Media and Blog Articles – part 2 of 11 (Year 2015)
You can access all years at this link: Media and Blog Articles – Links for All Years
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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. You could mention such articles in the comment stream for this page, or if I see one on another thread, I can copy the link to here. I’ll keep adding to the list, but not deleting, so we’ll end up having sort of a “bibliography” too. [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.
Note also: JC suggests 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.
Be sure to read the comment stream for this thread — there are usually very recent articles mentioned there that are not yet on this list.
2015.01.01
Raising revenue off Caribbean backs, Bruce Zagaris, NationNews, Barbados.
On or about 2016.01.01
16 issues to make 2016 candy for the market, Westfield Times.
2015.12.31
Tax reporting norms: FinMin updates guidance note on compliance, K.R. Srivats, Hindu Business Line, India.
2015.12.30
Top Tax Blogs from 2015, Tax Connections. (Congratulations to John Richardson and Lynne Swanson who placed 2nd and 4th!)
Global dragnet puts pressure on tax evaders as year-end deadlines loom, Jeff Gray, Globe and Mail, Canada.
IRS Employee Whose Job Was Assisting Victims Of Identity Theft Charged in $1 Million Identity Theft Tax Fraud, Paul Caron, TaxProfBlog, US.
How America’s Wealthiest Are Saving Billions Through a Private Tax System, TruthDig.
RA Returns Home, TaxProTalk forum.
2015.12.29
For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions, Noam Scheiber and Patricia Cohen, New York Times, US.
IRS Stirs Up New Crisis With Non-Profits Over Social Security Numbers, Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times.
DNC Must Heed Warning Bells From 2000, Bennet Kelley, Huffington Post, US.
2015.12.28
IRS Creates “International Practice Units” for their IRS Revenue Agents in International Tax Matters, Patrick Martin, Tax-Expatriation, US.
MF investors: Les than a4th comply with US tax law, Jayshree P. Upadhyay & Ashley Coutinho, Business Standard, India.
IRS service should improve after some saw their ‘worst tax season,” advocate says, Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch, US.
@ Shovel — Does the Presumption Against Extraterritoriality article help with the Cook v. Tait / United States v. Bennett (1914) discussion on the other thread?
@ Neill — Maybe this article answers your question. More on extraterritoriality, too:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/05/27/how-the-us-can-arrest-fifa-officials-in-switzerland-explained/?hpid=z1
@Neill & @Shovel
Here is a stupid question… how the heck will the US know whom to report to India… even if that’s true or not… When accounts were opened in the US…. u could use some form of id… driver’s, non-drivers, etc. Very simple process with an address u gave them & u didn’t even have to prove the address so u could use a family’s address in the US… that was a few yrs ago though… I am almost positive they didn’t record your citizenship nor what your ethnicity was… how do they know that person is a citizen of India & not a citizen of say France, Sweden, Norway… Just because a person looks to be of Indian descent… that don’t mean crap these days…
@canoe Short answer: No.
Allison Christians is just a friend of Brock who, as a tax law professor at McGill in Montreal, writes well on tax law. Her extraterritorial blog involves arcane matters of insurance law. The main point of interest was how the US law in this type of insurance matter was written so that the US could seemingly tax every policy of that type in the world.
@USFP Who knows?
Maybe everybody in the US who opens an account from now on will have to self-certify with an India W-8 or W-9 whether they are an India person?
Hmmm… not likely.
In the absence of any new enabling legislation on the US side, my guess is that India gives the IRS a list of names and possibly SS numbers, and the IRS forwards them the 1099s they have on file for those people. It will be up to India to determine who in the US would be of interest to them. I think something like this is how pre-FATCA data exchange agreements have been carried out, so no new legislation needed on the US side.
First time a mention of FBAR and FIFA that I have seen:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/05/28/fifa-charges-showcase-fbar-penalties-turbocharging-prison-time
No real details though.
@Neill
Seems some of those people accepting FIFA bribes were in Miami. They were possibly found out through FATCA and with them, the “friends” in Brazil and elsewhere?
Neill,
A shot in the dark…
Are all implicated and all of their financial accounts / dealings because of the involvement of FBI informant Chuck Blazer, former top-ranking FIFA executive who reportedly became an FBI informant?
And the man who reportedly helped the FBI build its case is a former top-ranking FIFA executive from New York City. The New York Daily News published an investigation in November about the involvement of former FIFA executive committee member Chuck Blazer in the corruption case, and BuzzFeed wrote about the “swindling suburban soccer dad” in June.
Blazer was “one of the most powerful men in world soccer” before he left FIFA in 2013 amid an ethics investigation, according to SB Nation, which noted that Blazer most likely cooperated with the FBI’s FIFA investigation to avoid prison time.
Blazer has pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, wire-fraud conspiracy, money-laundering conspiracy, income-tax evasion, and failure to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), according to a US Department of Justice statement released Wednesday. He forfeited nearly $2 million and agreed to pay another undetermined amount when he is sentenced.
…
The FBI and the IRS reportedly persuaded Blazer to cooperate by telling him they knew he had been evading taxes for decades.
http://www.businessinsider.com/chuck-blazer-reportedly-informed-fbi-in-fifa-investigation-2015-5#ixzz3bSBmMrDp
****************
In the meantime…
Vladimir Putin has accused the United States of meddling outside its jurisdiction by arresting officials from Fifa.
