Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 3 of 11 (Year 2016)

2,818 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 3 of 11 (Year 2016)”

1. Not directly about FATCA but a discussion about government gone AMOK re civil forfeiture in Canada

   http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/marni-soupcoff-when-the-state-takes-your-stuff

2. Why is Justin Trudeau invited to the White House?

   …”As leader of the lonely superpower, an American president has a global outlook. Historically, presidents like to include Canada in their plans for the world.

   For nearly 50 years, Stephen Clarkson, who passed away February 28, studied how Canada approached Washington, and what the U.S got from Ottawa. His insights inform us still.”…

   …”Clarkson showed how the concentration of American economic power in Canada threatened its political independence. The pursuit of “continentalism” constrained Canadian governments.

   Democracy required parliaments and legislatures to make laws independently of foreign governments. Stephen Clarkson described Canada as governed by an “external constitution” of cross-border agreements, fashioned by successive American administrations, that tied down elected MPs and MLAs, similar to domestic constraints imposed by federalism.”…

   http://rabble.ca/columnists/2016/03/why-justin-trudeau-invited-to-white-h ouse#.Vt9Ut9G7dys.twitter

3. For a bit of fun…
   http://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/campaign-tips-from-justin-trudeau-to-bernie-sanders

4. Canada, which has way more deemed USP’s than France should be doing the same. Shame on Canada! From RO France’s Facebook page:

   BIG NEWS!!!!! FRANCE ESTABLISHES A COMMISSION TO EXAMINE THE US EXTRATERRITORIAL OVERREACH BY THE US GOVERNMENT ON ITS CITIZENS IN FRANCE

   “(Inaugural meeting dated Wednesday 2 March 2016)

   The commissions for foreign affairs and finances of the French Parliament (Assemblee Nationale) decided to form a joint fact finding mission regarding the extraterritoriality of certain US laws, which held its inaugural meeting on Wednesday 2 March 2016. The president of the mission is Mr Pierre Lelouche (Republican Party, Paris) and his rapporteur is Ms Karine Berger (Socialist Party, Hautes-Alpes).

   Several recent events have highlighted the propensity of the US courts and the US administration to purport to impose sanctions against foreign corporations and foreign individuals in respect of events occurring outside of US territory: these range from the record penalty one of France’s largest banks agreed to pay to the US administration (for a failure to comply with a US imposed embargo) to the acquisition of Alstom by General Electric against a backdrop of anti-corruption claims brought by the US authorities against senior managers of Alstom and including the US IRS pursuing French citizens living in France but born on US soil and therefore “Accidental Americans” for US income taxes.

   Based on the feedback of a wide array of experts, the fact finding mission will attempt to define the contours of US extraterritoriality, exhaustively identify all cases of extraterritorial application of US laws, assess their impact and in particular their impact on fair competition and the economic losses suffered by French companies as a result, and to study ways in which to counter such practices both at a national and European level.

   The mission hopes that its findings will lead to concrete implementation measures. The longstanding and deep ties that exist between France and the US in no way justify that the US should seek to assert legal imperium outside of its borders.rger rapporteur (Socialist, Republican and citizen, Hautes-Alpes).”

   ENGLISH TRANSLATION IN THE FIRST COMMENT. http://www2.assemblee-nationale.fr/14/missions-d-information/missions-d-information-communes/mission-d-information-commune-sur-l-extraterritorialite-de-certaines-lois-des-etats-unis/a-la-une/reunion-constitutive-du-mercredi-2-mars-2016

5. Retweets/likes requested here: Focus on: Canadian Civil Liberties:

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/707518597761863680

   @cancivlib wrote to a committee of the UN for feedback in regards to a range of human rights issues. FATCA was in there at something like item 57. An issue presented was the injustice of Canadians who had renounced US citizenship getting caught up in the information sweep, as they had for instance indication of US citizenship such as US place of birth. Also, pointed out was that there was no remedy for this when it happened.

   @cancivlib did not highlight the injustice of US extraterritorial law on accidental Americans. Their presentation seemed to assume the US extraterritorial law justified. Their writing to the UN represents, IMO, outsourcing concern for Canadian Civil Liberties in regards to US extraterritorial law, as if and expecting the UN to provide direction. Or, if no direction was provide, then no action to be taken as they did focus on the issue and referred to the UN.

   If @cancivlib is concerned enough about the (relatively few in number) Canadians who have renounced US citizenship and impact on them from US extraterritorial law, THEN they might also/should also be concerned about the Canadian only family members impacted and disadvantaged by the laws – as they undermine Canadian family financial security.

   https://twitter.com/JCDoubleTaxed/status/707518937722826752

   Next week I’ll have a picture on that and more of a go at @cancivlib about that.

