Author Archives: Jefferson D. Tomas

This just out from Republicans Overseas:

Yesterday [29.12.2015] Mr. Bopp filed his 36-page Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. DOJ lawyers asked Judge Rose to dismiss our lawsuit.

Mr. Bopp argued the lawsuit is justiciable for three reasons: plaintiffs have standing, the Anti-Injunction Act does not bar plaintiffs’ claims, and plaintiffs Eight Amendment claims are ripe for adjudication.

Mr. Bopp further argued plaintiffs should be granted relief requested based on their claims for four reasons: the IGAs are unconstitutional sole executive agreements, reporting requirements violate equal protection for Americans living abroad, the challenged penalties violate the Excessive Fines Clause, and reporting requirements violate the Fourth Amendment.

Now we are waiting for Judge Rose’s ruling not only on this matter, but also on Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave Amend Complaint. We expect both rulings will be handed down in 2016. This only means our fight to defend 8.7 million overseas Americans’ constitutional rights continues. Happy New Year!

Link to Republicans Overseas Facebook Post (thanks to Keith Redmond): Mr. Bopp filed his 36-page Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss in the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio

The entire pleading may be downloaded here: Plaintiffs’ Memorandum in Opposition to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss

Related IBS posts about the “Bopp” lawsuit:
Judge Rose denies plaintiffs application for injunction in the Bopp FATCA Legal Action Lawsuit.

Finally the Bopp suit has arrived

And as a reminder, link to the FATCA Legal Action site if you would like more information or to donate towards the effort:
https://fatcalegalaction.com/

In this article, Jeff slams the Federal Council and proposes some fun exercises for Brockers…

Gentle readers beware.
Continue reading →

Probably many at IBS have read this article [ read the text, don’t wait for the video ]. May we find a way to respond?

And the naratrice speaks as if the changes are brand new… NOT

http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/10/pf/taxes/us-expat-kids-citizenship-tax/

I would like to post an article in French for all to read from one of the Swiss sponsors of the anti-FATCA referendum in Switzerland: [I do not represent any political party here] http://www.ligue-vaudoise.ch/index.php?nation_id=2750

http://www.admin.ch/opc/fr/classified-compilation/19995395/index.html

My opinion is that: Although the number of required signatures was not met to oppose FATCA in “optional” referendum, the FATCA treaty and the application law are invalid and unenforceable.

See the Swiss Federal Constitution:

Art. 2 But

1 La Confédération suisse protège la liberté et les droits du peuple et elle assure l’indépendance et la sécurité du pays.
….
Read a very long and well written bill of rights.
….

Art. 140 Référendum obligatoire

1 Sont soumises au vote du peuple et des cantons:
a.
les révisions de la Constitution;
b.
l’adhésion à des organisations de sécurité collective ou à des communautés supranationales; [EPHASIS MINE]
c.
les lois fédérales déclarées urgentes qui sont dépourvues de base constitutionnelle et dont la durée de validité dépasse une année; ces lois doivent être soumises au vote dans le délai d’un an à compter de leur adoption par l’Assemblée fédérale.
2 Sont soumis au vote du peuple:
a.
les initiatives populaires tendant à la révision totale de la Constitution;

…

Please have a look at:
RTS Article in French: McCain and Levin call for extradition of Swiss Bankers.

La lettre souligne que le traité d’extradition helvético-américain n’oblige pas la Suisse à extrader des citoyens ayant uniquement aidé à éviter les impôts. Le DoJ devrait cependant essayer d’obtenir la collaboration de la Suisse, réclament les sénateurs.

The letter emphasizes that the Swiss-American extradition treaty doesn’t oblige Switzerland to extradite citizens who only helped [some person/entity?] to avoid tax. The DoJ should nonetheless attempt to obtain the collaboration of Switzerland, insist the Senators.

Well, I don’t think the Senators have read the Swiss Federal Constitution.

If aforesaid “bankers” are Swiss citizens they cannot be extradited unless they consent.

Art. 25 Protection contre l’expulsion, l’extradition et le refoulement
1 Les Suisses et les Suissesses ne peuvent être expulsés du pays; ils ne peuvent être
remis à une autorité étrangère que s’ils y consentent.

Article 25 Protection against expulsion, extradition, refusal of entry at the border 1 Swiss [citizens] cannot be expelled from the country; they cannot be handed over to foreign authorites unless they consent.

Levin, McCain… are you inciting more treason on the part of the Swiss Federal Council? You should be ashamed of yourselves. Respect the Constitution of Switzerland as you should respect your own.

