Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 5 of 11 (Year 2018)

You can access all years at this link: Media and Blog Articles – Links for All Years

If clicking on a link brings you to the wrong page in the comment stream, click here to get to the most recent comments.

Media and Blog Articles

EmBee suggested that it would be good if there was a thread for new articles, so that people would be aware of where to comment.   So, I created this permanent page.   I’ll make a permanent list of links posted here and keep adding to it,  but not deleting, so we’ll end up having sort of a  “bibliography” of FATCA/CBT articles.  [Note:  Some articles are not open for comments]

For more articles on FATCA, enter FATCA into Google then click on the link “more news for fatca” just below the most recent featured article.

Notes:

From JC:   To see #FATCA on Twitter for latest breaking news.  JC finds that is quite a good source and there even are some international articles that one may read using Google Translate.   Others may help certain tweets and articles remain in elevated position by retweeting them.

From Badger:   On an important archival note, please use the Internet Archive Wayback machine https://archive.org/web/ (see bottom right ‘Save Page Now’ box to enter URLs of webpages you want saved for posterity, and try to save backup copies of articles and other items of interest in some other form – such as a datastick or external drive. Some important and very significant webpages and the fulltexts of articles are no longer available (although some can be retrieved if someone using the Wayback machine saved them).

Be sure to read the comment stream for this thread — there are usually very recent articles mentioned

2018.12.23
New bill could lessen tax woes for Canadian residents with US citizenship: but the outlook is bleak for thousands grappling with Trump’s repatriation tax, Elizabeth Thompson, CBC News, Canada.
2018.12.21
Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad Act of 2018!  Let’s Get This Passed! Anthony Parent, John Richardson, Keith Redmond, IRS Medic. US.
TTFI bill introduced today, great news for Americans living in Canada, Reddit Forum.
FATCA: Significant Relief in New Proposed Regulations, Jeremy Naylor, Amanda H. Nussbaum and Martin T. Hamilton, Mondaq.
2018.12.20
Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad Act, Democrats Abroad.
2018.12.19
TCJA and US Expats, Karen Alpert, Fix the Tax Treaty, Australia.
2018.12.18
Why Banks Have Become Judge, Jury & Prosecutor and will Shut you Down Judged Guilty for Nothing That is Actually Illegal, Patriot Rising.
20`18.12.17
IRS Issues Proposed FATCA Regulations, Adrienne M. Baker, Joseph A. Riley and Jeff J. Kang, Lexology.
2018.12.13
IRS Issues Proposed Regulations on FATCA, Other Reporting Conditions, ABA Banking Journal, US.
2018.12.11
How the IRS as Gutted, Paul Kiel and Jesse Eisenger, ProPublica, US.
2018.12.08
December 2018 International Tax Reform Updates- FATCA -GILTI – TTFI, Anthony Parent interviews Keith Redmond and John Richardson, IRS Medic. (video)
2018.12.05
Explaining GILTI – Individual Impact, Karen Alpert, Fix the Tax Treaty, Australia.
2018.12.03
Luxembourg: Exchange Of Information Vs Data Protection: A Brave New World Of Transparency, Antoine Dupuis and Guilles Sturbois, Mondaq.
2018.12.00 (December 2018 edition)
EU parliament versus FATCA, Financier Worldwide.
Newsletter, Purple Expat.

 Articles from earlier in 2018 are in the Media and Blog Articles 2018 Archive.  Links to previous years’ archives are also at that link.

1,714 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 5 of 11 (Year 2018)”

  1. I mean that there are no alternatives. At this point, gaining JCship would require me to stop working and study, which would preclude me from gaining JCship as they do not like to give this to the unemployed.

    Can not continue staying as a USC as I do need to renew my passport. I have not filed a US tax return for many years. This will eventually become a huge problem when applying for passport renewal.

    Can not file a US tax return as I simply do not have the time. I am skipping meals and sleep busy without filing US tax and info returns.

    “With a view to moving to the US? Or remaining in Japan?”

    Remaing in Japan but feely traveling between the US and Japan. People all over the world are still wanting a US passport. They don’t know and do not believe the hazards that come with one. Even today, they just don’t know.

  2. “At this point, gaining JCship would require me to stop working and study, which would preclude me from gaining JCship as they do not like to give this to the unemployed.”