6. @ Charl
   You are doing a great job with D.Ricardo who has renamed FATCA as FATCO for some reason. Don’t worry if you can’t completely turn him around from his “the law is the law is the law” stance. I’d say a bad law is a bad law is a bad law and you don’t make it good by vindictive enforcement. Anyway your comments will be having positive effects on more flexible readers.
   http://www.economist.com/node/21693982/comments#comments
   D.Ricardo wrote:

   My standpoint for the past 45 years: US taxation based on citizenship rather than primary residence is unfair, wrong and leads to intentional tax evasion by many expats.
   I have argued this with the US ambassadores in The Netherlands, written to congressmen and supported efforts to get that changed. HOWEVER, as long as the law is on the books a US citizen cannot simply pretend it is not there and evade US tax. There are also US residents who use foreign bank secrecy to evade US taxes. There are a lot of expats, some of whom have commented on this article, who paid the taxes in the land where they are residing and have not made US tax filings. In some cases they would have no tax liability in the US but still the filing requirement, but in many cases they are evading taxes – such as the capital gains tax issue, AMT, and tax on other matters not taxed in the country of their residency. I refuse to excuse that behavior on the grounds that the tax law is unfair. That is still immoral, illegal behavior. For those reasons I support 2010 FATCO. Unfortunately, horribly, the collateral damage shifts the arguement to a whole different level – as you and others point out.
   Because FATCO causes unintended problems for so many persons stuck with US citizenship that was never requested or wanted, hopefully this current uprising will lead to a sensible change.

   I say surgite with the “current uprising”. Make “FATCO” go bye-bye.

7. That would be “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Onslaught”.

8. Mmmm.

   http://www.democratsabroad.org/gaf_daitaly/short_facts_on_fatca_and_other_tax_issues_talk_by_tony_bonanno_in_bologna

   >Second passports may be a good idea.

   This is the democrats?!?!

9. @Neill

   I don’t have a US passport, I have a proof of US tax compliance document.

10. @EmBee

    Thanks….ha, I actually thought I had him there for a moment but he went back into his earlier entrenched way of thinking. Just fascinating how they stay entrenched even though they cannot defend their positions. They just keep stickin’ to their irrational story, FATCO and all. (I figured it was worth the time to hang in with him as it was quite a “get” to have an article in “The Economist”).

    I believe commenting has more value than just responding to the naysayers and trying to turn them around one by one, a colossal waste of time. I was most surprised when a comment I had made in The Guardian showed up in the body of an article in Bloomberg months later. You never know who is actually reading the comments.

    Boy this “stuff” can take up the better part of a day. After we win this we are going to have to find another cause that we can be equally as passionate about or there will be a huge vacuum! (Damn, I might have to clean my house).

11. @ Charl
    I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found the comments have exceeded the worth of an article. Yours flow so smoothly and logically. I’m a fan. The comments don’t just affect the readers. You can be sure the authors of the articles read all comments and that means they should be better informed when they do further articles on the subject. And then there’s Robert Wood who still can’t seem to settle on being Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde.

12. Speaking of Mr. Hyde:

    How the world is putting up with unmitigated hypocrisy is beyond me.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/03/10/cayman-companies-plead-guilty-to-u-s-tax-evasion-handing-over-american-accounts/?utm_source=followingimmediate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160310#2a06c66522ac

13. from TaxConnections, March 9, 2016: “IRS issues Final Form 8971 & Instructions on How To Report the Final Estate Tax Value of a Property Transfered to Beneficiaries”

    What of heirs outside the United States who receive assets from the estate? The IRS requires such beneficiaries to obtain an SSN by filing form SS – 5. How many heirs outside the United States who are not US taxpayers will bother or even care about obtaining an SSN? The instructions also tell us that if at the time the 8971 is due it is not certain who will receive what, we are to list all the assets that each heir might receive on his schedule A and amended later.

    Even more vexatious is imposing this requirement on form 706NA filings. These decedents rarely have a US Social Security number. The first time one learns what this number might be is when they receive correspondence, generally a closing letter, from the IRS. In the interim there is no identification number to put on the 8971. Therefore, trying to track the assets from the estate to the beneficiaries can never be achieved.

    Like I said, conceptually this is a very good idea but I am afraid that the implementation by the tax preparers and the heirs is going to lead to a whole host of new problems which will become readily apparent as the numbers of these forms required to be filed increases over the years. Congress created this mess, let them figure out a way to simplify it or make it implementable.

14. Trudeau, Obama unveil steps for cutting methane, safeguarding Arctic

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/trudeau-obama-to-unveil-measures-for-safeguarding-arctic/2016/03/09/dd725fbc-e639-11e5-bc08-3e03a5b41910_story.html

15. @ Charl
    After all he has written and read in comments, Wood/Hyde still insists on spewing out the booga-booga warnings. OVDP is safest — really? seriously? I suppose he’d tell a bear to walk over a leghold trap too.
    He writes:

    Under FATCA, banks everywhere want to know if you are compliant with the IRS. The risk of being discovered has grown materially. At the same time, the list of accounts facing the highest IRS penalties has expanded again. For those who are not compliant with reporting worldwide income on U.S. tax returns, FBARs and IRS Forms 8938, it is safest to join the OVDP or (in appropriate cases) at least the Streamlined program. The IRS has been clear that “quiet” foreign account disclosures are not enough. Setting aside the potential criminal liabilities, the civil penalties alone are potentially catastrophic outside one of the disclosure programs.

