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.
http://www.tax-news.com/features/Previewing_US_Tax_Reform__573194.html#.VlUYKyXZy0M.twitter
FATCA me if you can: Hong Kong should learn from Israel
by Alex Fok | on November 25, 2015
http://harbourtimes.wpengine.com/?p=8076
Discus
@JC
Republicans support revenue neutrality, which I assume means continuing with the sham of revenue generation through measures such as FATCA and passport revocations. This air of fiscal responsibility may win votes, but is nothing more than a red herring. If FATCA is any example, we know how much thought goes into a revenue offset by these maniacs on both sides. It’s only corruption that would lead a government to not change laws they know are wrong – no matter what the cost.
“While both parties in Congress agree on the need for tax reform, they disagree fundamentally on what the outcome of tax reform should be. The Democrat line is that tax reform should ultimately raise additional revenue for deficit reduction and ensure that large corporations and wealthy individuals pay their “fair share” of tax. Republicans on the other hand, are staunch in their belief that tax reform should not raise taxes by a single dime, should be revenue neutral and make the US economy more competitive.”
– See more at: http://www.tax-news.com/features/Previewing_US_Tax_Reform__573194.html#.VlUYKyXZy0M.twitter
@Bubblebustin,
When I got my massive OVDI bill I paid it. Each year when I get my massive tax bill I paid it. I am amazed how many people I read about who don’t pay up each year. So taking these peoples passports seems like a minor thing to me. We should do a lot more than that.
This to me is totally different law than FATCA. Some 50% of the country don’t even owe any taxes each year. All you guys are always saying how you won’t owe any taxes because your don’t earn enough.
I don’t see why I have to pay up when it’s due and others don’t.
I think the issue is about being denied due process, Neill. At least it is for me.
@Neill
I can see your point. FATCA is much worse than passport revocation because people who rely on U.S. passports at least know they are citizens. The aspect that worries me is FBAR fines. The U.S. is about to get access to lots of account information on people born in the U.S. and not all passport holders necessarily understand their tax obligations (my 2007 passport says nothing about this). It would be very easy to rack up $50,000 in FBAR & OVDP fines .
@Bubblebustin,
What due process? Obama can quite happily change the tax laws to bite me. I don’t’ have any due process. They just take my stuff. With taxes your guilty because you have or earn stuff.
@Publius,
Of course I feel the whole notion that we have traps in the tax (and other) code to take stuff from people is terrible. I have FBAR, 3520 and civil asset forfeiture etc.
I am quite sick of sanctimonious people like Al Sharpton telling me I should pay my fair share while he doesn’t actually pay his tax bill. Now they won’t take his passport but that’s a different matter.
@Publius,
Sorry I mean I ‘hate’ FBAR etc.
Lets say you have some time to waste. Then fill in this form. Won’t help of course. Even if we do hundreds about the same things.
From e-news for tax pros:
4. Have a Burden Reduction Idea You’d Like to Share?
Do you have an idea that could help the IRS simplify reporting requirements, streamline procedures or shorten forms? Here’s your chance to let the IRS know.
Fill out Form 13285A, Reducing Tax Burden on America’s Taxpayers, and send it in. The Taxpayer Burden Reduction website lists examples of how the IRS is working to reduce taxpayer burden.
https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Taxpayer-Burden-Reduction-TBR
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f13285a.pdf
@Bubblebustin. Agree with the corruption viewpoint yet believe these more significant: gridlock, lack of representation, perception of patriotism, and as with any tax change the notion of paying one’s fair share and anyone complaining abut this must be out to shirk the system.
Offsets. Nothing comes top of mind. Do you have some suggestions for offsets as part of the end extraterritorial CBT? How about extra tax on exports and imports ? I wish I had a real good one or two then would send to Solomon Yue, who I think is on the side of justice.
@JC
Offsets to CBT? First we’d have to determine how much revenue is involved – which to me seems an impossibility, with so few people filing and renunciations on the rise. Me thinks that any increased effort to get more people to comply will just further increase the renunciation numbers. Maybe they realize that we’re worth more to them in renunciation fees than tax.
Revenue offsets are a hoax, as far as I’m concerned anyway.
@Bubblebustin. We may put forth our revenue offset hoax, including picking a number offset. As long as it is not lame and sounds good/half way feasible.
