament”, said Karr.  As a result, he changed his strategy.  The working group is now focusing on winning the favor of the the US economy.  US tax law has also made it increasingly irritating and burdensome for US corporations to employ Americans abroad.  Karrs calculation is simple:  politicians are more likely to be bent in the lobby-dominated Washington when they are pressured by US corporations and thereby exposed to money.  Karr also has high hopes in social networking on the internet.  His dream is to connect Americans abroad through Facebook and Twitter.  This would, in his view, also increase the pressure.  “The weapons lobby, NRA, has 4.5 million members and is one of the most influential groups in America.  There are around 7 million Expats.  If we work together then Washington won’t be able to ignore us”.

Times are changing.

US banker proud to become Chinese national:  “I am very proud to say I have become Chinese,” says Marshall Nicholson, a veteran American investment banker in Hong Kong

The rise of China has not only transformed the global landscape of the financial industry, but it has also changed an American banker’s nationality.

Some in Hong Kong’s financial community were surprised by an e-mail from one of the most veteran investment bankers in the city on Tuesday night. Marshall Nicholson, a managing director in charge of investment banking in Hong Kong for China International Capital Corporation (CICC) told his colleagues and friends that he had officially renounced his United States citizenship and would soon receive a HKSAR passport.

“I am very proud to say I have become Chinese,” said Nicholson in the e-mail, which was seen by the South China Morning Post and spread quickly in the local banking world on Tuesday night.

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