16. @EmBee,

    Isn’t he right? If you enter streamlined they can come get you later if they want to. OVDP locks down the tax returns so they can’t come back later. The problem with OVDP is that you get screwed but you could actually get screwed more. They have purposely added penalties from many different directions for anything foreign so they can force you into a terrible program like this.

17. @ Neill
    Wood/Hyde knows full well the harm OVDP has done and will continue to do. Advocating for something which does harm, even though he and those who created that harmful pogrom wrongfully think it is “right”, is fear-mongering (IMHO). FATCA affected people trapped in the USA have nothing but bad options but some who are outside the USA have the option of defiance (again IMHO).

18. @EmBee,
    >some who are outside the USA have the option

    Really? Foreign governments are rushing to turn in their US persons. They are actively searching them out and making plans to help screw them for the IRS. Today IBS has an article saying the liberals want to keep second class citizens.
    They really don’t care what happens to US persons. They care that the Us doesn’t penalize their Us investments. They care that they might just get a bit of cash by rooting out one of their own tax cheats with data from the US.

19. Not exactly commentable, but the AICPA has written a letter to the IRS requesting some amendments to the OVDP and SFCP programs. Among the other platitudes in this letter is the following:

    “The remarkable success of these programs is greatly attributable to their fairness and the absence of unnecessarily punitive penalties on those taxpayers eligible to participate.”

    Huh? Really?! It take a lot to surprise me these days when it comes to American doublespeak on tax issues, but this did the trick.

20. @ Neill
    Maybe I should have phrased that as “some who are outside the USA have taken the option of defiance”. Ginny and Gwen come first to mind.

21. @Neill, “Really? Foreign governments are rushing to turn in their US persons. ”

    With the greatest respect to yourself……

    I am also a realist and not a “Pollyanna” but I have lived long enough been in some bad places seeing very dark things to realize that at some point the vise grip freezes and then becomes undone.

    I concur that foreign governments will quickly toss US Residents regardless of nationality to the wolves.

    I sadly concur that foreign governments will toss US Citizen expats who are permanent residents abroad to the wolves.

    But I believe that when the US Government goes after Ginny and Gwens counterpart in County Cork, Ireland, Newcastle, England, Haan, Germany, and on and on and on……..the push back will occur.

    Let me use your former home as an example…..

    According to the last census and some dead reckoning there may be upwards of 50,000 “accidental americans” resident in the UK, who carry solely a UK Passport who are deemed USC based on place of birth or parentage. They can be found in every area of the four nations….Essex, Kent, North Umberland, Glasgow, Aberestwyth, Belfast.

    When Jack and Mary of Hull, yes there are such accidentals in deprived Hull, get FATCAd, it will be impossible for the government to stand aside and abet the USA. The Sun and the Daily Mail with the opposition parties including the SNP/Plaid Cymru will not let that stand.

22. @EmBee

    Elders in my family have said straight out… f* them…. made the kids all stare & narc them out…. ohhh…. they said a bad word…. they need to have a time out… I was like… u do it… grand scares me… I am more afraid of the elders then any dang gov’t…. them old people are crazy…. lol

23. The US makes a significant move to “normalize” it’s reals relationship with a country that has so far refused to cooperate with FATCA:

    https://www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/foreign-tax-credits-are-allowed-again-on-income-earned-in-cuba-2/

    Yet, the US’s BFF and largest trading partner cowers under the threat of US economic sanctions.

24. Oops, not “reals township”, but “relationship”. Darn autocorrect!

25. Anyone Game?

    Ben Steverman at Bloomberg Business would like to speak with Americans overseas who can share their personal stories vis-à-vis the US practice of Citizenship Based Taxation. He is ONLY interested in those individuals who are willing to have their names used in the article.

    I (Keith Redmond) have given him an overview of the problems and now he would like to hear individual cases. Please see the e-mail and his contact information below.

    “I’m a writer at Bloomberg in New York, writing mostly feature stories about personal finance issues. My latest article is on the tax hassles facing American citizens overseas.

    I’m eager to connect with Americans who might be willing to share the problems and aggravations they’re facing at tax time, or people who just have strong opinions about the way they’re being treated by the U.S. government these days.

    I’m looking to arrange interviews early next week. Thank you!
    Ben Steverman
    Bloomberg Business
    +1 212 617 7540
    bsteverman@bloomberg.net”

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