ACA pursued revenue neutrality here: https://americansabroad.org/files/6014/4360/8820/proposal-for-submission-to-senate-finance-april-2015.pdf
@JC
Of the 8 million or so American citizens living abroad, how many do you think would rather renounce US citizenship (either formally or going underground) than pay US tax?
@Bubblebustin I like your amnesty/renunciation plan, but where is your tax offset?
Heard from Solomon Yue that there definitely is the tax offset mentality, where any revenue reduction / potential or perceived revenue reduction can not be considered without tax offset. So 0.3% on imports? Or, would that violate NAFTA, TPP, World Trade Organization, etc? Increase tax on imports: part answer to those pesky inverters when they try to import into the US. Also, it would only be fitting to tax those foreign firms who sell in the US to have access and right to sell in the the lord’s given greatest market on earth. Also, help domestic companies as a reward by making imports a tad more costly. The word “tariff” may run afoul of the above organizations mentioned so we may just call it: Right to Sell in America Tax. Please provide a better name if you can think of one.
@JC
Isn’t the situation a little fluid to be making any kind of determination of what the offset should be? We’re worth more to the IRS in penalties than we are in tax. Should an offset consider that reality?
Possible offset: raise the cost of passports to $750 and reduce the valid time to 5 years, in line with many other countries. I’d cheerfully pay the fee, in effect paying a mere $150 a year to maintain a passport, in exchange for dropping CBT. As for Homelanders with passports, for them travel is either for business or luxury, so such a fee is swallowable. After all, don’t we always hear that “American citizenship is the most valuable on earth”? And if you need a passport, you can’t dodge the fee! No enforcement costs!
According to the State Department (http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/passports/statistics.html), 15,556,216 passports have been issued so far in 2015. The current fee is $110. Raised to $750, that’s a $640 increase, multiplied by 15 million = $9.6 billion in additional annual revenue. FATCA was supposed to net $800 million per year in “lost” revenue. And isn’t the IRS boasting that all the Streamlined and other programs have netted $8 billion (in one-time revenue, not mentioning that the figure is not recurring). A lot less trouble and bureaucracy to drop taxing expats and sticking them on the cost of passports.
Then, of course, there’s the entirely logical and therefore politically impossible offsets from making users of services actually pay for them, such as raising the gasoline tax to pay for highways instead of looking for more ways to squeeze expats.
I wrote this note to Solomon Yue little while ago,
Dear Simon,
>
> “Why do Republicans pursue revenue offsets as a way to pay for federal spending? If FATCA and now passport revocation is any indication of how well anyone researches how much revenue they generate, my feeling is that revenue offsets are nothing more than a hoax perpetrated against the American people just to make Republicans look like they are fiscally responsible.”
And just got this response,
“I am working on taking out passport revocation as a revenue offsets.”
Solomon Yue deserves our encouragement! You can email him at solomon@fatcalegalaction.com or go to the Republicans Overseas Facebook page to lend him your support.
@ Barbara
Your numbers certainly look good but a family of four would end up paying $3000 in order to simply cross the border for a visit to Canada. Would the kiddies at least be able to get a lower fee? If so, how much do you reckon your new proposed fees would reap?
Oops, don’t know where that “Simon” came from – must have auto-corrected.
@JC,
ACA wants an departure tax on the rich. Same old punish the successful stuff that got us FATCA and all the other Obama taxes.
Like I have said many times before, many people here would be happy with CBT, FBAR, 3520, 8621 and 8938 so long as the balance and income limits etc were high so as only to apply to the ‘rich’.
Too bad they didn’t strip the previous Treasury Secretary TurboTax-Cheat Timmy Geithner of his passport ( see current effort to punish using the US passport as collateral ( see current initiative http://www.wsj.com/articles/americans-pay-your-taxes-or-lose-your-passport-1447971424 )
when he owed the US a significant sum of money – which the IRS waived the penalties on. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/us/politics/14geithner.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/13/treasury-geithner-obama-biz-beltway-cx_bw_0113geithner2.html
Instead, they rewarded him with a plum job in charge of the IRS.
And what really stinks is that the IRS defended Geithner’s errors by pointing out how common they were: “….As Obama officials pointed out, and I.R.S. documents attest, the failure to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes is common among Americans who work for international organizations, including foreign embassies. A 2007 I.R.S. notice reported that up to half of such employees incorrectly file their tax returns……”.
