Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

Further to my post about commenting in general entitled Announcement March 31st, some specific points on repetitious commenting:

Going back and forth on a point doesn’t advance discussions and, after enough rejoinders, other readers tend to tune it out.  Repetitious comments made by a person or persons in a short period of time can be particularly problematic when a person replies, saying basically the same thing again, to every comment made in reply to their initial comment.

Such comments provide only redundant information and redundant thoughts/ideas while making a thread difficult to read efficiently.  Some people suddenly learn of a problem with their real or alleged US citizenship and are in distress and need information f-a-s-t.  As well, exchange of thoughts and ideas is hampered by repetitious and circular discussion.  Please bear this in mind when commenting.

Continue reading →

Karen Alpert (Australia), John Richardson (Canada), Larry Stern (Israel) and Leonard Tuber (Israel) will discuss “territorial vs. citizenship-based taxation, their many advantages and disadvantages, and the myriad of challenges and questions posed by the US’s use of this type of tax system,” Monday 3 June 12:00 BST (11:00 UTC / 07:00 EDT).

You can submit questions at the TaxLinked site.  For more information and/or to submit a question, click here.

A debate/discussion on Citizenship And Worldwide Taxation: Is It Morally Justified Or Unjustified? between John Richardson and Edward Zelinsky will take place Friday May 17, 2019,  14:00 EDT (18:00 UTC), hosted by TaxConnections, live on YouTube.   It will run for an hour-and-a-half.  

CBT is morally unjustified:  John Richardson (Lawyer, Citizenship Solutions, Toronto, Canada)

CBT is morally justified: Edward Zelinsky (Law Professor, Cardozo School of Law, New York, USA)

Click here for full information, to see the questions which have been submitted, to pre-register, and/or to submit questions   (P.S.: Note at the bottom of this page videos of people who we know.)

The United States Imposes A Separate And Much More Punitive Tax On U.S. Citizens Who Are Residents Of Other Countries, John Richardson, TaxConnections.

 TaxConnections and CitizenshipSolutions Posts by John Richardson, Laura Snyder and Edward Zelinski written after this event was announced: Continue reading →

https://youtu.be/3YMTAZBe6cA

Jordan Peterson accuses the government of preying on the weak, those who can easily become addicted to gambling and thus provide revenue for government coffers. In the meantime, gambling exacts an untold price upon the health of society. The government in Canada thus plays the role of organized crime in administering a vice that makes victims of the weak. We see from this that we should not look upon the government as a benevolent entity, but as a threat to our well-being.

Similarly, the IRS and compliance condors prey on the weak.  On Dec 15, 2012, at the FATCA Forum organized by John Richardson, I argued that the Canadian government’s stance, that it would not collect FBAR fines, meant that those of us affected by the threat of the IRS draconian FBAR fines would have to stand up for ourselves–we had to be Clint Eastwoods–and that left the IRS to prey upon the weak and vulnerable residents of Canada who feared what the IRS could do to them if they failed to enter the OVDP/OVDI, i.e., the last, best chance for people to get right with God. When innocent benign actors (the non-Clint Eastwoods) entered the ODVP, the IRS exacted many LCU (“life credit units”) and made their lives hell.

Remember to gamble responsibly. That’s the government’s message. And when it comes to the IRS, you are on your own.

Brock Pub is where you can ask your questions or make somewhat off-topic comments.

US Supreme Court Rules Unanimously Against Excessive Fines

The excessive fines clause doesn’t prevent the federal government from actually threatening to fine you in multiples of your actual financial worth (in the case of FBAR, over 383% of your financial accounts). I’ve not seen FBAR fines applied at the rate of 300% but that doesn’t stop the IRS from threatening it. I called it a bluff. They would scare the crap out of you so that you would enter a voluntary disclosure program where you voluntarily handed over 25+% of your wealth.

A Wisconsin cruise ship passenger faces years in Cayman Islands prison after a gun was found in her luggage

A lot of Americans are apparently unaware that you shouldn’t put guns or ammo in your luggage if you are travelling to other countries.

California gas station clerk fired after ranting against woman speaking Spanish

An American gas station attendant loses her job after being rude to a bilingual woman speaking Spanish and asks her to prove that she was born in the USA. Apparently she is unaware that California used to be part of Mexico. I.e., Spanish speakers were there slightly before Trump supporters.

And a Canadian bonus:
Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott kicked out of Liberal Party caucus

King Justin has kicked out JWR from caucas, hoping that Canadians actually believe it is less unethical to lie than it is to expose lies with an undisclosed voice recording.

Republicans Overseas is hosting an event, with House bill co-sponsor Congressman George Holding, Solomon Yue and John Richardson on the Taxation Fairness for Americans Abroad Act bill, London, England, 24 April 2019.

“There is a bill to fix citizenship-based taxation for Americans! Come learn all about it from its sponsor, Representative George Holding!

Representative George Holding (R-NC) will be walking us through his bi-partisan bill that introduces residence-based taxation for all American expatriates, titled Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad Act. This could mean the end of filing income taxes for non-US residents. He will discuss the ins and outs of his legislation, and how together we can get it across the finishline!

Solomon Yue, Global CEO of Republicans Overseas, will be here again to discuss the global grassroots efforts and necessary action items for the expatriate community.

John Richardson, Canadian tax lawyer of Citizenship Solutions, will be joining us again to explain why he endorses this legislative solution from a professional perspective.

. . . . “

Full details and registration at the EventBrite site.

There has been a lot of dissatisfaction expressed in recent months, on the site and in e-mails to the moderators, regarding irrelevant/off-topic comments. It’s also important that Brock provides a place for people to express their thoughts.  To strike a balance, we have installed a “move comment” function, with which we can move a comment to a different thread.

This should help keep things more focused while, at the same time, the person’s comment still appears on the site and discussion can ensue without overwhelming the original, unrelated, thread.

Moving a comment from one thread to another keeps both threads more useful to persons seeking help or information or simply having a coherent discussion on a topic.

We do not intend to eliminate thread drift from the site, just to keep certain threads focused, such as a post that deals with a project or a post focused on a specific type of information but someone posts a comment way off-topic; say, consulate problems on the FATCA thread.

Many topics overlap a lot, so don’t expect perfection — and every one of us undoubtedly has a different sense of just where “on-topic” ends and “off-topic” begins (can’t please everyone all of the time), so you may still see some comments you feel are out of place but to a lesser degree.

Thread drift is inevitable on a site that values sharing of ideas and opinions.  It can be pesky and annoying, but sometimes it’s a good thing which expands discussion; and exchanging thoughts is important part of the Brock community.  We don’t want to quench that!  But this should keep parts of the site on target.