    What would you be studying? Would this be for language, or a “life in Japan” type of test? Or for a vocational qualification?

    “Can not continue staying as a USC as I do need to renew my passport. I have not filed a US tax return for many years. This will eventually become a huge problem when applying for passport renewal.”

    This is not a realistic fear. The US isn’t trying to force non-filing USCs to come back to America; what would be the point? They’re after US-resident USCs who do file, ought to pay, could pay, but don’t pay.

    “Can not file a US tax return as I simply do not have the time.”

    Not filing is extremely unlikely to cause IRS problems; there’s millions of US expats that never file.

    I don’t know whether non-compliance might cause problems on the Japanese end. I would say, that’s the question to focus on – not the IRS. Assuming you do hope for Japanese citizenship.

    “Remaing in Japan but feely traveling between the US and Japan. People all over the world are still wanting a US passport. They don’t know and do not believe the hazards that come with one. Even today, they just don’t know.”

    A US passport is extremely good value, for expats who can avoid (or make the most of) the tax laws and avoid (or put up with) the reporting.

    Your children should be fine, since they weren’t born in the US.

  3. “What would you be studying? Would this be for language, or a “life in Japan” type of test? Or for a vocational qualification?”

    Mainly language. Ironically, my Japanese was far better 20 years ago when I returned than it is now.

    ““Can not continue staying as a USC as I do need to renew my passport. I have not filed a US tax return for many years. This will eventually become a huge problem when applying for passport renewal.”

    “This is not a realistic fear. The US isn’t trying to force non-filing USCs to come back to America; what would be the point? They’re after US-resident USCs who do file, ought to pay, could pay, but don’t pay”

    I have seen nothing that allows the law to not be applied to all though to owe. It is a one size fits all for those though to owe over $50,000. And, there is that fact that for other 20 years there is one or more people living under my name in the US. Can’t believe that they have been modle citizens.

    “Not filing is extremely unlikely to cause IRS problems; there’s millions of US expats that never file.”

    True, but that was before State and Treasury started comparing notes and before FATCA.

    “A US passport is extremely good value, for expats who can avoid (or make the most of) the tax laws and avoid (or put up with) the reporting.
    Your children should be fine, since they weren’t born in the US.”

    And yet the “Renouce and rejoice” mantra. Nah, not going to be fine. The data exchange alone exposses them to a whole universe of issues in the future, especially employment and marrige wise. Education too, if the wheels turn fast enough. Hell, I’d bet that my wife and all other residents of Japan with Katakana family names are already being reported to the IRS regardless of nationality. The different writing systems are a convient way of filtering out the non “true” Japanese. A fine filter too, that catches some true Japanese as well as the truely non Japanese.

  4. “Not filing is extremely unlikely to cause IRS problems; there’s millions of US expats that never file.”

    True, but that was before State and Treasury started comparing notes and before FATCA.

    No – it’s still the case. Most expat USCs still aren’t filing, and an unknown number of those who do file are only telling the IRS what they want the IRS to know or have reason to think the IRS already knows.

  5. “And yet the “Renouce and rejoice” mantra”

    But no one is trying to make you renounce and rejoice.

    There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and there are no guarantees.

    Renunciation Day was definitely an occasion for celebration for me, but that’s more about my long-standing, very critical, view of America, rather than anything to do with FATCA. I should have renounced long ago; at last I did, and rejoiced in the cleansing. 🙂

  6. “No – it’s still the case. Most expat USCs still aren’t filing, and an unknown number of those who do file are only telling the IRS what they want the IRS to know or have reason to think the IRS already knows.”

    As this is the first year passport revocation letters have been sent out, premature to make the above statement.

  7. “And yet the “Renouce and rejoice” mantra”

    But no one is trying to make you renounce and rejoice.”

    I should have chosen the “All roads lead to renounciation” bit.

  9. “I agree that there are other roads in addition to the one that leads to renunciation.”

    Still trying to find one that does not lead to destruction. Damned hard, given the data already shared and the fact that I have an evil twin or twins out there.

