Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

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)”

  3. My main worry with anti-inversion rules is that they tend to have lots of provisions dealing with CFC ownership by the inverting entities and with continuity of ownership of a US corporation. That means now or in the future they might come up with a rule that’s badly-drafted enough (or deliberately intended) to apply to a US Person who owns a CFC or a US C-Corp on their expatriation date.

    (The only saving grace these days is that the rules tend to refer to “ownership” of the inverting entity itself, and so far Congress & the IRS have piously refrained from calling a spade a spade and admitting that the U.S. government actually has an ownership interest in U.S. Persons.)

    The current fury over inversions reminds me of all the “Son of FATCA” proposals four/five years ago, e.g. when Levin & his fellow ideologues started screaming that a CFC making a US bank deposit should be considered to generate Subpart F income. Fortunately those seem to have died out and been forgotten.

  5. @Queenston,

    I am planning to comment on one of these things sometime:

    I really hope many liberals do leave the country if Trump gets elected.Not because I think we are better off without them or that Trump is a great choice. My wish is based on the fact that the Obama administration has made life a living hell for anyone who lives abroad with FATCA and FBAR reporting. Costs to file taxes when living abroad are costly. Penalties for making a mistake are huge. Foreign banks and other financial institutions don’t want anything to do with US persons and your options to save and invest are seriously limited by the US ‘s crazy tax code that goes out of it’s way to punish anything foreign.
    Good luck to them and remember you voted for this. It’s just normally you don’t get to eat your own cooking.

  6. CBC News has changed its commenting policy re aliases (though it appears people are skirting that). Along with new policy, there are now very few opportunities on CBC News to comment on anything of importance. Sounds like these people did become Canadian citizens as Mr. Drucker affirmed that he was now a dual citizen. Their FATCA knowledge – who knows?

  11. ATT: Stephen: This is an old article but I went looking for it after seeing an interview on CBC News Channel a couple of days ago (a link for which I cannot find) with a health professional who had done research on the effects of the fear of discrimination on peoples’ health. The title of the CBC segment was the same as the title of this article.

    The focus of the research was on racial discrimination but the findings could be applied to any form of discrimination. The author makes the point that the *fear* of discrimination is enough to cause health problems.

    My point in posting this is that this research might be useful to Mr. Arvay in showing that the *fear* of being “ratted out” by our banks and by our government is enough for any of us to claim harm.

    http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/03/how-racism-is-bad-for-our-bodies/273911/

  12. @MuzzledNoMore

    This is why it makes no difference to whether the IGA’s are for tax information gathering or for tax collection (a distinction our Canadian government thought it was important to make) – the fact that any of us is being singled out for anything is traumatizing enough. The article you posted explains how damage can come with the mere threat of being discriminated against – when one is constantly living “under siege”.

    Persecution can not only cause immediate health problems, it can cause genetic changes in the offspring of those subjected to it:

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/21/study-of-holocaust-survivors-finds-trauma-passed-on-to-childrens-genes

  13. Muzzled,

    Your article raises the possibility, but I am still seeking actual witnesses who developed a medical illness (or marriage breakup) that could reasonably be attributed to Canada’s compliance with the U.S. FATCA law — and who is willing to disclose their name in a written affidavit to the Court..

    I know that this is a lot to ask from a witness.

    However, if anyone is interested they can contact me at: Stephen.Kish.Chair@adcs-adsc.ca

  15. Article on how countries without totalization agreements have expats paying into two social security system:

    http://blogs.wsj.com/expat/2016/07/12/sess-when-self-employed-expats-pay-taxes-twice/

    I especially like this bit:

    >Paying solely into their host country’s social security or national insurance systems could leave
    >Americans living abroad financially vulnerable at retirement age, Mr. McKeegan said.

    The unstated assumption here is that foreign social security is rubbish but the american one isn’t. We all know that SS tax was collected and the money spent. So how you can say the American system isn’t leaving people vulnerable to losing some of that is beyond me. We know something has got to give. I have got to bet that a bunch of countries have done a better job than the US here.

  16. Also bugging me in that article is the incorrect, and Americentric, use of the term ‘host country’ — the narrow-minded assumption that every USC working outside the US is just doing so on a temporary work visa — because for those who are resident and domiciled where they’re working it’s their “home country.”

  18. Media opportunity for anyone who wishes …

    Subject: Media Request

    Hello,
    I’m a journalist with VICE based in New York and I am working on a story about renunciation. It’s a broad story on the subject – why people do it, how do they find the process, is it logistical/emotional, etc.

    Is there anyone you could put me in contact (or perhaps yourselves) who can share their story about renunciation. If need be I can keep anybody off the record.
    My deadline is Thursday EOB.

    Let me know if there is any help you can offer.

    Thanks.
    Serena.
    —
    Kind Regards,

    Serena Solomon
    Freelance Journalist

    serena-solomon.squarespace.com
    @serenaspeaks
    LinkedIn

  21. I left a comment over at the WSJ article:

    “I was born in the US but left there over two decades ago. I pay into CPP here in Canada (Social Security equivalent) and pay taxes to the Canadian government since I live here/use Canadian services. I’m confused– why in the world would I ever pay taxes to the US or pay into US Social Security? I neither live there nor use a single US service.”

    BC Doc

  22. Neill,
    The assumption in the WSJ article that US SS must be the best is infuriating. Many countries have much better programs. Here’s one global ranking of retirement systems: http://www.globalpensionindex.com/overall-index-results-2/
    To be fair, the index considers retirement savings schemes and health care as well as Social Security equivalents. Several countries do better than the US.

    I think this assumption that “the US is best” is related to Pacifica’s comment that this article, like so many others, is written under the assumption that expats are only temporarily away from their “real home” in the US. Given that only something like 40-45% of US citizens even have passports, most homelanders have no idea why anyone would ever want to move out of the US permanently. This is part of the reason why we have such a hard time convincing them that CBT is unfair, they assume that all expats will eventually return to live in the US.

  23. @Karen, I actually believe that our SS is one of the poorest systems in the world. Taxes are high and return is very low for the money taken. Of course they just spent the money.

  24. I was pretty annoyed with Jacks comments here suggesting the Swiss government should be prosecuted by the US government. As I have said a bunch of times I don’t see what right the US has to tax anything I have invested abroad let alone people who don’t live here. Of course we all know that America doesn’t really care about the laws of other countries or even it’s own treaties. I put in a comment that was critical. Rewrote it three times toning it down. Anyway he took it.

    http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/2016/07/chutzpah-swiss-banker-moans-that.html#comment-2780542283

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