FATCA and Australia – Part 1 of 2

1,187 thoughts on “FATCA and Australia – Part 1 of 2”

1. Interesting

   Let us ANZACS work together keep checking FATCA and New Zealand also

   http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/fatca-and-new-zealand/comment-page-1/#comment-6761871

   Innocente says
   October 22, 2014 at 5:34 am
   A USC in Australia is reporting that he could not open a “Virgin Saver Account”, a product of Citibank, due to his American citizenship:

   “I tried to open a Virgin Saver account and couldn’t get past the first page because of this declaration:

   “I state that I’m not a US Citizen/person for the purpose of US Federal Income Tax”

   Low and behold in the terms and conditions http://virginmoney.co…­ (page 34 section 11.2):

   11.2 You will be asked to certify under penalties of perjury that:
   (1) you are not a citizen or resident of the United States of America (USA); and
   (2) you have not been, nor do you expect to be present in the USA for a period aggregating 183 or more days during any calendar year.”

   http://www.meetup.com/americans-in-melbourne/messages/boards/thread/47863012/

2. from a NZer to Parliament

   http://www.parliament.nz/resource/en-nz/50SCFE_EVI_00DBHOH_BILL12926_1_A377275/ed36ce96eca9b51dc91293d2f03dd6591575eeaa

3. Some interesting facts about the current IRS environment:

   45% of overall IRS leadership has left since October 2011

   25% of the IRS workforce will be eligible to retire in 2016

   40% of the workforce will be eligible to retire in 2019

   More than 50% of the IRS workforce are age 50+

   The total IRS workforce is approximately 87,000 employees, 13,000 less than in 2010 and the IRS expects to lose 3,000 full-time employees in the upcoming fiscal year.

   According to the National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS training budget has been slashed by 80% since 2010, leaving agents less equipped to perform their jobs appropriately.

   The IRS receives more 100 million telephone calls and 10 million letters per year.

   http://www.americansoverseas.info/news/what-happens-at-the-irs

4. The Guardian notes that Johnson, in his capacity as mayor of London, has criticized the U.S. Embassy for not paying the city’s congestion charge. The U.K. government says U.S. Embassy owes the city about $12 million, but the Embassy says the charge is a tax from which its diplomats are immune.

   http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/11/21/365690481/london-mayor-boris-johnson-owes-irs-money-wont-pay

5. He ended up paying, JakDak. No indication he’s actually renounced though.

   http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/02/15/savvy-london-mayor-boris-johnson-paid-irs-is-now-renouncing-u-s-citizenship/

6. FATCA Scam Targets Foreign Investors in US Securities

   http://www.nestmann.com/watch-out-for-these-3-offshore-scams?inf_contact_key=6c254feb59c1ebc385fb3a9a5acfc197bc65239d189e99bb7b0e07205e829be2#.Vi_tqX-qqko

7. Potential new angle:

   Four Australian Tax Experts who will speak at an International Conference on Taxpayer Rights in DC sponsored by the IRS Taxpayer Advocate.

   http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/10/30/international-conference-on-taxpayer-rights-washington-dc-november-18-19-2015/

   They are listed on this page: http://www.taxpayerrightsconference.com/speakers/

   No doubt they are in position to influence tax policy in Australia and have/will soon have some familiarity with US tax right injustices against US persons living in Australia.

8. Taxpayers may get a bill of rights, better compensation schemes post review

    http://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/taxpayers-may-get-a-bill-of-rights-better-compensation-schemes-post-review-20151101-gkoayj.html#ixzz3qLDr8DZE 

   http://www.brw.com.au/p/professions/taxpayer_bill_inspector_rights_general_R4jyTdHDSys1XSMupURO2K

   It comes as there’s heightened concerns about taxpayers’ rights in cross-border information exchanges between revenue authorities, particularly in light of recent measures to stop multinational profit shifting.

9. Charl says
   November 3, 2015 at 8:41 am
   @ALL PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE

   Post a question at the Maddow site. This is such a golden opportunity and there are few questions on the CBT/FUCTA issue posted. (This is not a FB based site. Anyone can post a question.)

   http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/rachel-maddow-on-submitting-forum-questions-557433923632?cid=sm_fb_maddow

10. Facebook 7 News Melbourne

    Let them know our plight

    MKR’s favourite Texan Robert Murphy PLEASE feature as an American he HAS to pay US tax on his house and Super USA is the ONLY Westernized country to have CITIZEN based tax also producer of the Drum and Aussie Ministers and wifes see http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/fatca-and-australia/comment-page-1/
    FATCA and Australia
    Posts on The Isaac Brock Society website concerning FATCA and Australia For articles on other websites, see Media and Blog Articles For general discussion of FATCA, see FATCA Discussion Thr…
    isaacbrocksociety.ca
    8:23AM

    Hi Jak, thanks for getting in touch.
    I’ll pass this on. Thanks.
    Chat Conversation End

