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. My question to Rubio. My last question didn’t make it. Be a bit more general this time:

   Congress has inserted numerous tax traps into the code in recent years that have no regard to lost tax revenue.
   These traps are aimed squarely at foreign accounts and investments without regard to Americans who live abroad or Americans who are immigrants.
   For example form 3520, FinCen 114 and 8938. Will Senator Rubio stop this practice?

2. Tax preparer didn’t want to tell a 95 year old that she hasn’t been filling FBAR. Pretty fucked up honestly that you can be in this position.

   http://www.taxprotalk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5222&sid=454d83ed20f9d952769c2b4de8f1a1bc

3. Woo hoo! Obama mentions us in the State of the Union Address:

   “It’s sure not the average family watching tonight that avoids paying taxes through offshore accounts.”

   We’re not average, hey! So that makes us “above average”?

   https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/01/12/remarks-president-barack-obama-%E2%80%93-prepared-delivery-state-union-address

4. I’m not using my “overseas” (local to me) accounts to avoid tax. I’m using them to live a normal life. And I resent the implication that overseas Americans are, by definition, tax cheats. (though I don’t really identify as American any more)

5. Karen, I was being sarcastic. It’s easy for all of us to lose our sense of irony here.

   But Obama did say that in the State of the Union (at least it was in the pre-prepared transcript; I didn’t waste time listening to the speech). But all that the Homelanders (and the president himself) will latch onto are the keywords: avoid taxes and offshore accounts. They fill in the rest with their imaginations. All of us with “offshore accounts” are “avoiding taxes” (and only US taxes count as “taxes”). Try as we might, we will never ever ever be able to shake off this insinuation. I don’t even try to anymore, because any other configuration of those words does not compute in Homelander pea brains atrophied by nationalism. On Facebook and even in person, no explanation ever seeps in. My temptation is to throw up my hands and say, “F— you” to my acquaintances, but I’ve found it’s better to busy myself with cat videos and food photos, since typical Americans are much more interested in those than in the situation of anyone living outside the USA.

6. What To Do If You Receive A FATCA Letter

   http://www.iexpats.com/what-to-do-if-you-receive-a-fatca-letter/#comment-3375

7. This article deserved mention by the critical think tank Global Financial Integrity. U.S. Economy: A Money Laundering Operation? America is emerging as safe haven for the world’s super-rich and their money – honest and ill-gotten alike. By Alexei Bayer, January 12, 2016, http://www.theglobalist.com/us-economy-a-money-laundering-operation/

8. @Bubblebustin. In the Rothcpa.com article you linked above they coined a phrase that finally makes it crystal clear why US expats must be hunted down and punished. As the article explains, we are all truly guilty because we have “committed personal finance abroad”. Now I finally get it.

9. That about sums it up, maz57.

10. Maz57, Well, I suppose that the tax accountants and tax lawyers probably do compare the politicians’ rhetoric with what they see on the ground and think WTF is this really all about.

    @Barbara. There have been lots of interesting conversations on Facebook recently among my friends about Ted Cruz. Amazing how little they know about U.S. citizenship law. I think that’s the problem. People in the U.S. still think that U.S. citizenship is hard to acquire if you live abroad and easy to lose.

11. @Publius

    Yes, as Prof Christians asks, what policy objective does this hope to achieve?

12. US FATCA: The German perspective | International Tax Review

    http://www.internationaltaxreview.com/Article/3520769/Compliance-Management/US-FATCA-The-German-perspective.html

13. @ Barbara

    Thanks for the laugh. I needed that.

    ‘My temptation is to throw up my hands and say, “F— you” to my acquaintances, but I’ve found it’s better to busy myself with cat videos and food photos, since typical Americans are much more interested in those than in the situation of anyone living outside the USA’.

    And this is why my beautiful dog Barclay has been getting extra pats for a couple years now. It’s my form of relaxation and therapy. Maybe I could claim him as a therapeutic dog for US tax purposes? Is there a reciprocal treaty to cover that? Come to think of it, wow. I just remembered he was born in the USA. Hide Barclay, hide. Although he is our rescue dog, we have always preferred to call him re-homed. And now that I think of that too, it’s just like me. My parents re-homed me at age 5. Barclay identifies as Canadian too, with deep Highland affiliation as he is a Scottie. @George, do you think he has triple citizenship? He has never lost his Highland hoot accent in his ten years.

