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.
Ginny, WTF? As Barclays mom you should have known about this!
@PierreD,
I don’t get that either. Whenever I see reports of animal abuse , I cannot stand to read or look at them because it is just too disturbing. Elsie is so well taken care of that she thinks ALL humans are the greatest things ever. It is sad to think that some dogs (cats too) have good reason to be deathly afraid of people.
@ Pierre D
Barclay’s first ten months of life is too horrible to disclose. He is my fifth Scottie and though he was not a little puppy when we got him out of his situation with the assistance of the Scottie Rescue Org, he has been our sweetest Scottie ever. We didn’t hesitate or question why he came to us via the states. We welcomed him to Canada and he was duty free!
Sorry for high jacking the topic thread.
Thanks @Tom for the further clarification of new filing dates.
@ Ginny
Barclay sounds like a sweetie and perhaps he has some of your spirit too. Anyway, this is for both of you …
The Rebel, Ginny’s Barclay (sung to the tune of “The Rebel, Johnny Yuma”)
Ginny’s Barclay is a rebel
He was born in the south
Then Ginny’s Barclay, the rebel
Re-homed in the north
He got fightin’ mad
This rebel lad
When brought to heel
By a real raw deal
U.S. Fatca law
Was a thorn in his paw
The rebel, Ginny’s Barclay
Ginny’s Barclay is a rebel
He was born in the south
Then Ginny’s Barclay, the rebel
Re-homed in the north
He’d search out how
To end this law
He’d be Scottie strong
And Pitbull tough
‘Cause he figured that
He’d been pushed enough
The rebel, Ginny’s Barclay
Ginny’s Barclay is a rebel
He was born in the south
Then Ginny’s Barclay, the rebel
Re-homed in the north
Fightin’ mad
This rebel lad
To his rights he’ll hold
‘Til the Fatca’s gone
And truth is told
It was always wrong
The rebel, Ginny’s Barclay
@Tom Alciere
Well spotted. So, basically, the FBAR deadline will fit in with the deadline when residents and those who owe the U.S. money need to get their taxes in, but be completely out of sync with the bulk of U.S. citizens abroad who don’t owe the U.S. taxes.
Interesting JD Supra piece. Even though it’s about passport revocation, the author still interestingly includes that accidentals are being pursued.
http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/game-changer-losing-u-s-passport-for-70516/
Also, the New York Times has an interesting article today about how the U.S. is going to require shell companies to disclose the buyers behind luxury properties in New York and Miami.
Lol, EmBee!
I wish I had your talent, I’d compose something appropriate for David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” in honour of the artist’s passing:
http://youtu.be/Sa6bI_95G9I
Here you go BB. I’m not as talented as Embee, but I gave it a quick shot.
You’ve got yourself in a mess
You’re not sure if you’re Canuck or US
Hey babe, you’re screwed alright
Hey babe, so put up a fight
You pay tax, but they want it all
We like eating and to pay our bills
You love US when they play fair
You want out and you want it fast
They put you down, they say you’re wrong
You scrappy thing, you put them on
[CHORUS]
Rebel Rebel, don’t dare confess
Rebel Rebel, your FBAR’s a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could you know?
Tax Cheat, I love you so!
Don’t ya?
[CHORUS]
You are so stressed, your FBAR’s a mess
You can’t have PFICS, but PFICS ain’t the test
You’ve got your FATCA friends and your law suit
You got your red wine and are in a bad mood
You wanna be there when they kick ass them dudes
And I hate your stress
You can’t get no rest
Because your FBAR’s a mess
So how could you know?
I said, how could you know?
So what you wanna know Canadian child,
Where’d you wanna go?
What JT do for you? Looks like you’ve been there too
‘Cause you won’t confess
And your FBAR’s a mess
Ooo, your FBAR’s a mess
Ooo, ooo, so how could you know?
Eh, eh, how could you know?
Publius. A puff piece written by a law firm drumming up business. Sometimes known in these parts as a compliance condor.
@BB…ooops….I screwed that up. That’s what I get with starting with someone else’s version of written lyrics without actually seeing if they work with the music. I will try again. LOL.
