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)”

  2. Comments are open on the above.

    Here is a good one:

    “This is going to be the Boston Tea Party, only in reverse.”

  3. Sounds like Monte Silver quoted in the article and remarking in the comment section is building a local “movement” against the tax.

    “Yes, that is what we will do. Very quickly the ecosystem in Israel required to create a local movement has come together. Focused on a specific issue, working together with one goal, with good guidance from DC smarts, we will get te Treasury regs written to exclude expats from the Repatriation tax and GILTI. Is you want to get connected, let us know.”

    I wrote to him at his law firm.

  4. @BB – Monte Silver was also quoted in the Financial Times article about 2 weeks ago. He was talking about organising some action against the transition tax in the comments there. (As well as claiming to be the first in the world to recognise the problem!)

  6. I’m no fan of the IRS, but if Congress were to only pass laws that were constitutional, maybe the IRS wouldn’t have to make shady regulations to enforce them.

    “In the face of congressional attempts at oversight, the IRS issued a 1996 opinion claiming that tax statutes are in and of themselves responsible for any costs or inflexibility—that the IRS’s rules are, by definition, pure distillation of law.“

  7. I’m no fan of either of them, nor of the wretched US constitution, but I do think it’s interesting that a turf war seems to be breaking out.

  8. Jerusalem Post: My two main posts got knocked. Maybe my comment about the flawed tax treaty and Israeli government missing in action did not go over well. I have a copy of my posts & I’ll be back later. I think they may not have liked my pointing out all the attention on the military to protect from external threats yet no interest in protecting residents from such unjust external law as the Repatriation Tax.

  9. Hi everyone. This past Wednesday I called into Thom Hartann’s radio show and I spoke very briefly with Congressman Mark Pocan (2nd District Wisconsin) about FATCA and CBT. He didn’t know what I was talking about (no surprise) but he did seem genuinely interested in learning more and he asked me to send him information in writing, which I promptly did. Pocan acknowledged receiving the information I sent, which surprised me because his website states pretty clearly that he won’t respond to people registered outside his district who contact him. Anyway, I think that it could be useful, and certainly couldn’t hurt, if anyone and everyone reading this who is registered to vote in his district could contact him now abut the same issues. I think he’ll pay attention, although what he would do after that is anyone’s guess. At the very least it’s reasonable to think he would send you a substantive reply.

    Also – I don’t think it would hurt at all for those not registered in his district to also contact him – he might not respond but, again, I am pretty sure he’ll pay attention and he’ll connect it to my short discussion with him.

    I also posted on Thom Hartmann’s website the information that I sent to Pocan. I posted it in the “Member blog” section of the website. I would like to ask everyone reading this to please go on this page and make comments in support of my post. One person already has – it’s a terrific response. I think that the more comments my post can get the higher the possibility that Hartmann will pay attention and speak about it on his show. Here is a link to my post: https://www.thomhartmann.com/users/laurainparis/blog/2018/02/think-you-can-leave-us-think-again (unfortunately you have to register on the site in order to post a comment).

    Finally, Hartmann’s show is live streamed on YouTube on weekdays from 12 noon to 3 pm Eastern time (6 to 9 pm CET). Pocan is on the show most Wednesdays, usually during the first hour but sometimes during the second. This coming Wednesday (21 Feb) he will not be on but he will be back on the show on 28 Feb. Anyone can call into to Thom’s show. The number is 1 (202) 808-9925. I would like to encourage as many of us as possible to call in to speak to Pocan on FATCA and CBT. Now that he has received the information I sent him, he can no longer claim to not know anything about it.

    Thanks all!

  10. Thank you for your efforts, Laura. Would you consider posting this on some of the social media sites for non-resident Americans for broader coverage?

  11. Hi BB. Definitely. I’ve posted this on the American Expatriates and Citizenship Taxation FB pages. What are the additional places that you recommend? I’ll definitely post there too.

  12. Good. I must have missed those posts. There seems to be a big uptick in activity recently. You may want to bring up the Transition Tax on solely foreign operated corporations to your congressman, as it’s been getting a lot of coverage. Some say it’s the last straw!

    There are two other Democrat members of Congress who’ve expressed a willingness to address CBT:

    https://www.democratsabroad.org/rep_jamie_raskin_supports_americans_abroad_tax_reform

    https://www.democratsabroad.org/rep_dina_titus_supports_american_abroad_tax_reform

    You may want to message Democrats Abroad with your update. I believe they are planning a DC doorknock soon. Perhaps they can include Congressman Pocan in their visits.

  13. I couldn’t agree more that the transition tax is a huge problem and I too get the impression it’s the last straw for a lot of people.

