FATCA Discussion Thread (Ask your questions) Part Two
Please ask your questions here about FATCA.
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NB: This discussion is a continuation of an older discussion that became too large for our software to handle well. See FATCA Discussion Thread (Ask your questions) for earlier discussion.
https://www.elance.com/j/fatca-consulting-bank-vietnam/53337450/
Vietnam needs personnel to help banks with FATCA compliance. John McCain is an expert, why shouldn’t he apply for the job?
I haven’t read it yet, but there is a new paper (fulltext available on SSRN) by Richard ‘Dick’ Harvey the FATCA-father:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2410846
‘Offshore Accounts: FATCA Background, Developments, and Key Issues
J.’ Richard (Dick) Harvey
Villanova University School of Law and Graduate Tax Program
March 24, 2014
Villanova Law/Public Policy Research Paper No. 2014-1006
The FATCA-father’s SSRN paper is sketchy, just a series of points, headings. It floors me that his footnotes/reference list points only to his own writings. This is ‘research’?
Some immediate thoughts:
Under ‘MISCELLANEOUS developments’) the FATCAfather notes the upward trend in expatriations (though without any evaluative comment.
“..US citizens abroad:
– FFIs refusing to do business with US citizens abroad
– Substantial increase in US citizens surrendering citizenship”
So there you are. Our suffering, those lining up to renounce/relinquish, and even those who are compliant abroad (and their families) who are denied local or any other banking, is a ‘miscellaneous development’.
@Mark Twain…
In 140 character tweet format… 🙂
Vietnam needs personnel to help banks with #FATCA compliance. @JohnMcCain is an expert, Shudn’t he apply for the job? http://bit.ly/1moOWcl
From Bangkok Post…
Is Fatca just for fat cats? US expats beware http://bit.ly/1jj94fQ
@Just Me – I wouldn’t share that BKK Post article except to point out that it’s a steaming pile of poo. 🙂 (I posted about it this morning.)
Anyhoo, I came by to share this new post (March 23) by someone who isn’t an unknown around here: Robert Morris.
FATCA: Why New Tax Haven Laws are a Disaster in the Making
Robert Morris is a member of the New York Bar, and has practiced corporate law for three years. He is also a U.S. expat.
Some Twitter-friendly excerpts (what a great idea!):
#FATCA helps U.S. export “‘too big to fail’ model of banking” http://shar.es/BmdrV @ANomadicView
“Don’t get the impression that [#FATCA] is a well thought-out piece of legislation” http://shar.es/BmdrV @ANomadicView
#FATCA blowback: “the rest of the world will remember how the US used its hegemonic power”. http://shar.es/BmdrV @ANomadicView
Under #FATCA the US “will go from being the largest tax haven in the world [..] to the only tax haven in the world.” http://shar.es/BmdrV
@Wren,
Funny , I just put Nomad’s post that Robert Morris guest hosted.. Nomad just emailed it was on
@Wren
Sorry I had not seen your post, but did respond to someone else that was tweeting it…
I think I tweeted this…
@MrScottEddy @iHeineken_ Looks like the writer has a vested interest to make money off FATCA compliance. But, Warnings are important!
and…
Is Fatca just for fat cats? US expats beware http://bit.ly/1jj94fQ #FATCA is another of Obama’s data collection regimes.
Like this Liberal who is NOW figuring it out…
@MrScottEddy @iHeineken_ In Obama’s America, ALL are Suspects. FATCA just another NSA style data collection regime. http://bit.ly/1jkUzqC via @Truthdig
and thanks for creating the tweets for me. I tweeted all those or variations. 🙂
I seem to think in 140 characters these days….
I never tweet. so I guess I miss things. I am just a texter…. not a tweeter..
@northernstar – Yes, I saw that. I received a tweet about the post from @ANomadicView. (And I tweet better than I text, much to my daughter’s annoyance.)
@Just Me – I saw that, too! You may have guessed my Twitter ID. I actually have a ‘Wren’ account over there but I can’t seem to get in the habit of using it. Regarding that BKK Post article – I actually got wind of it because an expat friend in Thailand emailed it to me, called it “an informative article”. This is why I get so angered by these self-serving tools who think it’s OK to dispense with the truth for their own personal gain. It hurts real people.
@Wren
I guess on the blog there is not tweet comments, just regular comments. I thought the article Robert Morris posted on Nomad’s blog very good. A real dose of reality. There will be no expats in a few decades, maybe sooner. America will have its fortress around it. It seems like it is turning into the old USSR…the iron curtain. But it will be the USSA. What a changing world..
@northernstar – Oh, yes. I’m pretty sure tweeting is reserved for Twitter (thank goodness). No expats in a few decades, building a fortress around itself – I admit, I hadn’t contemplated any of that until I read the article. The thought is ominous, isn’t it?
@Wren
I made my choice… Never going back… being only a Canadian citizen.
The article is truth.. My US History teacher in high school predicted that the country would implode in about 250 years from its beginning… That will be 2026.
