The inter-governmental agreement (IGA) between the USA and Canada which will enforce FATCA in Canada has an interesting line on page 27:

With respect to New Individual Accounts not described in paragraph A of this section, upon account opening (or within 90 days after the end of the calendar year in which the account ceases to be described in paragraph A of this section), the Reporting Canadian Financial Institution must obtain a self-certification, which may be part of the account opening documentation, that allows the Reporting Canadian Financial Institution to determine whether the Account Holder is resident in the United States for tax purposes (for this purpose, a U.S. citizen is considered to be resident in the United States for tax purposes, even if the Account Holder is also a tax resident of another jurisdiction) Continue reading →

Some of us have been invited to appear on Thatchannel‘s Liquid Lunch today.  Expect us at about 1:30 pm on the live stream.

UPDATE: Gwen, Peter Dunn and Tricia Moon spoke with Hugh Reilly and Sandra Kyrzakos. Here is the actual video, the actual segment begins at 1:27:50

John Richardson and Bahman Yazdanfar discuss citizenship issues with Peter W. Dunn and Trica Moon.  The topic at hand is:

“Should non-citizens be able to vote in 2014 Toronto municipal election?”

Don’t be too surprised when FBAR, FATCA and/or citizenship based taxation becomes part of the discussion.

The Inter-Governental Agreement between Canada and the United States (IGA), which will implement FATCA regulations in Canada, is sufficiently complex that it will take some time before Canadians come to grips with what rights our government has traded away and what safeguards are in place to protect, hopefully, the majority of us. While I am completely against the CRA trading the private banking account information of Canadian residents and citizens with the hostile government to our south run by President Obama and his band of merry thieves, who steal from the poor to give to the rich, I do believe that the vast majority of Canadian residents can protect themselves. We now have not only to navigate the treacherous waters of IRS threatening to fine us at multiples of our total financial wealth (up to 380%), we must also know how to deal with bank’s inquisition which will begin to question all Canadians: “Are you or have you ever been a US person?”

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The Windsor Star objects to the Harper government’s FATCA agreement with the United States.  Here is the money quote showing how the Tory government actually admits to capitulation:

In fact, when the Tax Compliance Act first surfaced just over two years ago, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was one of the strongest critics, pointing out that the proposal “has far-reaching extraterritorial implications. It would turn Canadian banks into extensions of the IRS and would raise significant privacy concerns for Canadians.”

What happened to “never surrender”?

The Star’s view: Ottawa shouldn’t be in bed with the IRS

Facebook comments are welcome at the Windsor Star.

Mr. Harper will expose innocent Canadians to the capricious and evil treatment of the IRS.  Just how bad is it?  The IRS is a criminal organization that regularly abuses elderly people, just like our beleaguered Canadian citizens whose bank accounts will now be exposed to the IRS under FATCA. Read what one insider has to say.  Powerline blog reproduces a letter by Bill Henck an IRS insider (emphasis mine):

Bill Henck: Inside the IRS

I have been an attorney in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel for over 26 years. Over a number of years, I have attempted, largely unsuccessfully, to alert the public to abuse within the IRS. One of my kids suggested that I contact a blog and Power Line has graciously agreed to publish this account.

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For at least two years now, people concerned about FATCA have pleaded with the media to stop treating them as tax cheats.  We are law abiding Canadian residents and Canadian citizens who pay all our taxes in Canada.  Yet the media continues to treat us as criminals.  This is a form of libel, to be sure.  But it is worse.  It is destroying our ability to get our message out:  We are law abiding but even the Canadian media treats us as shirkers and tax cheats.  Consider this headline by Barbara Shecter of the National Post:  Canada signs agreement to dull impact of U.S. crackdown on tax cheats.

This is journalistic incompetence at best; but at worst, it shows malice towards people of US National Origin. It is incompetence because it employs a logical fallacy, a common  propaganda tool called “Poisoning the Well“:

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I promised yesterday that I would write a post to discuss the usefulness of purchasing tangible assets in order to structure one’s finances and to keep one’s business out of the banks.  Here are some of the ideas I had:

1. Real estate
2. Precious metals
3. Food

If one is wealthy it is likely that the first two of these would be the most helpful.  Real estate is harder to steal. Real estate however is propped up by the banking system and is therefore in a likely bubble in Canada.

One must find a safe place for precious metals.  But precious metals, unlike real estate, is actually being oversold by the banking system through the paper markets in which large holders of gold like the US treasury and the Federal Reserve bank lease their gold to the bullion banks, who in turn sell it in the gold market to keep the prices artificially low.  This means that while the fundamentals for precious metals remains strong, the price continues to remain obstinately low.

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Please read and comment on this text:

Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada to Improve International Tax Compliance through Enhanced Exchange of Information under the Convention Between the United States of America and Canada with Respect to Taxes on Income and on Capital (pdf)