That works, WK!
Tell me though, as Bowie’s portrayal of one person’s foray into transsexualism leads one to confusion about their sexuality in Rebel Rebel, by the same token, would any foray into Americanism, however brief, leave one confused about whether they identify as solely American or Canadian?
There aughta be a law!
BB, revision #1 (tested to music this time):
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo
You’ve got yourself in a mess
You’re not sure if you’re Canuck or US
Hey babe, you’re screwed alright
Hey babe, so put up a fight
You pay tax but they want it all
We like eating and to pay our bills
You love US when they’re playing fair
You want out and you want it fast
They put you down, they say you’re wrong
You scrappy thing, you put them on
Rebel Rebel, don’t dare confess
Rebel Rebel, your FBAR’s a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could you know?
TAX CHEAT, I love you so!
Don’t ya?
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo
You’ve got yourself in a mess ’cause your
Not sure if you’re Canuck or US
Hey babe, your screwed alright
Hey babe, so put up a fight
You pay tax but they want it all
We like eating and to pay our bills
You love US when they’re playing fair
You want out and you want it fast
They put you down, they say you’re wrong
You scrappy thing, you put them on
Rebel Rebel, don’t dare confess
Rebel Rebel, your FBAR’s a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could you know?
TAX CHEAT, I love you so!
Don’t ya?
Oh?
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo-doo doo doo doo doo
Rebel Rebel, don’t dare confess
Rebel Rebel, your FBAR’s a mess
Rebel Rebel, how could you know?
TAX CHEAT, I love you so!
You are so stressed, your face is a mess
You can’t have PFICS, but PFICS ain’t the test
You’ve got your FATCA friends and your law suit
You got your red wine and are in a bad mood
You wanna be there when they kick ass them dudes
And I hate your stress
You can’t get no rest
Because your FBAR’s a mess
So how could you know?
I said, how could you know?
So what you wanna know
Canadian child, chi-chi, chi-chi
Where’d you wanna go?
What JT do for you? Looks like you’ve asked him too
‘Cause you won’t confess
And your FBAR’s a mess
Ooo, your FBAR’s a mess
Ooo, ooo, so how could you know?
Eh, eh, how could you know?
Eh, eh
The New York Times has an article on shell companies buying real estate in America and the need to find out who is hiding behind these companies.
“U.S. will track secret buyers of luxury real estate”
@BB re: “Tell me though, as Bowie’s portrayal of one person’s foray into transsexualism leads one to confusion about their sexuality in Rebel Rebel, by the same token, would any foray into Americanism, however brief, leave one confused about whether they identify as solely American or Canadian? ”
I thought Bowie’s “foray” was more about breaking gender norms/stereotypes than transsexualism.
@BB, but with regard to your question, “by the same token, would any foray into Americanism, however brief, leave one confused about whether they identify as solely American or Canadian? ”, I cannot answer because I do not understand it.
@Publius: From the NYT article: The government is requiring title insurance companies, which are involved in virtually all sales, to discover the identities of buyers and submit the information to the Treasury.
AFAIK neither New York nor Florida has actually made title insurance mandatory for real estate transactions. If you’re an ordinary homebuyer and losing your house means losing your life’s savings, of course you still have no real choice: you’ll get title insurance willingly, or whoever’s lending you the money will force you to. But the tax-evading money-laundering foreign buyers (whom Treasury claims to be targeting) mostly:
1. Are rich & liquid enough to pay cash on the barrelhead (i.e. no mortgage lender to demand title insurance)
2. Have a high risk tolerance from years of doing business in developing countries (i.e. willing just to do a title search and then tolerate the uncertainty of potentially defective title)
3. Won’t be left destitute even if they lose the whole house
4. At least in the case of Chinese folks, prefer newly-built units bought straight from the developer (i.e. less risk of leftover hidden bombs from four decades ago like property tax liens or a forged deed)
No title insurance, no disclosure of beneficial owner. Only snafu I can think of is if the realtors themselves demand the buyer get title insurance (e.g. to prevent some sort of malpractice or breach of fiduciary duty suit or whatever, don’t even know if that’s really a thing).