He also said:
Is that true?
(http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nine-fifa-officials-and-five-corporate-executives-indicted-racketeering-conspiracy-and)
http://nyti.ms/1ew45rf
Mosed Shaye Omar, 64, a naturalized American citizen since 1978, sued the State Department and Secretary John Kerry, claiming he was coerced into acknowledging that he had a name different from what was on his passport.
JIM WILSON / THE NEW YORK TIMES
For anyone looking for signs of the erosion of US economic hegemony:
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=31&art_id=157365&sid=44556832&con_type=1&d_str=20150528
Isa providers refuse to open accounts for British-Americans
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/isas/11634040/Isa-providers-refuse-to-open-accounts-for-British-Americans.html
@Moderator, the story from the UK would be great above the fold maybe linking how NS&I stopped accepting US tainted persons too……
In the UK as a British Citizen who unfortunately was born in the USA, you might be discriminated against in opening an ISA account that all other British Citizens can open but at least you can buy a wedding cake with any message on it!!!
British Citizens Born in America, Let Them Eat Cake.
Allison Christians updates an older blog.
Updated: Gotcha! Yet another obscure asset reporting form for US persons
http://taxpol.blogspot.ca/2015/05/gotcha-yet-another-obscure-asset.html
An interesting read:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102717680
Seems that everyone is guilty in the US of this… taking your money out of your bank account that is under 10K every time… I guess everyone should take out exactly $9,999 just to screw with the bank & the gov’t…. but with my luck… they will say I am laundering money or something stupid… I still don’t understand why people who plan to launder money would do it this way… little at a time…. its better to just use the money in the open… buy groceries & get clean cash…
Make a choice:
https://twitter.com/janknuesel/status/560841636637581312
In a relief for non-residents, the government also removed the clause for them to mandatorily report their foreign assets.
http://www.livemint.com/Politics/Xm4DGhhdnVvbs29r8s5juL/Income-tax-forms-made-simpler-less-tedious.html
@US_Foreign_Person,
Structuring is interesting. Some months ago the NYT reported that a Chinese restaurant owner had had he bank account seized by the IRS for structuring. She regularly did transactions close to the $10k limit. The IRS just took the money. Obviously this money was the proceeds of the business. They don’t have to prove anything they can just take and it’s up to here to try and fight it at great cost. Costs mean it’s not worth fighting to get your own stuff back.
This was a great scam until the NYT article. People obviously complained and the IRS said they would no longer do this without proof of wrongdoing. Think about this for a second. They can still legally take stuff they are just choosing not to. They though it was OK to take stuff before and only stopped when people found out and objected. What kind of immoral people work in government?
Read about civil asset forfeiture for some chills. It’s cause the death of a least one person where a court has asserted that the government came after the guy who died purely to get his stuff because what he had was valuable and he wasn’t a likable guy. They flew planes over his property taking pictures and in the end declared a green blob evidence of drug growing to get their foot in the door.
@Neill
*civil asset forfeiture*
Legal theft by the gov’t…. if u saw this in a movie… u would be like… this is bs… but the more I read about it…. the more I wonder why no one is even trying to stop this…
@USforeignperson
Oh yeah they are trying to stop this. Some lawyers are even working pro bono. The problem is seemingly in many cases, the cost of lawyers is more than the money they took, so people don`t fight for it. Sad- extremely sad state of affairs. I find it extreme. A totally criminal law. But I think I read of late that some senator is speaking out against it.
@Polly
I noticed that alot of this is happening to people who’s 1st language is not english… small business owners especially…. even if u tried to fight… if u know nothing… u are correct… a bundle for lawyer who may or may not do the right thing for u… sad thing is that a few of the stories I read… businesses ended up closing… so basically…. more people who will have to rely on social services who were once productive people in society….
@USforeignperson
It is absolutely shameful.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/29/technology/irs-not-protecting-data/
IRS Can’t Tax Foreign Reinsurance Policies, DC Circ. Says
By Ama Sarfo
Law360, New York (May 26, 2015, 6:11 PM ET) — The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday ruled that the Internal Revenue Service may not collect an excise tax on reinsurance policies between two foreign entities, saying there’s no indication that Congress intended the tax to apply to completely foreign companies.
The IRS argued that an Internal Revenue Code tax on reinsurers applies to reinsurance known as retrocessions that foreign-owned reinsurers buy from other foreign entities to cover their risks, while foreign reinsurer Validus Reinsurance Ltd. argued the tax applies to so-called first-level reinsurance policies that a domestic…
—-I Do not have permission to post complete article:
http://www.law360.com/articles/659980/irs-can-t-tax-foreign-reinsurance-policies-dc-circ-says
http://youtu.be/iSNpw5__aXo?list=UU49HGm2XU_KFINcAoLu1OjA
deVere: Presidential candidates owe it to America to explain their stance on controversial FATCA
http://www.cpifinancial.net/news/category/economics/post/31506/devere-presidential-candidates-owe-it-to-america-to-explain-their-stance-on-controversial-fatca
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