@northernstar…
Your are missing out spreading the word about FATCA in a global market place of ideas and news. It is getting more active than the lonely days when I started long ago, but tweets as I have discovered are the way millions stay in touch with issues. They can become memes and spread like wild fire. Then of course, some just go out in the ether never to be seen or are quickly forgotten. However, a tweet is like bumper sticker on the Ethernet highway, but they are better as they are interactive and get repeated and spread. The more that tweet about the ill effects of FATCA to offset the FATCA Compliance Complex about why you MUST COMPLY, the better. And, frankly it is the easiest of all social media. Way easier than Linkedin or Facebook, So, give it a try, and I will follow and ReTweet (RT) you.
@Just Me
I don’t have an Iphone I have a very simple phone plan. I have 4 friends I phone usually on. 3 text. .
I live in the northern boonies . There is no one here who cares about FATCA… I don’t have a huge bunch of friends.
Perhaps when I go to the RH sessions I can look into tweeting with some training.
Here’s a “bonus” for all tweeters. All tweets (yes, every single one) is being stored in the US Library of Congress (not the Smithsonian too — that’s a myth) for … FOREVER! Yay?
http://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2010/04/how-tweet-it-is-library-acquires-entire-twitter-archive/
https://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/10TORONTO5_a.html
or the same in shortlink for twits
http://bit.ly/1grUO2j
Canadian Banking Association discussed #FATCA with US ambassador Jacobsen while legislation was in Congress
@northernstar
I don’t have a smartphone, or any mobile phone right now for that matter, and so don’t text, but do tweet via the computer. And you don’t need friends, you will develop followers over time who will re-tweet your observations, comments or links to articles, And the audience is not just the northern boonies, it is global like FATCA. Like I said, it is easy, so very easy, and it is something everyone with a passion or a cause can do., I trained Blaze and Bubblebustin. It took about 10 minutes…. Like I said, not hard.
@just me
Really!
Here I was thinking this is done on a phone. Well it is too late tonight. I am ready tomorrow to learn to tweet.
I am willing to learn.
@Northernstar…
If you ask Pacifica, she can send you my email, and we can discuss via email, or I can call you and give you a little tutorial, if you have difficulty figuring it out. Sometimes it helps to have a verbal big picture overview before you start..
http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/22/politics/michelle-obama-china/
‘Michelle Obama lauds study abroad as ‘citizen diplomacy’ ‘
By Tom Watkins, CNN
updated 12:20 PM EDT, Sat March 22, 2014
Americans and those of US National origin are advised by the First Lady to go abroad to study – and be good ‘citizen diplomats’ – while at the same time, the US via CBT, FBAR/Form114 and FATCA are just the quaint US way to say: “come right back to the mothership on pain of confiscation of your legal local assets; do not marry abroad, have families or even try to live permanently outside the US”.
First Lady Obama says”
“On her second full day of a week-long goodwill tour in China, Michelle Obama lauded study abroad as a key part of U.S. foreign policy and encouraged students from all walks of life to consider joining the growing corps of citizen diplomats such study fosters.
“I’m here today because I know that our future depends on connections like these among young people like you across the globe…..”
“”We believe that relationships between nations aren’t just about relationships between governments or leaders — they’re about relationships between people, particularly young people.”
“Immersion in another country’s culture does more than help a student’s job prospects, she said. “It’s also about shaping the future of your countries and of the world we all share”
“…time and again, we have seen that countries are stronger and more prosperous when the voices of and opinions of all their citizens can be heard.”…”…
And what of all the “citizen diplomats” who already were born and live abroad, but who are being forced by US policies to renounce and relinquish in order to survive and live normal lives outside the US? How many among us are no longer ‘goodwill ambassadors’ or ‘citizen diplomats’ for the US – directly due to the adamant refusal of the US President and his predecessors to listen to the “voices of and opinions of all their citizens……”?
And where will all those US students sent to study abroad bank in order to pay their rent and tuition and living expenses? I guess they won’t be studying in Switzerland – because thanks to FATCA, banks abroad are shunning Americans. And suddenly, one could find themselves filing massive amounts of IRS and Treasury forms to prove that one is only a broke student studying abroad with a necessary legal local chequing account – and not a money laundering tax cheat with a hidden ‘offshore’ bank account. Each US student abroad will have to decide – pay an expensive and scarce US tax specialist abroad to file their returns and financial reporting forms from outside the US, or spend that money on food and books and rent.
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140309172254436
“….The Institute of International Education, or IIE, last week launched a major Generation Study Abroad initiative that aims to double the number of American students overseas to 600,000 by the end of the decade. It said more than 150 higher education institutions had already committed to “specific, measurable actions” that would help the campaign reach its goal.
The New York-based institute explained at a launch last Monday that it had developed Generation Study Abroad “because the number and proportion of today’s students who graduate with an educational experience abroad is far too low. Currently, fewer than 10% of all United States college students study abroad at some point in their academic career.”
..”…”Obstacles to study abroad, according to the IIE, are ‘cost, curriculum and culture’. While cost was the major factor, “…”….
How did you eke all out on this subject? Very good and compelling road to go down, badger.
Perhaps Michelle Obama would listen to how her advice to America’s young persons makes them cannon fodder with the legislation enacted under her husband’s hand.
Message: Young students, just study for a while and then go home. Pass out IRS publication 54 are part of your diplomacy. Don’t make any money or save up to that ungodly amount of $10K and put in one of those terrible foreign banks. Just rush back to the homeland to get your entitlements and do your banking there with our Too Big To Fail banks, safe from any new sanctions Obama may wish to unleash on the world. .