  10. Just received in my email in box from Wealthmanagement.com

    Pay Your Taxes or Lose Your Passport

    “U.S. taxpayers who have moved to a high tax jurisdiction, such as the United Kingdom, Australia or Canada and who file and pay the requisite tax in those jurisdictions, can find themselves in the crosshairs of the FAST Act. Calculating whether a taxpayer has a “seriously delinquent tax debt” of over $50,000 (indexed for inflation) could be computed initially without taking into account applicable deductions or foreign tax credits available for foreign income tax paid to their country of residence (non-U.S.). Such a taxpayer could find themselves holding a revoked passport, despite the fact that they would not have owed any tax to the U.S. government had they properly filed U.S. tax returns.”

    “These two factors, namely the use of a “gross” tax liability standard and imperfect notification standards, make it all the more likely that an unsuspecting traveler, who would have owed nothing had he filed U.S. tax returns or been able to respond to an initial IRS notice, ends up learning of his amassing tax liability only when his U.S. passport is stripped from him, leaving him stranded and unprepared for an extended stay in the U.S. or abroad, if necessary.”

    “The taxpayer must either: (1) wire money to the IRS if they have access to liquid assets, (2) arrange an installment agreement to pay the tax owed over a course of time, or (3) stay in the U.S. and litigate whether the IRS assessment is correct. In the first two options, the Secretary of State is not required to reissue a passport for up to 30 days after payment of the tax due or up to 30 days after entering into an installment agreement to pay the tax due. As one can imagine, under the third option, litigating one’s tax debt takes significantly longer than 30 days. “

    “The FAST Act specifically includes a “hold harmless” provision, which prevents a taxpayer from looking to the U.S. government to recover any of these unexpected and incidental costs and consequences. So, even if the revocation of the passport was invalid under the FAST Act, the stranded U.S. taxpayer has no recourse to recover expenses.”

  11. That’s the basic PR line from condor firms, which we’ve seen spread repeatedly over the past year. But of course there’s no mention as to why or how that debt “could be computed initially” – only assumptions. There’s no effort here to balance probabilities against possibilities, it’s all worst-case scenarios.

  14. “Such a taxpayer could find themselves holding a revoked passport, despite the fact that they would not have owed any tax to the U.S. government had they properly filed U.S. tax returns.”

    I question that. The US doesn’t have taxing rights on the non-US-source income of a non-US-resident, and no power to slap a lien on non-US assets.

  15. “That’s the spirit. Always look for the positive.

    You’re betting on the law not being enforced. Before penalties were attached to not filing FBARs and the other changes, FATCA and the rest, before the previous president saying it’s “time for all US Persons to pay their fair share”, your position was the correct one. Everything points to enforcement.

    Besides, looking on the positive of being abroad played a large part in me allowing myself to be in this situation. Had I not, I would have had a much greater chance of discovering all this before I got trapped. Can’t look for what you do not know is there to be looked for.

    “I question that. The US doesn’t have taxing rights on the non-US-source income of a non-US-resident, and no power to slap a lien on non-US assets.”

    One easy way is ID theft.

  16. “I question that. The US doesn’t have taxing rights on the non-US-source income of a non-US-resident, and no power to slap a lien on non-US assets.”

    One easy way is ID theft.

    I think you’re confusing two different issues.

    The US can’t revoke your passport because someone ran up US tax debts by claiming refunds in your name.

    And the US can’t revoke your passport by inventing a liability that doesn’t exist for tax you don’t owe.

    Japan has taxing rights on your Japanese income; pay Japanese tax and don’t pay attention to tax condors who are simply trying to get hold of your money.

  17. @plaxy

    “The US can’t revoke your passport because someone ran up US tax debts by claiming refunds in your name.
    And the US can’t revoke your passport by inventing a liability that doesn’t exist for tax you don’t owe.”

    Oh, and yet officials from the IRS pretty much lay put that they can in the meeting linked to be ND a week or so back. Can’t find it now, though it should have been near the top. They state that the citizen can not challenge the legitamacy of the amount owed before having their passport pulled or the amount paid and then only in court in the US. The condor I copied and pasted from is merely relaying statements from the IRS officials.

    And then we have ND’s past and ongoing experiences that indicate that the IRS does just that.

  21. Pacifica: That’s a marvelous piece by Jazil Zaim. The US government better hope they can get something done about this pronto before they lose the goodwill of an entire generation of expat entrepreneurs like this young man.

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