11. Interesting clip
    http://expatsradio.com/publications/tina-turner-becomes-swiss

12. Submission made by ACA to Congress on Passport Revocation

    ACA has written to Congress (November 2015) to strongly oppose the inclusion of the Passport Revocation Provision in current legislation. ACA urges Congress not to act on this provision until it has held hearings and explored alternative ways to solve any perceived tax collection problems. ACA will continue to monitor this issue and advocate on behalf of Americans overseas on this issue. See our letter to members of Congress
    Last Updated November 7, 2015

    https://americansabroad.org/issues/representation/submission-made-aca-congress-passport-revocation/

13. Interesting

    Pensioner:
    26 Jun 2015 9:27:03am
    If you have dual nationality, you are already governed by laws you don’t know about.

    Australia has reciprocity agreements re pensions with a number of countries. If you worked in another country before you immigrated to Australia, you can find that the Australian government requires you to apply for the age pension both in Australia and your former country.

    More than that, you will be required to prove that you were actually in Australia during the years you’ve been living and working here and paying taxes.

    Try doing that when you’ve lived in Australia for almost 40 years and you didn’t know you should save every scrap of information — like the flight number of the airplane you arrived on all those years ago.

    The idea is that your former country should share the cost of your pension. It may be a piddling amount, but you now get to deal with two bureaucracies for the rest of your life. You may or may not get any extra money out of it, but Australia will be able to deduct something from the pension you earned here.

    As far as I know, you can’t even get out of this by renouncing your original citizenship.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-25/bradley-how-you-could-lose-your-citizenship/6572382

14. The agreement Australia has with the US is likely the very same as the one with Canada for US Social Security. This link gives the details, all of which MAY be doable with Australian employment and tax records??? https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/austrlia.html

    Other than that, the article sounds eerily like Canada’s Bill C-24. Our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, though, says *A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian*. See: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/11/09/plaintiffs-legal-team-ask-attorney-general-and-minister-of-national-revenue-to-clarify-intentions-re-defence-of-fatca-iga-lawsuit-by-november-30-2015/. It’s a slippery slope wherever that kinds of legislation comes into play.

15. Many long term “old timers” who came out early and may want to move to America as a retiree NO Medicare

    the agreement does not cover Medicare benefits. As a result, we cannot count your credits in Australia to establish entitlement to free Medicare hospital insurance

    What the ——

    https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/austrlia.html#medicare

16. Republican debate on now
    http://www.foxbusiness.com/live-coverage/fox-business-network-wall-street-journal-gop-debates

17. The FATCA information transmitted by the ATO concerned over 30,000 US-owned financial accounts

    http://blogs.angloinfo.com/us-tax/2015/10/01/australia-sends-fatca-information-to-irs-more-global-cooperation-lies-ahead/

    Australia each of the major banks have at least 30,000 accounts that display some US indicia
    http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/bill_em/tlaotfab2014510/memo_0.html

18. a US tax lawyer states Super is NOT US Taxable

19. Australia only succeeded to locate 30,000 of those US citizens / cost the country about $482,680,000

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Account_Tax_Compliance_Act

    Australia: The government of Australia has estimated[55] that locating approximately 77,000 resident US citizens (54% of whom are of dual citizenship) would cost the country about $482,680,000. That cost would equal approximately 6,270 AUD per resident US citizen, or about 20.2 AUS per capita. The same analysis showed that costs without the IGA ($1.066 billion AUS) would have been 4,4l6 AUS per capita, or 13,800 AUS per resident US citizen. This is the only published non-IGA country cost identified.[citation needed] Australia only succeeded to locate 30,000 of those US citizens (39% effectiveness) in its first FATCA submission to USA.[56] It was determined that each located US citizen bank account averaged 160,000 AUS.

20. @JakDac

    When do I find out if I have been Fatca’d? I have several bank accounts. I am sure many people have more than one account. So is that 30,000 the number for bank accounts or actual “US persons”? Does the number only included only residents of the US with Australian bank accounts or Australian residents with US taint or both? I use ATM’s a lot. I have not mentioned in any bank that I was born in the US. I try to avoid going inside banks like the plague.

21. I question if you are a dual theey have your US info

22. Oh yes I wish I had $160,000 in my bank accounts.

23. Interesting re : cook-v-tait

    https://renounceuscitizenship.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/does-cook-v-tait-really-mean-that-citizenship-based-taxation-is-constitutional-in-all-cases/

24. @JakDac, All

    I was born in the US. I have not been asked by my bank. I also avoid going in to the bank.

    Has anyone in AUS received a letter from bank or FATCA?

25. @au – I was born in the U.S. too. I have not gotten a letter from the bank although my “bank relationship manager” keeps trying to book a meeting with me. I keep postponing it.

    I heard that everyone with Commonwealth Bank got a letter. No discrimination.

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