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. @Publius, “On the plus side, there is always the possibility that Trump won’t do well.”

    When I was a homelander, I resented outsiders commenting on US Politics because its not there business.

    When I left that ethos came with me. I am not just an ex-pat I am a former pat having relinquished.

    That said, of the entire lousy candidate field, I think Trump is the best hope for those cursed by US Parents or a US birthplace.

  2. Yes George, should the IRS be hot on my heels in Belgium, I would let them try to collect and should things seem to be turning in their favo(u)r I would move to France, or to Luxemburg, or Holland, or Germany, or the UK. I could do this while continuing to conduct my business in Belgium. But they would have to 1/ find me and 2/ initiate a whole new procedure. But of course I owe nothing so it remains theoretic.

  5. Yep, Barbara. Just cleaning up after myself now.
    The problem I (and others: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bennet-kelley/dnc-must-heed-warning-bells-from-2000_b_8889404.html) is that I don’t want to vote anymore. But not voting, or indeed voting GOP does ring bells from 2000. Hillary won’t help us with FATCA and will help the uber-rich continue to pay less taxes. But she’s probably, in the grand scheme of things, a lesser evil than any GOP candidate. Especially since those now running make Dubya look like a wise liberal statesman. And as the latter once tried to say, “fool me once…”

  7. Tom: the article you refer to shows how the ultra- ultra- rich evade taxes legally. These people are not affected by FATCA (well, their helpers do need to file more paperwork, OK).
    It would be interesting to calculate how much tax is evaded offshore. It’s probably much less than tax fraud at home.
    Funding and running the IRS correctly, and closing some loopholes for the truly rich, would probably bring in a lot more money than going after a few expats.

  10. Until US lawmakers and homelanders can differentiate between Americans paying full taxes where the live in other countries and those who intentionally hide their money offshore, expect things to get a lot worse. My hope is that through any escalation of the persecution of its citizens abroad, the US will determine that the taxing and reporting of assets of non-residents is actually impeding it’s efforts to catch the real offshore tax evaders. Only then will things change.

  12. @EmBee

    I just saw an article about US voting info that was out on the net without security… a security expert notified the US about it… it had everything there to have everyone in that database have stolen identification

  13. @George
    But did you ever consider that those people were filing tax forms and having to follow some very behaviour-distorting laws? U.S. citizens abroad are neither truly insiders nor outsiders and that is the problem. It is still essential for me to get inside the U.S. to help my elderly parents and even people in visa-waiver countries can run into difficulties. It is too big a risk, since they really need me now. Since this means keeping U.S. citizenship, which means being taxed, I vote to keep the situation from getting even worse. I don’t understand why you think that Trump would be so good, since he has never said anything on CBT, as far as I can tell. Everything he has said makes me think that he would evaluate U.S. citizens abroad solely on the basis of whether we were making America great again, so the same old, same old.

  14. @Publiuis, ” I don’t understand why you think that Trump would be so good, since he has never said anything on CBT, as far as I can tell.”

    Here is why,

    1. The Democrat Party this past eight years has caused unfathomable damage.
    2. Establishment Republicans have largely said nothing while this occurred.
    3. Trump is in the GOP but is hated by the GOP. I have yet to be burned by Trump.

  15. Trump is the best hope for those cursed by US Parents or a US birthplace

    Is that his public stance ?

    Is Rubio the only candidate that has put it in writing if so why are we not campaigning ?

  16. @JakDac

    I am only aware that Rubio and Carson have come out supporting RBT. Paul is against FATCA but I have no idea of his stance on CBT.

    Trump’s policy as far as I can discern regarding businesses is a lower repatriation tax but nothing mentioned re converting to a territorial tax scheme. I can’t find anything on RBT from him.

    What is most interesting is that the RNC had publicized eons ago that RBT would be a platform issue this round but to date I’ve heard no more about it. It is certainly has not been brought up in the debates.

  17. @Charl

    Prior last US election…. Republican said a bunch of things… after the election where they now hold the majority… all I hear is crickets… nothing is being done except making it worse…

    In Canada… Olde Stevie got the boot but again… nothing has changed… crickets… I no longer expect our gov’t or any gov’t to take a stand… only thing is lawsuit after lawsuit to fight for our rights & to release the noose around our necks… Expect the gov’t to fight dirty cause they think the Charter is a napkin from Horton’s with some scribbled notes on it for some canadians… not all….

  21. Regarding Trump, I have no faith that he would be of benefit to US persons abroad. The opposite, in fact. Many of his stated platforms have more in common with Bernie Sanders than any Republican. He even calls for a one-time wealth tax on high net worth individuals. The latter doesn’t affect most of us, but it does show where his head’s at. He’s playing the ultra-demagogue ultra-populist, and painting expats as wealthy tax dodgers fits right into the populist agenda. Though I’ll still vote for him over Clinton or Sanders; after all, we KNOW they’re our enemies. Maybe Trump might surprise us.

  24. @Barbara
    I agree. He is a business man who is interested in making money, and if he sees the budget deficit, he will not be averse to getting money from any place he can. We keep saying that CBT is wrong because we don`t use the services. He wont care about that if he can get the roads and bridges fixed with expat money. Basically taking taxes from expats is like making millions for free- without even a penny for investment. For Trump- the “sweetest deal” ever.

  25. @Embee
    Its not just that. With 20% late interest on tax owed – the IRS is doing quite well when it takes them longer to process tax returns. If a few dollars are missing, they don`t let you know right away with the excuse they are understaffed. No problem when the sum you might still owe keeps growing at an exorbitant rate, eh?
    I think a 20% late interest rate is horrendous and is right up there with a maximum penalty of 300% of an account. But wait – they reduced that to “only” 100%. 300% really does seem a bit unrealistic? Too severe? But then again – how unrealistic is 20% late interest? No other country does that. No money lender is allowed to do this by law because they are then considered extortionist. “Usury” I think they call it in english. But then I have heard credit card companies ask for the same- no wonder they handed out credit cards to anybody and especially those who could NOT pay off their debt. It creates lifelong slaves. People who made debt in their teens were still trying to pay if off in their 40s! Who allows for this? Since when does a government allow such practises or worse- adopt the practise themselves? Get one person who owes late interest- and keep telling them about it too late- and you have a lifelong slave who brings in more than any bond does today. Hell- bonds bring in maybe 0.75%. Compare that to 20%.

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