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Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 4 of 11 (Year 2017)

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-4-of-4)

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.   I’ll make a permanent list of links posted here and keep adding to it,  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.

Notes:

From JC:   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.

From Badger:   On an important archival note, please use the Internet Archive Wayback machine https://archive.org/web/ (see bottom right ‘Save Page Now’ box to enter URLs of webpages you want saved for posterity, and try to save backup copies of articles and other items of interest in some other form – such as a datastick or external drive. Some important and very significant webpages and the fulltexts of articles are no longer available (although some can be retrieved if someone using the Wayback machine saved 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.

2017.12.28
It’s time to address the double standard about tax havens, Angela Wrights, Macleans, Canada.
The US Is Becoming the World’s New Tax Haven, The Editors, Bloomberg View, US.
2017.12.21
Rep. Dina Titus Supports Americans Abroad Tax Reform, Democrats Abroad, US. 
Now That The GOP Tax Bill Is Approved, The IRS Gets Busy, Brian Naylor, NPR, US.
2017.12.20
Taxpayers will have to wait to find out how they fare under new legislation , Renae Merle and Aaron Gregg, Denver Post (reprint from Washington Post), US.
U.S. Shareholders –Take Action by December 31, KPMG.
2017.12.18
Have You Ever Felt Sorry for the I.R.S? Now Might Be the Time, Patricia Cohen, New York Times, US.
2017.12.12
EU finance ministers issue warning to Trump over tax reforms, RTÉ, Ireland.
2017.12.11
Banque: les consequences étonnantes de l’accord FATCA, Edouard Lederer, Les Echos, France.
2017.12.10
As Australia ousts MPs with dual citizenship, Canada’s Parliament embraces many in its ranks, Kathleen Harris, Canada. (mentions MP who “assumed his U.S. citizenship was automatically rescinded because he did not meet several requirements for continued citizenship. [But when travelling to Washington] was told he was ineligible to enter the U.S. on a Canadian passport because he was a U.S. citizen. He was . . . allowed in on a one-time basis . . . it cost him $3,000 to later sort out the administrative requirements.”)
2017.12.09
The American Diaspora: Outreach and Organization, Victoria Ferauge, The Franco-American Flophouse, Japan.
2017.12.08
Foreign-owned banks to be hit by US tax rules, Financial Times, UK.
Trump Tax Plan Worries Europe, Christian Reiermann, Der Spiegel, Germany.

For articles earlier in 2017, click here.

1,720 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 4 of 11 (Year 2017)”

  1. I remember these letters, Trish, and I believe it was Deloitte. My searches don’t turn up much though.

  2. @Bubbles

    Thanks.

    I have been lucky enough to come across some useful ones-which will extract info for tweets.
    I am deathly sick of hearing that FATCA was promoted/accepted etc early on by the 5 European countries. That is only true after Feb 2012. Prior, the banks had plenty to say and it wasn’t positive (esp when their suggestions in earlier letters were ignored……)

    FYI there are things still available in earlier Brock posts, usxcanada’s site, Mopsick, ACA, Townsend- anybody who was active at the time and just general searches (though many links no longer work……….)

    I should learn how to get stuff into that wayback thingie badger talks about……..

  3. @ Patricia Moon
    All I could find was a pdf of a letter sent by Sally Scutt of the International Banking Federation to Mike Williams (UK Treasury) asking that FATCA be included in the G7 Finance Ministers’ Meeting (April 2011). It was basically bemoaning the fact that FATCA would be a big burden on financial institutions (no mention of the big burden on FATCA’d USPs). If it’s of any help I can e-mail you this pdf, otherwise I’ll just tuck it back into storage. I found it by following a link in the appendices of a letter Lynne and Peter sent to Terry Campbell of the CBA (November 2013). There are other links to efforts the CBA claimed to be making regarding the FATCA problem however some of them are caput now. (Lynne and/or Peter probably still have this letter.)

  4. And as you know, our own Minister of Finance at the time had some choice words for the US about FATCA before the banks got to him.

    http://business.financialpost.com/news/read-jim-flahertys-letter-on-americans-in-canada

    …although the Canadian Bankers Association still publicly opposes FATCA on its website:

    “Toronto, ON, February 5, 2014 – The CBA has been very clear on FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) from the beginning: while we understand that the U.S. government is attempting to address tax evasion, we have opposed how they are going about it with FATCA. Canada is not a tax haven and Americans do not move here to evade taxation.”…

    http://www.cba.ca/cba-statement-on-fatca?l=en-us

  5. @Em & Bubbles,

    Thanks you both so much. Em, please do email that link to me. I am especially focusing on the UK since that is the “main” country purportedly embracing FATCA via IGA with open arms

    I did not realize CBA still had that statement on their site. Definitely will use that in my pre-Wed Twitter rally.

  7. Didn’t all add up for me…

    Finance Minister James Flaherty and his changes in statements re *US Citizens in Canada* / reaction in Canada Parliament to another matter of the times.

    http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/02/23/finance-minister-flaherty-has-responded-to-carp/comment-page-1/#comments

    http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/02/24/finance-minister-jim-flaherty-is-already-effectively-stripping-canadians-of-us-origin-of-their-canadian-citizenship/comment-page-1/#comment-1145618

    Calgary411:  This verifies TO MY MIND all the misgivings I have about the why’s of Finance Minister James Flaherty resigning — and beyond!  Watch Jim Flaherty’s reaction when Steve tells the House of Commons that Nigel Wright didn’t tell Ray Novak about the Duffy bribe.

  8. @Patricia Moon:

    “I am especially focusing on the UK since that is the “main” country purportedly embracing FATCA via IGA with open arms.”

