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
If clicking on a comment link brings you to the wrong comment, click here to get on the most recent page of comments.(alternatively, to reach the most recent comment page, go to the url in the bar at the top of your browser and delete everything after http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments-part-2-of-2 )
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 $1 Million Identity Theft Tax Fraud, Paul Caron, TaxProfBlog, US.
How America’s Wealthiest Are Saving Billions Through a Private Tax System, TruthDig.
RA Returns Home, TaxProTalk forum.
2015.12.29
For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions, Noam Scheiber and Patricia Cohen, New York Times, US.
IRS Stirs Up New Crisis With Non-Profits Over Social Security Numbers, Eric Pianin, The Fiscal Times.
DNC Must Heed Warning Bells From 2000, Bennet Kelley, Huffington Post, US.
2015.12.28
IRS Creates “International Practice Units” for their IRS Revenue Agents in International Tax Matters, Patrick Martin, Tax-Expatriation, US.
MF investors: Les than a4th comply with US tax law, Jayshree P. Upadhyay & Ashley Coutinho, Business Standard, India.
IRS service should improve after some saw their ‘worst tax season,” advocate says, Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch, US.
@JC
After just reading this it actually hit me for the first time in the comment section that if you earn more than 90000$ per year-you ARE taxed double on it. Amazing and so totally unfair. Such an abomination.
@Polly There is only ever double tax on earnings if the tax rate in your country is lower than the US rate. If you live in Canada, UK, Australia etc. you don’t need the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion as tax credits would knock out the US tax liability on earnings – even above the level of the FEIE. Problem comes with many other types of taxes, accounts, pension fund accounts, etc that are not “earned income.”
Australia excludes the first $AU18,200 income/earnings from tax. The US starts with a 10% tax rate before deductions. So doubletax the part time workers or retirees!
@JC,Polly
That really is not how they define double taxation. You’re saying stuff that isn’t correct.
You can fault the system in many ways but this isn’t the way. For example you can complain about various retirement accounts, FICA etc taxes not being deductible, crazy taxes like PFIC or the burden of informational forms and penalties.
CBT Legal Action Announced! Backed by the very credible Richardson/Kish/Moon Dream Team!
Seed funding sought:
https://citizenshiptaxation.wordpress.com/2015/11/20/update-the-cbtlawsuit-rollout-is-beginning-we-need-your-support/
@Neil According to the tax treaties double taxation does not exist as the treaties makes sure that it does not. We must not acquiesce to the US Treasury Department definition of double taxation. We must supplant this with our own common sense definition: you pay all the tax as required in your country of residence for income sourced there then there is no further tax to pay to the US. We must further the term “tax treaty gaps” lingo used by Allison Christians as part of the statements of expert advice.
@JC
….and another abomination is that after you have renounced and basically are no longer a US citizen, your inheritance to US citizens is taxed as if you still were. So you can be french or german or canadian, but for America you remain somehow american no matter what!
@Polly, Only if you are a covered expatriate. Still crap though.
@JC,
That’s not the accepted definition. For starters I can live in France and earn money in the US. The US has every right to tax that income if it’s the right type via the tax treaty.
Me personally I don’t think the US should be able to tax my foreign earnings while I am resident in the US. They have no right to do that I feel. I don’t claim that I am double taxed though.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-pay-your-taxes-or-lose-your-passport-1447971424?alg=y
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/11/20/many-banks-avoid-u-s-tax-evasion-charges-hunt-for-americans-continues/?utm_source=followingimmediate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20151120
I couldn’t help but marvel at this quote from the Bloomberg article Neill posted:
“The fact that American companies, including Pfizer, continue to pursue inversions makes clear that additional steps are needed to stop this trend,” Sander Levin, the ranking member of the House’s tax-writing committee, said in a statement Wednesday.
You can also read this quote by substituting citizens for companies and renunciations for inversions. Either way you read it, the blame is assigned to the participant for pursuing a path which they are heavily incentivised to take. Let’s face it, even with the absurd $2,350 charge the payback period is probably a year or two at most and a matter of months for some. For Pfizer, the incentive is to get access to their offshore cash without the US government taking up to 35% of it through double taxation.
This is the House ranking member of the tax-writing committee criticising people for taking the obvious path that his committee heavily incentivises people to take. Why is the answer always to increase the punishment until it more effectively counter balances the enormous incentive.
@Edelweiss,
Also like the expatriation tax. They put it in place to get rich people renouncing. When rich people do the math and pay the exit tax they are viewed as evil. So the exit tax needs to be higher. I am guessing those doing the math and still choosing to go will also be evil.
These politicians would probably be ok with consumers walking away from products they don’t like (except healthcare) but don’t feel they should have a tax structure that people want to be part of.
I sill keep thinking about the WSJ comment that goes like this “You chained your wife to the radiator and beat her repeatedly. You are then angry she ran away.”
Only a minor relation to foreign stuff. They released more details on ABLE accounts. These are locked to a state since they are part of 529 plans but also the disabled person has to live int he state in question. So you can’t shop around. You certainly then can’t use these if you live in another country. So yet one more thing denied to an expat. No such restriction exists for 529 plans but they are fraught with tax problems in your host country.
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-15-81.pdf
The Hill seems quite reasonable on inversions here:
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/260647-time-for-us-to-lead-on-international-tax-policy
“Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council (IRSAC) held its annual public meeting this week and released its annual report for 2015 to the IRS Commissioner. The report includes recommendations on a wide range of tax administration issues”:
Under International:
“Recommendations
1. Reconsider the automated process (or at least delay assessment until the request for abatement and appeal are final). Assessment triggers the collection process and adds additional pressure to both the IRS and the taxpayer. If the IRS delayed assessment until consideration of the abatement request is final, much of the stress on the IRS system and the taxpayer would be reduced.
2. Acknowledge innocent errors and not assert (or abate) the penalty. The purpose of the IRS program is to encourage compliance with foreign information reporting, and the assertion of the penalty for minor, often benign, non-volitional failures can be counterproductive. Encouraging voluntary compliance should properly be the sole objective of any penalty regime, and IRSAC does not believe that objective is advanced by the assertion of penalties in these situations since (1) the taxpayers involved are not non-filers, but merely delinquent (often for innocent reasons), (2) they self-correct their compliance without prompting, and (3) the late filing has no adverse effect on the IRS’ need for information or payment of any tax. A few examples of benign noncompliance are —
Problem with Filing Extension. The taxpayer files a late or incorrect Form 7004. When it files its return on September 15th, penalties are assessed on all “untimely” Forms 5471, even though they are received by the extended due date.
E-filing Problems. The taxpayer has an issue with the e-filing of its return that it cannot resolve until after midnight on September 15th. Again, penalties are assessed.
Penalty Is Disproportionate when No (or Little) Tax Due. Common situations are:
Form 5472 for unknown permanent establishment of a small U.S. entity
Late return that reflects a net operating loss
3. “First Time Abate” Consideration. In many other penalty situations (e.g., failure to file, failure to pay, and failure to deposit penalties), the IRS will abate penalties for a first time failure if the taxpayer has a history of compliance. SeeI.R.M 20.1.1.3.6.1 (August 5, 2014) “First Time Abate (FTA).” The same policy, i.e., the promotion of voluntary compliance, supporting FTA for those other failures should apply here.”
http://www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/irsac-releases-its-2015-annual-report/#.Vk99bF_9fCQ
@ Bubblebustin
So it’s confirmed. The IRS does not believe it is dealing with human beings.
“The taxpayer files a late or incorrect Form 7004. When it files its return on September 15th … The taxpayer has an issue with the e-filing of its return that it cannot resolve until after midnight on September 15th.”
It’s obvious a taxpayer is nothing more than wallet to fleece.
Great observation, EmBee. I guess “it” (IRS) thinks (I use the term generously) of us in terms of social security numbers only.
Tax Notes Live interview with Professor Allison Christians on FATCA and Citizenship based taxation
An American squanders an opportunity to relinquish for free:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/why-it-took-one-american-expat-30-years-to-become-a-canadian/article27393366/
…and, presumably either knew nothing of the Canada/US IGA implementing FATCA in Canada that his family is now faced with or is completely OK with that assault.
He / they must have applied for Canadian citizenship well before the new Liberal government — the author implies that now, with Stephen Harper gone, it is finally time to become a Canadian citizen.
I hope the author will take BC Doc up on the suggestion that he do a follow-up journalistic piece at the Globe & Mail describing how he reconciles his family’s now duplicitous obligations that comes with dual allegiances to the US and Canada – and reveal if he knew of FATCA before and took that into consideration.
If he / they ever get it straight in their minds, they might want to contribute either to ADCS-ADSC or to the new ADCT litigation.
@ Bubblebustin
BC_Doc got in early with a comment on that Globe and Mail article. If we get in with our up-arrows maybe we can keep it at the top of the “Highest Score” list. We really want Bob Levin to see it because it might inspire him to write more.
@Neil Elimination of double taxation according to the tax treaties: The total tax (your county + US) for any category of tax shall be no higher than the highest rate of the two countries with source country having right of first taxation.
This only makes sense and seems right to international tax lawyers in the case of CBT, yet it is the definition of eliminating double taxation that has been legally accepted by the countries of the world as they signed the tax treaties.
Common sense definition that should supplant the above: you pay all the tax on your income in your country of residence for any income sourced there and then you owe no further tax to the US. This is in line with Residence Based Taxation.
The current situation is that, for income sourced in your country, that for any category of tax that the US has a higher rate, or in addition to taxes in your country of residence, or by a different name, then this flows on top as double taxation.
This categorization of the taxes is very detrimental, as there very will be income tax or a range of taxes at a higher rate than in the US, yet because of the categorization framed in law by the tax treaties, no extra tax credits representing the excess tax paid in your country of residence compared to US rates may be carried over to other categories to help extinguish those US tax liabilities.
Very nasty is the extra taxes the US has over your country of residence – that your country does not even have. Obamacare NIIT investment tax is an example. If on source income in your country then your country will not recognize this tax paid to the US in the form of tax credits for tax liabilities in your country because the source is not in the US but in your home country. So the countries of the world accept CBT on income sourced in those countries, but then legally via the tax treaty pretend that CBT does not exist.
This categorization of the taxes aspect has not received the attention it should as representing outright injustices.
DA’s response to the DRIVE act:
https://www.democratsabroad.org/DRIVE-Act-Passport-Revocation-Rider
“This policy has been introduced without consultation with Americans abroad.
The IRS has a record of communicating poorly with Americans abroad, has closed its overseas offices and has suffered service lapses due to cuts in its funding.
We have no assurances that there will be safeguards in place to prevent Americans abroad targeted by this proposed law from having their passports withdrawn with no warning and no due process. ”
The problem I have with Democrats Abroad is their lukewarm approach to CBT/RBT and general sympathy for FATCA, even if they do lip service to making things simpler for Americans Abroad.
@Fred That link has this as well: HR3078 is a bill moved by Americans Abroad Caucus Co-Chair Carolyn Maloney in the 114th Congress that will establish a Commission on Americans Abroad. The Commission will analyze policies that impact Americans abroad and recommend reforms to address any issues or inequities. Sounds incremental but positive. One may only hope that it gets passed.
Limbaugh on ‘Exit Tax’: The People Exist For The Government