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

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-3-of-3  )

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” of FATCA/CBT articles.  [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 aren’t on this list yet.

2016.12.29
Switzerland moves further to end bank secrecy, Financial Times, UK.
2016.12.23
How FATCA Infringes and Trammels our Statehood, Stephen Kangal, Trinidad and Tobago News, Trinidad and Tobago.
Barclay’s chief preparing to take a stand against US regulators over unduly high fines to European banks, James Quinn, The Telegraph, UK.
2016.12.22
Canada refuses to name bank that broke money laundering rules 1225 timtes, Mike De Souze, Robert Cribb & Marco Oved, National Observer.
Financial Intelligence agency gave bankers head up about money laundering disclosure, Mike De Souza, Robert  Cribb & Marco Oved, National Observer.
2016.12.21
US citizens may pay double tax on Kahlon’s child savings program, Michael Zeff, Jerusalem Post, Israel.
Applying to be Swiss in the Trump Era, Steve Krump,  SwissInfo, Switzerland.
2016.12.20
File That Tax, Boom Chicago, YouTube, Netherlands.
Tijuana City Councilman Faces US Money Laundering Charges, Sandra Dibble and Dana Littlefield, San Diego Union, US.
2016.12.19
Senate Report Finds IRS Agents Living Large on Public’s Dime, Guillermo Jiminez, Tax Revolution Institute, US.
AG to UNC: Come to Parliament first – a Joint Select Committee to deal with FATCA . . ., Ria Taitt, Daily Express, Trinidad.
Rand Paul criticizes framework of tax reform plan, Naomi Jagoda, The Hill, US.

Articles from earlier 2016 are at this link

Articles from 2015 are at this link

Articles from 2014 are at this link

Media and Blog Articles  thread, Part 1 of 3, is at this link.

Media and Blog Articles thread, Part 2 of 3 is at this link.

 

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

  1. “Why the IRS’s Technology Nightmare Is Far From Over”
    http://fortune.com/2016/03/25/irs-technology-taxes/
    (Longer version of to be published in 1 April 2016 issue of Fortune under the title “The IRS and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Decade.“)

    The [hacking] episodes illustrate the immense technological challenges facing the agency, which—even as annual tax receipts have risen to more than $3 trillion—still uses half-century-old magnetic tape to store and process tax return records, as well as versions of Windows so old that Microsoft abandoned upkeep for them years ago.

    What can you say? Magnetic tape!

    The USG is just unbelievably stupid not to take better care of the thing that pays their salaries. It’s not even funny – it’s terrifying. What version of Windows does the military use, I wonder.

  3. “GAO: Action Needed to Combat $5 Billion Tax Refund Fraud”
    http://waysandmeans.house.gov/gao-action-needed-to-combat-5-billion-tax-refund-fraud/

    ““The IRS is not doing enough to protect Americans from the terrible crime of identity theft and fraud,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI). “In one case, the IRS received over 2,000 returns from a single address – paying out over $3.3 million in refunds. That is not just a simple error, that is clear mismanagement.”

    ““By the time IRS matches all of the payroll information it collects with the tax returns it receives, billions of dollars in fraudulent refunds have already been sent out the door. This is a serious and unacceptable issue that must be addressed now,” said Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

    See http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-633 for the GAO report.

    Based on preliminary analysis, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates it paid $5.2 billion in fraudulent identity theft (IDT) refunds in filing season 2013, while preventing $24.2 billion (based on what it could detect). The full extent is unknown because of the challenges inherent in detecting IDT refund fraud.
    IDT refund fraud takes advantage of IRS’s “look-back” compliance model. Under this model, rather than holding refunds until completing all compliance checks, IRS issues refunds after conducting selected reviews. While there are no simple solutions, one option is earlier matching of employer-reported wage information to taxpayers’ returns before issuing refunds. IRS currently cannot do such matching because employers’ wage data (from Form W-2s) are not available until months after IRS issues most refunds. Consequently, IRS begins matching employer-reported W-2 data to tax returns in July, following the tax season. If IRS had access to W-2 data earlier—through accelerated W-2 deadlines and increased electronic filing of W-2s—it could conduct pre-refund matching and identify discrepancies to prevent the issuance of billions in fraudulent refunds.

    So what is the IRS doing to gain earlier access to W-2 data in order to have a pre-payment looksee whether those two million refunds requested from a single IP number are genuine?

    Accelerated W-2 deadlines. In 2014, the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) proposed that Congress accelerate W-2 deadlines to January 31. However, IRS has not fully assessed the impacts of this proposal. Without this assessment, Congress does not have the information needed to deliberate the merits of such a significant change to W-2 deadlines or the use of pre-refund W-2 matching.

    You couldn’t make it up. They pay out unlimited refunds without verifying any numbers. This system is a shambles.

  5. @Tapeman – thanks for the link. The Economist article is interesting. I grant you, the words “magnetic tape” conjure up for me the long-ago days when I had to deal with the stuff. I’m quite ready to believe that CERN is using tape efficiently and appropriately. The IRS clearly is not. The IRS is using tape because it can’t afford to upgrade its systems. Never a good reason, and certainly not applicable to CERN.

  6. @Tapeman Thanks. That was very interesting. It shows we also have to be careful in our assumptions. The IRS & U.S. Government, however are still archaic and punitive in many ways.