    Indeed, HMG performed a U-turn in late 2012, from this:

    6. We recommend that the Government introduce legislation similar to the relevant section of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), requiring tax authorities automatically to exchange information relating to UK citizens or corporations. The Government should also use its influence (via the OECD Tax and Development Task Force, and similar avenues) to persuade other governments to follow suit. (Paragraph 41)

    Disagree. The Government is fully committed to tackling tax evasion and sees transparency and information exchange as key tools but does not regard the introduction of FATCA in the UK as an appropriate means to achieve this. FATCA is unilateral and extraterritorial in its approach and has created significant difficulties for the US as well as affected countries in its implementation. The UK approach is to work in partnership with other governments, including those in developing countries, to increase tax transparency and exchange of information. The Government works closely with the G20, EU and OECD to deliver real progress in international tax transparency and substantially increase levels of information exchange. The Government tailors its approach to best suit each circumstance, making use of exchange on request, spontaneous exchange and automatic exchange, as appropriate. An example very relevant to developing countries is the promotion of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which provides a very cost effective way to access the benefits of information exchange. The UK, as a party to the Convention, has sought to ensure that the criteria for joining the Convention are such that they do not act as a barrier to entry to developing countries. The aim of this overall approach is to develop a comprehensive network of tax information exchange agreements which will enable the UK, and others to gain access to relevant information held in other jurisdictions.

    https://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmintdev/708/70804.htm

    to this:

    A leaked government document seen by International Tax Review reveals that the UK is planning to impose its own version of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) on its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories. The move will deal an almost-fatal blow to tax evasion through the UK’s tax havens.

    http://www.internationaltaxreview.com/Article/3121964/EXCLUSIVE-UK-to-impose-son-of-FATCA-on-Crown-Dependencies-despite-governments-denials.html?edit=true

    As far as I’m aware, UK banks had and still have mixed opinions on FATCA, perhaps depending how much correspondent banking they’re involved in.

  9. Actually, though, “son-of-FATCA” is a bit of a misnomer. The CDOT reporting regime (since repealed) was more like a foreshadowing of CRS than a descendant of FATCA.

  10. @EmBee, calgary411 & iota

    Again everyone, thanks so much. I have enough now to bug a certain someone.

    You will see!

  11. Musing over the UK’s U-turn: from the timing (soon after the IGA Joint Declaration), and the remark to the IDC about “significant implementation difficulties”, I wonder if CDOT was actually one of the indirect by-products of the G5-US IGA negotiations.

    Someone may have had a quiet brainwave while arguing with the US about those “significant implementation difficulties” and the unwisdom of the 30% withholding threat; the stick used to coerce the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories into signing up to CDOT, was to refuse to allow them to sign a FATCA IGA unless they also signed up to CDOT.

    As far as the UK U-turn is concerned, the timing, and the different approachphraseology (“FATCA is unilateral and extraterritorial in its approach and has created significant difficulties for the US as well as affected countries in its implementation”)

  15. https://www.courthousenews.com/foreign-bank-locked-u-s-financial-system/

    Foreign Bank Locked Out of U.S. Financial System
    April 17, 2017

    A federal judge on Friday lifted a stay preventing the Treasury Department from cutting off a foreign bank from the U.S. banking system as a penalty for facilitating money-laundering by international criminals.

    Since 2014, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, a bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department, has been trying to penalize Tanzania-based FBME Bank, citing its alleged “willingness to service the global criminal element.”

    After three years, the agency finally won a court order on Friday permanently cutting off the bank from the U.S. financial system, a move that FBME characterized in litigation as a “death sentence.”

    The bank has vigorously fought FinCEN’s efforts in court, filing for a preliminary injunction after FinCEN published an item in the July 2014 Federal Register saying that FBME actively advertised itself to high-risk shell companies used to finance terrorism and organized crime, evade sanctions and otherwise fund illegal activity worldwide………..

  19. https://www.facebook.com/events/422582154772507/

    Charlie Angus was one of the NDP MPs who really fought for us in those FINA meetings May 2014.
    Might be interesting to chat a bit………..

    APR
    18
    Meet & Greet with Charlie – Causerie avec Charlie
    Public · Hosted by Shacklands Brewing Co. and Charlie Angus NDP – NPD
    clock
    Tomorrow at 5 PM – 7 PM
    Tomorrow · 5–9° Mostly Sunny

    Shacklands Brewing Co.
    100 Symes Road, Toronto, Ontario

  20. @EmBee

    STOP! Those are FYEO! I have totally broken my own rules today for which I will likely pay….(dearly)

  21. ACA are tweeting about their RBT proposal – and looking for donations to help “score” the proposal to prove that it is indeed revenue neutral. https://twitter.com/ACAVoice/status/854092335218601984

    The latest iteration of the ACA proposal can be found here: https://www.americansabroad.org/media/files/page/0aacae5d/Residency-Based_Taxation_ACA_Descr_and_Side-By-Side_Comparison_170207.1.pdf

    I find the tweet and graphic disingenuous as their proposal is nowhere near what most people think of when they hear “RBT”. Instead, the ACA proposal requires taxpayers to buy their way out of CBT by paying an IRS “User Fee” of $2350.

    My feedback to ACA on their proposal can be found here.

  22. @ Patricia Moon
    ??? Aren’t rules, even our own, made to be broken when the cause is just?
    @ Karen
    Excellent response to ACA’s faux RBT.

  23. @EmBee

    ummmmm I usually regret it……..

    @Karen,

    Yes, that is a really clear and concise reply..

  25. I may be missing something here. Doesn’t the fact that the G5 and OECD initially disapproved of FATCA’s strong-arm tactics, then during the course of the IGA negotiations came to see how the FATCA _threat_ could be turned to advantage – doesn’t it just make FATCA repeal very unlikely?

    CRS wouldn’t work if it wasn’t for the looming threat of naked non-IGA FATCA.

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