Yet, Geithner went on to preside over the OVDI and regularly issued blanket threats to intimidate all those abroad with local non-US bank accounts who hadn’t ever heard of or filed FBARs, and the IRS under his reign refused to make clear what might constitute ‘reasonable cause’ – despite excusing the type of US tax failure above as common and understandable – and waiving all penalties for Geithner – despite the fact that he was caught only during an audit, did not come clean until nominated for the office of Treasury Secretary, had a background as a banker and IMF employee, etc.
See what efforts the IRS went to to assist those working at foreign embassies who misunderstood their filings and underpaid their fair share of US taxes, and note that they did NOT demand that they enter some kind of punitive OVDI type program:
IR-2007-67 March 22, 2007
IRS Further Extends Deadline for Settlement
Offered To Certain Foreign Embassy Staff
WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service is providing a further extension, until June 30, 2007, of the deadline for current and former U.S.-based employees of foreign embassies, consular offices and missions and international organizations to participate in a one-time settlement initiative to resolve outstanding tax matters related to their employment.
Following requests from several embassies, the date is again being extended to make certain those wishing to participate in the initiative have the opportunity to do so.
The offer is open to employees of those organizations who are U.S. citizens, green-card holders and foreign employees who have tax obligations. Accredited diplomatic personnel are generally exempt from income taxes on their wages under the Internal Revenue Code and international treaties or agreements.
The IRS estimates that as many as half of these employees subject to U.S. tax fail to report their wages, claim deductions they are not entitled to, incorrectly establish SEP/IRA retirement plans, fail to pay self-employment tax or fail to file tax returns.
To participate, employees must submit amended or original tax returns for tax years 2004 and 2005 that properly reflect their income and expenses. Participants in the settlement will not be required to provide tax year 2003 returns, which was previously part of the settlement eligibility requirement. In addition, participants with erroneously established SEP/IRA plans will not be required to distribute amounts contributed to these SEP/IRAs for tax years prior to the 2004 tax year. This change follows discussions with embassies and provides consistency with the income tax portion of the settlement initiative.
IRS will remove the 2003 tax year issues from the settlement elections previously received from taxpayers.
IRS encourages those affected taxpayers to act quickly so to avoid a future audit process that could prove costly. Foreign embassy, consular office or international organization employees who fail to come forward may be subject to IRS audits and penalties which could cover more than just three years.
http://unclefed.com/Tax-News/2007/nr07-67.html
@Neil – And should only apply if rich before left. If rich/for gains after then should not apply. Think about the Accidentals! For Australia, when I moved here they take the asset basis for US investments from the date of moving here.
How about this name:
Patriot Import Levy.
Patriot Passport Levy, Could only apply if live overseas, yet as part of RBT, after say 3 years (I believe ACA had this three year limit). I don’t have good numbers to figure out the revenue. 8.7 million overseas.
Maybe first start with the Patriot Import Levy
228708 USD Million in September * 12 = $2,744,496,000,000 *.003 or .3 % = magic $8,233,488,000 Eight Billion! Voila! All sounds great on paper.
In this case it might be in our best interest to do the work for the unimaginative politicians!! I think I just solved it above.
@EmBee: here’s my take on how my proposed $750 passport fee would affect a family of four wanting to visit Canada, and having to shell out $3000. That’s not the full picture. Those passports enable them to visit anywhere outside the USA, not just a single trip to Canada.
And if a $750 passport fee hits Homelanders hard, they can go suck eggs. No, I don’t mean that. But the facts remain:
1) Current tax and reporting regulations very much discourage anyone from leaving the USA
2) An American passport is “the most valuable in the world”, according to every US politician
3) The only verifiable, genuine cases that I know of, of US embassies helping Americans in trouble abroad, are things such as prison visits to US tourists arrested overseas.
Therefore, charging through the nose for a passport fits the current agenda of erecting walls around the USA, emphasizing the exceptionalism of the USA, as well as plays into the notion that such a fee pays for the protection and rescue of Americans abroad.
And if that family of four doesn’t want to pay $3000 to visit Canada, they can go to Vermont instead, where the maple syrup is better in any case (sorry, as an ex-Vermonter I had to state the truth)
@Neil
I am just sick and tired of hearing the words “fair share”. If it was fair, none of us would be here.