14. On the Accidental Americans Virtual Hunger Strike Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/USAccidental/photos/a.1501599053469866.1073741828.1498181113811660/1518293495133755/?type=3&theater

15. @Ginny: Since Barclay is a USC (US Canine) abroad, has he filed his DFBAR (Dog Food & Bone Account Report) to the Financial Crimes Network? Otherwise he is subject to withholding of 30 percent of his current kibble assets to be handed directly to Obama’s dogs Bo and Sunny.

16. @ Barbara

    Are you one of those horrible condors asking me intrusive questions about Barclay’s status?
    The DFBARS really made me laugh.
    Can you advise me of any amnesty provisions he might qualify for after he turns over everything to the First Dogs?
    This how absurd my/ our world is now. Some days concentrating on the actual harms we experience is just too much. Thanks for sharing your sense of humour with me.

17. Re: Barclay (Barklay??) the dog. I think this pooch is in big trouble. He shares his name with a large UK financial institution but that doesn’t matter under the US tax code because he was born in the USA. Creative naming is a well known dog tax evasion strategy and the IRS will not be fooled. You may think he is off the IRS hook because he has been “re-homed”, but that is a common misconception. Once a US dog, always a US dog.

    Due to his US birthplace he is merely “living abroad” according to the IRS rules for canine domicile. Because of that, he is fully taxable on his worldwide income. (This includes not only his kibble but also any bones, chew toys, balls or other taxable dog perks he may enjoy.) I also suspect he hasn’t been filing his FBARs (Foreign Bark Account Reports). Similar to the rules for human children, your dog must file his own FBAR every year by June 30.

    Unfortunately there is no Streamlined Procedure for canines like there is for humans so his only recourse is to file a so-called “quiet disclosure” which,of course, represents a serious problem for a Scottie.

    Good luck, and please keep all of us here at IBS posted on Barclay’s journey back to compliance.

18. Re: Barclay, I see Barbara couldn’t resist either!

19. @Maz57
    ‘Creative naming is a well known dog tax evasion strategy’

    Too funny and yet so almost believable, Thanks for the chuckles from both Barclay and me, I will tell him about your advice and warnings as soon as he comes inside from burying all his bones and treats etc in a location I promised not to reveal which is south of the 49th, and also a mile south of Detroit,
    I still trust that @ George will have the definitive last word on Barclay’s multi citizenship status.

20. “Similar to the rules for human children, your dog must file his own FBAR every year by June 30.”

    an important clarification for those who don’t know it, while we’re on that subject:

    https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employed/Report-of-Foreign-Bank-and-Financial-Accounts-FBAR

    The recently enacted Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 changes the standard FBAR due date to April 15 beginning with the 2016 calendar year reports, which are due in 2017. The FBAR deadline for calendar year 2015 reports remains June 30, 2016 (with no extensions allowed).

21. @Ginny, Barbara and Maz57

    Here is a copy of the 1040-K9 (thanks goes to Petros) that your tax cheating mutts must file with the US government.
    http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/02/27/new-form-1040-k9/

22. Barclay is having his omg moment, WhiteCat and blaming me for never having seen this form before, How did I not know about this till now? There are so many valuable articles in these great archives I have yet to read. Typical me, always late to the game, He is now being more aloof than usual,

23. @Ginny re: ” And this is why my beautiful dog Barclay has been getting extra pats for a couple years now. It’s my form of relaxation and therapy”,

    My family adopted Elsie two years ago from a rescue shelter in Quebec, and like Barclay she has also provided much relaxation and therapy. I have to wonder who actually rescued who.

    Fortunately since her human mom (me) did not live long enough in USA to pass on US citizenship, Elsie is 100% Canadian. It is a good thing too, because she only barks French, so she would need a canine French-English translator to fill out her forms.

24. Oops meant WhiteKat,

25. Ginny: Thanks for rescuing that dog from the USA. My younger sister also has a rescue dog from Louisiana following hurricane Katrina, and 2 years after she took ownership, the Vet doctor discovered a lead BB gun pellet lodged in the dog’s chest. I still don’t understand this level of barbarianism.

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