  8. http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/rcmp-arrest-23-year-old-man-suspected-of-plotting-to-leave-canada-to-engage-in-terrorism&pubdate=2016-03-26

    I find it ironic that a guy like this– I’m presuming he’s a Canadian citizen– has more rights under this governmenment than I do. A person who wants to leave Canada and wage jihad is “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.”

    Me, I’m just a “US person in Canada.” My daughter’s high school is located at the site of a former WWI internment camp where “Ukrainian-Canadians” were locked up for the war (and then some). Under the present government, I feel (not really) that my family and I should present ourselves there for “processing.” Back of the FATCA bus for all the “US pesons in Canada.”

  12. @iota:
    Actually, there is a lot to be said for older technology. Nobody ever hacked a Commodore 64. Secure data transmission would be straightforward: Compose on a machine not even connected to the internet, encrypt using a one-time pad, on that machine, Export the cryptext to a 5.25-inch floppy and install that on a machine connected to the internet. Upload the cryptext. Hackers cannot reach the machine that contained the sensitive data. Misdirecting the upload would only yield useless cryptext. The floppies were easy to erase by wiping a magnet over them. That didn’t “delete” the data, but destroyed it.

  14. @Tom Alciere – “Actually, there is a lot to be said for older technology. Nobody ever hacked a Commodore 64.”

    To each their own. The Commodore 64 never warmed the cockles of my heart, to be honest.

  16. Repression Tax Takes Its Toll on Investor Portfolios

    Read more: Repression Tax Takes Its Toll on Investor Portfolios
    Important: Can you afford to Retire?

    http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Kleinfeld/Repression-Tax-Toll-Investor-Portfolios/2016/03/27/id/721094/

    FATCA was billed as a tax compliance measure which was projected to raise only miniscule amounts of tax.

    The dominate purpose of FATCA is to force foreign institutions to stop doing business with US people. It forces capital being held offshore back into the United States and subject to the financial repression regime.

    Disqus comments

  17. Latest to us from the IRS in case of use to anyone dealing right now with this (referred to as income from a *foreign source*): https://www.irs.gov/uac/Reporting-Foreign-Income-Eight-Tax-Tips-From-the-IRS-1

    Reporting Foreign Income: Eight Tax Tips From the IRS

    IRS Tax Tip 2016-49, March 28, 2016

    Did you receive income from a foreign source in 2015? Are you a U.S. citizen or resident who worked abroad last year? If you answered ‘yes’ to either of those questions, here are eight tips to keep in mind about foreign income:

    1. Report Worldwide Income. By law, U.S. citizens and residents must report their worldwide income. This includes income from foreign trusts and foreign bank and securities accounts.
    2. File Required Tax Forms. You may need to file Schedule B, Interest and Ordinary Dividends, with your U.S. tax return. You may also need to file Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. In some cases, you may need to file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. Visit IRS.gov for more information.
    3. Review the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.  If you live and work abroad, you may be able to claim the foreign earned income exclusion. If you qualify, you won’t pay tax on up to $100,800 of your wages and other foreign earned income in 2015. See Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income, or Form 2555-EZ, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, for more details.
    4. Don’t Overlook Credits and Deductions.  You may be able to take a tax credit or a deductionfor income taxes paid to a foreign country. These benefits can reduce your taxes if both countries tax the same income.
    5. Additional Child Tax Credit. You cannot claim the additional child tax credit if you file Form 2555, Foreign Earned Income, or 2555-EZ, Foreign Earned Income Exclusion.
    6. Use IRS Free File. Almost everyone can prepare and e-file their federal tax returns for free, using IRS Free File. If you make $62,000 or less, you can use brand-name tax software. If you earn more, you can use Free File Fillable Forms, an electronic version of IRS paper forms. Some Free File software products and fillable forms also support foreign addresses. Free File is available only through IRS.gov.
    7. Tax Filing Extension is Available.  If you live outside the U.S. and can’t file your tax return by the April 18 due date, you may qualify for an automatic two-month extension until June 15. This extension also applies to those serving in the U.S. military abroad. You will need to attach a statement to your tax return explaining why you qualify for the extension.
    8. Get IRS Tax Help.  Check the international services site for the types of help the IRS provides, including how to contact your local office internationally. All IRS tax tools and products are available at IRS.gov.

    For more on this topic refer to Publication 54, Tax Guide for U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad. You can get all IRS tax products on IRS.gov/forms.

    Each and every taxpayer has a set of fundamental rights they should be aware of when dealing with the IRS. These are your Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Explore your rights and our obligations to protect them on IRS.gov.

    Additional IRS Resources:

    IRS YouTube Video:

    • Welcome to Free File – English
    • International Taxpayers – Foreign Earned Income Exclusion — English

  21. Thanks, Cheryl.

    In a comment, I thanked CBC for running this article again — as it is vital information that many do not have.

  25. Here is one to make your head explode:

    “That law, IRC section 891, authorizes the U.S. president to double the rates of taxation otherwise applicable to citizens and corporations of a foreign country that he finds is subjecting U.S. citizens or corporations to discriminatory or extraterritorial taxes.”

    Of course the US does not impose discriminatory or extraterritorial taxes on its OWN citizens!!!!!!!!!!! These folks are beyond salvation.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2016/03/29/trump-only-threatens-a-trade-war-but-obama-might-actually-start-a-tax-war/?utm_source=followingimmediate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20160329#2a71a83a1302

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