Despite much effort on the part of those in Switzerland who were aware of the FATCA threat, the referendum against the Swiss IGA and the unconstitutional Swiss Application Law did not obtain enough signatures Continue reading →

The Vaud League (cosponsor organisation for the Anti-FATCA Referendum) has a very telling article on its website entitled “FATCA Kesako ?”
Continue reading →

L’accord fiscal avec les Etats-Unis passe le cap du National

The taxation agreement on FATCA between Switzerland and the US that would prevent American taxpayers from avoiding the [IRS] was accepted Monday by the National Council [lower house of Parliament] by 112 to 51.

Accounts held in Switzerland by American taxpayers should no longer escape the IRS. By 112 votes to 51 and 21 abstentions, the National Council passed the FATCA agreement Monday. The bill returns to the Council of States [Senate] for a minor divergence regarding the [date?] of entry into force.

The American law called FATCA was to be in effect from next January. The agreement [IGA] and its [Swiss] enforcement law… was prepared in view of this [date]. In the meantime, Washington made it known that the new rules would be applicable only from July 2014.

Past not yet dealt with.

With this treaty, Switzerland should be able to put an end to the taxation conflict with the United States. But only for future taxation of American accounts.

In order to draw a line through the past, certain banks must await the verdict of the American court system, and others must resort to a program concocted by [Washington] which would essentially put them at risk for significant fines and [require] transmission of data to [the IRS].

My assumption here is that the Swiss enforcement law is being returned to the Senate in order to change the effective date to July 2014, but I am not certain. Please see text of the enforcement law and previous discussions here at IBS: Discussions on Swiss Senate Approval of FATCA and SIF page

Here are some direct links cited on aforesaid IBS post, dating back to the June approval of FATCA and Swiss enforcement law by the Senate:

Proposed Federal Law (French): Proposed Enforcement Law

Text of the IGA (English): IGA

Text of the IGA (French): IGA-French

Report (French): Report

What really upsets me is that we had heard in the news that the debate on FATCA would go to the lower house in November. Also, I am wondering if anyone in either house of the Swiss Parliament knows that a drive for repeal is under way. The RTS article does not mention bone fide residents of Switzerland or neighboring countries. Again, our plight is ignored by the press.

Please everyone, write to RTS and other Swiss news agencies to remind them of who this will affect.

——

Here is another article from Le Matin that goes into more detail, sorry no time to translate this morning: http://www.lematin.ch/suisse/L-accord-FATCA-passe-le-cap-du-Conseil-national/story/29090313

It is good to see that the mainstream press is covering the FBAR / VDP issues surrounding foreign retirement accounts:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/06/your-money/rules-aimed-at-tax-evasion-abroad-trip-up-average-americans.html

However, there is some misinformation, such as: “Americans who spend their entire career working abroad will probably not be eligible for much, if anything, from Social Security since they cannot contribute to it while working abroad.” This is not true if the country in question has a Social Security totalization agreement with the US. In such cases, it would be possible to draw Social Security benefits later in the US based upon what was paid in social security to the foreign country.

It does not appear to me that such foreign social security contributions are deductible under the Foreign Tax Credit. I believe that US Social Security contributions are (another form of discrimination). Mrs Serrato from ACA is quoted in the article as saying the same thing: “many wealth, social and value-added taxes in Europe were not eligible for credits or deductions on American taxes. ‘They could be a significant part of your foreign tax bill, but you can’t apply them to your U.S. taxes, so you just pay them,’ she said.” Yeah, right, just pay them… and give up the new refridgerator you need and cancel your vacation and your kid’s college.

What is lacking in the article is the extreme sense of outrage that many of us who are middle class and living abroad are feeling.

Please SWAT (Speical Writers and Theses) this article with comments. Thanks to Joe Smith for finding the comments page: http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/05/financial-lessons-for-american-expatriates/?comments#comments.

There are already numerous comments and it seems that people that are commenting really understand the issues… and I haven’t seen any hostile trolls there yet!

Also, I mentionned the article in this Maple thread: http://maplesandbox.ca/2013/aca-blasts-fatca/#comment-6097

Enough signatures have been collected for an initiative to force a vote to ensure that the Swiss National Bank:
1. Stops selling gold reserves.
2. Keeps 20% of its assets in gold (currently 10%).
3. Repatriates gold held abroad (including in the US).

Swissinfo Article in English

Gold Initiative Website (German)

The Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), the Christian Democrats (PDC), and the Liberal-Radical Party (PLR) are in the process of writing an initiative to anchor bank secrecy in the Constitution, with some exceptions for criminal investigations.

RTS Article in French