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The Isaac Brock Society

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. Even though many if not most of renunciants have no real connection to the excited states, the Voice of America uses the pejorative term ‘defectors’ to describe them.

  4. @Neil. Townsend has redacted the letter. Could you tell if it was a Homelander who was dinged or an ex-pat? As a former US ex-pat (now just a Canadian), I would consider a letter like this as suited for the bottom of the proverbial bird cage. Thank you for sharing it!

  5. Re: Neil’s link

    “If the payment is not made within 30 days, the letter advises that the IRS has following collection enforcement options which may result in additional costs:
    • Referral to the Department of Justice to initiate litigation against you.
    • Referral to the Department of the Treasury’s Financial Management Service. (This referral involves an additional debt-servicing fee that is approximately 18% of the balance due.)
    • Referral to private collection agencies. (Referral to a private collection agency increases the additional debt-servicing fee from approximately 18% to 28% of the balance due.)
    • Offset of federal payments such as income tax refunds and certain benefit payments such as social security.
    • Administrative wage garnishment.
    • Revocation or suspension of federal licenses, permits or privileges.
    • Ineligibility for federal loans, loan insurance or guarantees”

    As a Canadian in Canada, I can see why there’s no FBAR penalties outside of the “OVs”. None of those actions would accomplish squat in Canada.

  6. @BC Doc,

    I didn’t look that closely. You could make out the letters and numbers but you would have to have spent some time on it trying to get the parts. It wasn’t very clear.
    Name looked Indian. Balances were big. 100s of thousands.
    The address had “Drive” in it which would be English speaking.
    I didn’t spend any time on it and just told Jack he messed up.

  8. Thinking of exercising your human right to leave any country? You’re one of those wealthy traitors shirking your duty to solve your country’s problems! Americans don’t run away! They solve problems with their can-do spirit!*
    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/want-to-move-to-canada-if-trump-wins-not-so-fast-20160505

    These are precisely the fears Trump has capitalized on to propel himself into the Republican nomination, outsourcing blame for high unemployment onto poor Chinese and Bangladeshi workers, who get all the jobs because their employers — the contractors manufacturing H&M and Apple products for Americans — are less hemmed-in by pesky labor and environmental regulations overseas. But American liberals moving to Canada won’t change this reality. They would simply be leaving the hard work of political change to those with fewer economic resources, social capital and mobility. Maybe, instead, they should stay home and get their own house in order.

    * Note: only applies to people moving out of the US. People moving to the US are heroic freedom-seeking immigrants who totally aren’t running away from anything.

  9. @JC – the case of the 65-year-old mentioned (Bernhard Gubser) has not yet finished. Gubser is seeking a declarative judgment on what standard of evidence the IRS must meet when trying to levy a “wilful” FBAR fine.

    Gubser’s lawyers said Congress used the term “willful” at 31 U.S.C. section 5322 to define the criminal failure to file an FBAR, which means that the government bears the burden of proving the violation beyond a reasonable doubt. They also maintained that the civil failure to file a return or to pay tax under 26 U.S.C. section 6651(a)(1),(2), as well as the non-willful civil FBAR penalty under 31 U.S.C. section 5321 (a)(5), contain no element of willfulness and are determined under the mere preponderance of evidence standard.
    Congress’s use of the term “willful” for the civil FBAR penalty reflects a level of wrongdoing commensurate with civil fraud, Gubser’s lawyers said. Citing the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Bishop, 412 U.S. 346 (1973), they said the term “connotes a ‘voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty’ and labels the recipient as a knowing violator of U.S. law.”
    The attorneys said that during a September 10 meeting to discuss possible resolutions to the case, they were told by an IRS Appeals officer that while the IRS would not be able to meet the burden of establishing Gubser’s willful failure to file under the clear and convincing standard, the agency would likely be able to satisfy the burden under the preponderance of evidence standard.

    http://www.anaford.ch/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/taxnotes.com_-_suit_challenges_preponderance_of_evidence_standard_in_fbar_case_-_2015-12-18.pdf

    Three cheers for Gubser for seeking the ruling. Let’s hope the “clear and convincing” standard is upheld.