    I’m registered to vote in Illinois- 7th District (Chicago). A couple pf months ago I contacted Rep Danny Davis’s office – I got the impression he didn’t care about these issues. There is a Justice Democrat candidate running in this District – Anthony Clark. I provided information to him about the issues and asked him to formulate a position. He said he’d get back to me. I sent him a reminder yesterday. He said he hasn’t gotten to it yet.

    I was aware of Raskin, but it’s good to remind me.

    I will contact Democrats Abroad as you’ve suggested. Thanks for that.

    In the meantime, I’d appreciate anyone who can comment on my post on Hartmann’s site.

    Here’s the link again: https://www.thomhartmann.com/users/laurainparis/blog/2018/02/think-you-can-leave-us-think-again

  16. @Laura

    I would be happy to make your post a page on the citizenshiptaxation.ca website. That way, it would appear on the menu and would be visible much longer than a comment.

    Let me know if you would like me to do this.

  17. @Patricia Moon

    Patricia – please do that. Please do anything with it that you think would increase its visibility.

    Thanks!

  18. Laura & those assisting: Great work!

    I, too, think that the transition tax may end up drilling the hole that finally sinks the Bad Ship CBT. But those who are protesting it such as our compatriots in Israel MUST connect the dots! In what I’ve read so far about their protest there isn’t any mention of CBT. If there was no CBT, their 100% Israeli corporations would not be taxable by the US at all. End of problem. Is anyone here in touch with anyone involved in the Israeli issue?

  19. @MuzzledNoMore

    Thank you, MuzzledNoMore

    I don’t have a response to your question but I do have a question for you, if I may?

    I don’t have any specific familiarity with Israel. My question is: what it is about Israel that makes the situation there different from other countries outside the where Americans have formed companies / small businesses?

  21. There are some minor goodies for non-resident US taxpayers in the NTA’s “Purple Book”.

    “The National Taxpayer Advocate is releasing the inaugural edition of the National Taxpayer Advocate Purple Book. In it, she presents a concise summary of 50 legislative recommendations that she believes will strengthen taxpayer rights and improve tax administration. Most of the recommendations have been made in detail in prior reports but others are presented in this book for the first time.
    She believes that most of the recommendations presented in this volume are non-controversial, common sense reforms that the tax-writing committees and other committees and other Members of Congress may find useful.”

    HaRMOnIZE REPORTInG REQUIREMEnTs fOR TaXPaYERs sUBJECT TO BOTH fBaR anD faTCa BY ELIMInaTInG DUPLICaTIOn anD EXCLUDInG aCCOUnTs a U.s. PERsOn MaInTaIns In THE COUnTRY WHERE HE OR sHE Is a BOna fIDE REsIDEnT

    PROVIDE aDDITIOnaL TIME fOR TaXPaYERs OUTsIDE THE UnITED sTaTEs TO REQUEsT aBaTEMEnT Of a MaTH ERROR assEssMEnT EQUaL TO THE TIME EXTEnsIOn aLLOWED In REsPOnDInG TO a nOTICE Of DEfICIEnCY

    https://taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/reports/2017-annual-report-to-congress/NTA-Purple-Book

    Comments open here:

    https://www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/the-national-taxpayer-advocate-purple-book-a-summary-presentation-of-our-top-50-legislative-recommendations/

  22. Laura: there’s nothing different (to my knowledge) about the Israeli situation. It is just that, similar to Canada and France, there is a group of people there, large enough and angry enough, to organize some backlash. In this case the backlash appears to be coming specifically from business people and is directed specifically against the Transition Tax without apparently connecting it with the underlying problem of CBT. This is my understanding of what I have read, at any rate.

  23. It seems you are correct, MNM, although I believe Israel might hold a lot more sway over the US than most countries.

    Here’s a press release sent to me by another Brocker written by someone who hopes to lead the charge there:

    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americans-abroad-not-gilti-but-the-us-tax-reform-punishes-them-hard—monte-silver-of-eitan-mehulal–sadot-law-group-works-with-us-expats-around-the-world-to-understand-tax-repercussions-674548843.html

    I spoke with Mr Silver and he feels pretty confident that he will build enough backlash against the Transition Tax in the next month to eventually get it dealt with. His reason for not mentioning CBT? “Unlike other tax battles which aim to high (residency based tax and FACTA), this small modification to the law is winnable.”

  24. I’d guess a couple of countries hold special sway with the US and have more potential to attract attention. Israel is very tightly connected and most probably very well equipped to lobby for change. Naturally, though, its leaders have other priorities than solving CBT. Canada and the UK are probably also connected and influential enough to bring this issue to attention. But again, leaders there don’t want to spend political capital on this issue, if they even care or know about it. In my opinion only the EU as such could insist that EU citizens in the EU be able to live and bank normally even if they are also US citizens. If the US does not change to RBT, one could also imagine writing a type of RBT into tax treaties or IGAs whereas US citizens living abroad are explicitly exempt from double taxation and from being considered US tax residents.

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: