Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

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.

Articles from earlier in 2015 are at this link

 Articles from 2014 are at this link

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment thread, Part 1 of 2, is at this link

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment thread, Part 3 of 3, is at this link

1,837 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles – part 2 of 11 (Year 2015)”

  1. The analogy from *Real Clear Markets* we’ve given so many times as how *US Persons Abroad* are affected by US tax law. Those who don’t get what we explain, would they now see it from Rush Limbaugh’s explanation of *their fair share* even after they move from one state to another (for whatever reason). Of course, his is without the added perception that those that have left the homeland are traitors.

  2. @JakDac,
    Very scary but of course not a surprise. No mention at all that the US has an exit tax which kind of negates the references to Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.

  4. What knee-JERK reactor could disagree?

    Think how politically attractive it would be for them to make “economic deserters” pay their “fair share” of old debts. I can see the arguments already: “You can’t move away from credit card debt or commercial debt, so why should government debt be so easy to dodge?” Politicians could easily win kudos from both public employee unions and the overtaxed residents left behind, for the mere cost of enraging emigrants who won’t be around to exact retribution at the next election.

    …

    Of course, if that fails, states could consider building walls and posting armed guards at their borders. That’s been tried before too.

  8. A right-leaning news outlet claims we are renouncing as “symbolic action” against the way we are being treated by the US government, specifically under the threat of passport revocation:

    …”It’s unclear how many people would be affected, but there currently are some 7 million U.S. citizens living abroad.

    “Americans abroad need their passports for many routine activities of daily life, such as banking, registering in a hotel, or registering a child for school, and mistakes could be disastrous,” Charles Bruce, an American lawyer with Bonnard Lawson in Lausanne, Switzerland, who advises American Citizens Abroad, an expatriate group, told the WSJ.

    The IRS sent 855,000 notices to U.S, citizens abroad in 2014, but many notices failed to reach the intended party due to difficulty with international addresses. IRS does not allow notices via email, only USPS, and their notices may not be forwarded internationally.

    “Enactment of this legislation would come at a time when the Internal Revenue Service’s … ability to render services to taxpayers overseas, and, in effect, help them ‘work out’ their collection problems, are severely reduced,” Marylouise Serrano of the group American Citizens Abroad wrote to congressional leaders earlier this month”…

    …”To be sure, many Americans living abroad apparently are disgusted with their homeland and are taking symbolic action.

    A record 1,426 Americans gave up their citizenship in the third quarter, CNNMoney recently reported, citing government data.

    “That puts the number of Americans who have renounced their citizenship at a whopping 3,221 so far this year. In 2014, a record 3,415 Americans gave up their passports, according to government data” analyzed by CNNMoney.

    “An increasing number of Americans are bidding Uncle Sam farewell. Many are expats tired of dealing with complicated tax paperwork — a headache that has increased lately as hefty tax regulations have kicked in. Last year, 15 times more Americans renounced their citizenship than in 2008,” CNNMoney reported.”

    http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/StreetTalk/passport-taxes-congress-irs/2015/11/22/id/703168/?ns_mail_uid=92171968&ns_mail_job=1644094_11222015&s=al&dkt_nbr=xr5jskeh

  10. “SWAT TEAM” ALERT! Those of you who are comfortable with communicating with US journalists, PLEASE write to Rush Limbaugh and tell him about *our* subjugation to U.S. federal “exit taxes” (i.e. CBT). He has a HUGE following! What a platform we would gain by having him take up our cause!

    I have not exactly been a fan of Mr. Limbaugh’s politics in the past but, in this instance, I am willing to swallow my pride.

  17. I’m no tax expert, but could this have to do with FATCA data collection? Many of us are convinced that because US banks aren’t authorized to collect banking info under FATCA, the IRS has instead provided the CRA with information readily available to the IRS when a US person in Canada reports income earned in the US on a US tax return.

    Canada Is Checking Foreign Tax Credits

    It is not uncommon for e-filed returns or paper filed returns that claim a credit for US tax for CRA to request verification.

    US tax paid per Canadian withholding slips are not requested because the slips are issued by a Canadian entity. They are looking to US tax claimed per US reporting slips such as W2s, 1099s, 1042s or from the US 1040/1040NR tax returns. US social security tax and medicare (ie., FICA) is creditable if it relates to US source wages or services performed in the US which is evident on the W2.

    Foreign tax credits claimed in respect of US computed from the US tax return based on determination of what portion of the tax payable of the return relates to US source income that is creditable is usually supportable by submitting to CRA your schedules and copy of the federal (and state where applicable) return. Recently CRA has been requesting transcript which is like our notice of assessment.

    Unfortunately, IRS does not issue anything if there is no additional tax liability or interest/penalties from your US filings. You need to request the transcript by calling the IRS or request it from their website.

    Original Post By: Larry Stolberg

    http://www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/canada-is-checking-foreign-tax-credits/#.VlSJVXr9erU

  18. Pfizer is in the news over corporate inversions. Bloomberg editorial response:

    http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-11-24/pfizer-allergan-tax-magic-should-disappear

    My comment which I’ve e-mailed to the editor:

    9 million US ex-pats also face double-taxation by the US government. Ex-pats first face territorial taxation– they are taxed on the income where they earn it. Then, the US government kicks in with “citizenship taxation”– expats are forced to file again with the IRS (despite not living in the US and not using any American services) and then pay another layer of taxes.

    Consequently, ex-pats are also undergoing “inversions” at record numbers– with ex-pats, the inversions are called “renunciation of US citizenship.”

    Would the Bloomberg View editorial board consider doing an editorial on the unfair treatment US ex-pats face under American tax code and the corresponding record number of renunciations and relinquishments of USC? The US stands alone with its policy of Citizenship Based Taxation. It’s time for the US to follow the global norm of Residence Based (territorial) Taxation.

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