  10. It will be very interesting to see where the judge makes the distinction between a ‘preponderance of evidence’ and ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ in this case.

    FBAR needs more exposure for the vile money grab it is.

  11. This just in from Foreign Policy, one of the major journals that U.S. foreign policy professionals read.
    https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/05/06/white-house-cracks-down-on-offshore-accounts/

    I really don’t like that the author implied that David Cameron was up to no good simply because he was named in the Panama taxes. Cameron paid all of the taxes that he was supposed to and I say that as someone who never voted for him.

    Just for that, I am putting this one up about all the money that John Kerry and his wife have in tax havens. All of it seems to be fully declared and taxed (just like Cameron), but if having money offshore taints Cameron it should taint Kerry. http://dailycaller.com/2016/04/25/exclusive-kerry-heinz-family-has-millions-invested-in-offshore-tax-havens/

  12. BB, the preponderance of evidence is a really trick part of this whole mess and has implications far beyond FBAR. The Consulates are supposed to use a “preponderance of evidence” level of proof to ascertain willfulness of a relenquishing act meant to shed US citizenship. In fact, they ignore that FAM directive and do everything they can to keep you enslaved, seizing on anything they can find to prove that you are lying and that you never intended to relinquish. When I asked Phil Hodgen about preponderance of evidence he scoffed and basically said it was never going to happen. So it will be very interesting to see how a court actually deals with the whole notion of willfulness.

  13. Joke of the day. An article has been pulled off the Voice of America website that contained the line “He will hear the world identifies the U.S. as the biggest noncooperative jurisdiction,” said Cobham” (of the Tax Justice Network).
    The punchline? The article’s name is “Spotlight on Transparency at the Anti-Corruption Summit”.

  14. @No name

    This “blurring” makes me more libertarian every day.

    If what you say is true, US consulates function more like a parole board when determining whether someone should be let out of prison or not, rather than serving those who who wish to exercise a given freedom. If this is the trend going forward, Liberty has a big fight ahead of itself.

  15. IRS definitions:

    “Preponderance of evidence – evidence that will incline an impartial mind to one side rather than the other so as to remove the cause from the realm of speculation. It does not relate merely to the quantity of evidence. Simply stated, evidence, which is more convincing than the evidence offered in opposition.”

    “Clear and Convincing Evidence – evidence showing that the assertion made is highly probable or reasonably certain. This is a greater burden of proof than preponderance of the evidence but less than beyond a reasonable doubt.”
    https://www.irs.gov/irm/part25/irm_25-001-001.html

    In the Gubser case, the IRS actually admitted that they couldn’t meet the “clear and convincing evidence”. Essentially they’re arguing that they should only have to meet the “preponderance of evidence” standard because they don’t have any convincing evidence that he acted “wilfully”.

  20. Boris de Pfeffel Johnson still hasn’t shown up on the quarterly Liberty List. Some speculate he’s being kept off the list.

  21. I don’t think so. I think it would have been reported in the UK press, if he had renounced.

  22. @iota
    Haydon posted a telegraph article which claimed Boris renounced in 2015.
    Was Boris’s tax return for 2015? I can’t access the link ( bad signal in the Alps). Boris would need to file a partial for the year he renounced.

  23. @Heidi – do you have a link to the Telegraph article?
    The Guardian article gives a link to a year-old article about Johnson saying he’s going to renounce – I’m surprised the Guardian let the writer of the 2016 article get away with claiming it was a done deed.

  24. @Heidi – found the Telegraph article that Haydon Perryman linked to. It’s from Feb 2014 and only says he “intends to renounce.”

    Road to hell, Boris. Do it first and then do the bragging, not the other way round.

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