So I suspect this is a theatre performance, not a crackdown. The US government is pretending to collect data on all the black money their country is hiding (while not really doing anything about it because they don’t want any more downward pressure on real estate prices in a year when they already want to raise interest rates). The New York Times gets to toot their own horn about how their story was the trigger for the “crackdown”, while also tooting the administration’s horn. The administration trusts that 99% of the public won’t understand the details.
@Polly
Talk about chasing away easy money… instead of buying in the US… they will go elsewhere…. they act like people who buy property in the US… its tax & expense free… its not… Don’t they realize… if people want to hide anything… they got enough money to hire the best to do it… they have amounts of money I will never see in my lifetime
Your 2nd version is the ticket, thanks WK!
Not sure if you’re a boy or a girl. Not sure if you’re Canuck or US.
For me, I’m pretty sure who I am. It’s the Canadian government that’s confused.
@BB, oooohhhhh….now I think I might know where you are coming from. Correct me if I am wrong.
BB was living the life of a typical Canadian as she had been doing ever since she was a child. Decades and decades later she finds out that she is a US taxpayer. So she “forays” into the world of Americanism and suddenly finds that maybe she swings American as well as Canadian. Who’d have thought after decades and decades that BB has a repressed American side to her. You hear about married people who repress their homosexuality/bisexuality for years, and then finally come out, but I suspect in most cases these people KNEW they preferred/liked same all along and were just trying to fit in with the societal norm.
BB, did you FEEL American when you were young, or did you just come to this enlightenment after being FUBARed? Cause I think it would be unusual to at least not have some inkling of your true tendencies all these years.
@ WhiteKat
LOL … glad you did that. I’m not very familiar with David Bowie. However even though I’ve never heard that song I could sing along with your lyrics. (Well sort of sing … I’m a terrible singer.) You captured the essence of the stress of the vexation of American taxation.
Thanks WK and Embee for the great songs. Funny, just yesterday Barclay insisted I remove Born in the USA from my iTunes Library and insert Rebel Rebel in its place, so good timing.
Barclay loves his auntie Em.
Can someone teach me how to add videos like that? I have enough trouble just trying to type correctly, as you can tell. I could show you a picture of my dual citizen Scottie.
Still waiting for George to tell me if he is possibly a Euro citizen as well.
As to the other above posts, investing in property by foreigners has always been the thing. It’s hedge betting, sometimes a neat way of money laundering, mostly just an easy investment vehicle. And yes, mostly via cash. There have been some rumblings about it in BC and NY, and London, UK.
Canada has banking/real estate rules that require disclosure of funds over 10K held in trust by real estate lawyers etc. Some provinces now have a requirement for Title Insurance. In Ontario it was considered the best thing since sliced bread when it was first implemented. Now, not so much.
@WK
Actually, I’ve never “repressed” anything about my US citizenship. What came as a surprise, as you mention, is learning I’m a US taxpayer. I didn’t merely foray into US citizenship, as prior to learning I am a US taxpayer I voted in a US election, registered a son as a USC, and like you applied for and received a US passport. In those days there were no taboo’s associated with being an American.
I’ve never denied either citizenship. As I said, I know who I am. No confusion here.
@Canadian Ginny
I’m glad you like my choice of “Rebel Rebel”. Whitekat did it justice, I think.
@Duke of Devon
‘Publius. A puff piece written by a law firm drumming up business. Sometimes known in these parts as a compliance condor.’
I love this part:
An accidental American can generally avoid the expatriation tax under a special exception for dual-nationals at birth, and by certifying that he has been tax compliant for the prior five years. An individual who does not meet the exception for “dual-national at birth” nevertheless may be able to avoid the expatriation tax through proactive planning. However, in all events, the individual must certify that he or she has been tax compliant for the prior five years.
—-
Or an Accidental can just bloody well ignore compliance. Special exception my ass.
My special exemption is because I know where the boundaries between the USA and Canada are.