Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

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)”

  2. I wonder if John knew his comments would be used in an article with the words “be very afraid” in the title.

  3. He’s also sounds very condor like when he’s quoted saying that Americans need to come into compliance.

  6. Hatch, Brady, Buchanan on IRS John Doe Coinbase summons:

    “[W]e strongly question whether the IRS has actually established a reasonable basis to support the mass production of records for half of a million people, the vast majority of whom appear to not be conducting the volume of transactions needed to report them to the IRS. Based on the information before us, this summons seems overly broad, extremely burdensome, and highly intrusive to a large population of individuals.”

    http://www.coindesk.com/the-irs-will-present-its-digital-currency-strategy-to-congress-next-week/

  7. @Bubblebustin, having lived through this, I wouldn’t broadly advise that every person whom the US defines as UStaxablecitizens must/should become compliant full stop. Everyone needs to look at the specifics of their own situation and what they can live with and what they have to lose. Given what we now know about the predatory and irresponsible behaviors of the US Treasury/IRS, for ex. unless there were other compelling reasons to come forward, I would not myself advise those living outside the US with the UStaxablecitizenship via only parentage, who are not already on the radar to come forward. Particularly if it would pose an unacceptable cost or risk to themselves or their family.

  11. @Shovel – yes, exactly, FATCA uses the same guilty-unless-proven-innocent fising-expedition strategy. In fact the John Doe summons seems to have been one of the main tactics used against the Swiss banks. Whence FATCA.

  12. Get a load of this comment – Roger Conklin would absolutely love it! Unfortunately clicking on the time does not give a specific URL for the comment
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/are-you-hiding-money-from-the-irs-overseas-be-very-afraid-1496395802

    Matt McCall 7 hours ago
    When Helmut is working on a project in the Venezuela Chemical industry and needs something, he calls Ernst in Hanover to have it made. When Tom is working on a project in Saudi and needs something he does not call Ernst in Hanover he calls Billy Bob in Houston. Billy Bob I need another one of those custom fracking towers like you made me for the Corpus Christi plant, when I was working in the south Texas office. This folks is why Germany does not tax expats, they are national export sales people. If we want to balance the trade deficit and bring back jobs then we need to quit punishing (taxing and regulating) our expats to death. What we are practicing is a national tax policy of envy. Envy never built anything.

  13. @Karen: Thank you for posting the Comments from the WSJ article. And don’t worry about the form – content is more important.

    @Patricia Moon: Had the same thought when reading that comment. Could have been written by the late Roger Conklin. He was right – the taxation of US expats is detrimental to US exports and US business abroad.

  14. @EmBee & Bubbles

    I am sure John did not know what the title of the article would be. When you are interviewed, you don’t even know what comments you made will be used and whether they will be relayed in the right context.

    I am also sure that John meant the comment about filing and going forward to put a reasonable and simple solution as a balance if you will to an expected tone of the article. This is the quote:

    so far, however, the IRS has been far more interested in catching egregious cheaters than pursuing non-compliant small fry. John Richardson, a Toronto lawyer with dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship, urges Americans who were unaware of the rules on foreign accounts not assume the IRS will throw the book at them.

    “Most of these cases are fixable without penalties, and people shouldn’t respond to suggestions that they’ll lose their life savings,” says Mr. Richardson. But people do need to become compliant and weigh whether to renounce their citizenship, he adds.

    This -“not assume the IRS will throw the book at them” – is clearly meant to be calming plus given the time frame now (esp with Streamlined) is a very reasonable thing to say.

    I’d be willing to bet the context of “but people do need to become compliant” was made more with regard to renouncing rather than as a separate item. More along the lines of putting the option of filing and renouncing as an option. I cannot prove it but I honestly cannot say I have ever heard “people need to become compliant” put out as a blanket statement …..

    There is also the fact that WSJ is an extremely conservative paper; we’ve had several people interviewed and have some experience with what to expect. For example, notice that Caroline Ciraolo was interviewed as well. That is the kind of thing one assumes will also appear and so one’s comments are made with that sense in mind.

    I know neither of you meant John was a condor but am posting this because new people may not quite understand the situation and could walk away wit an incorrect interpretation of what they think you mean……..

  15. Maybe John should have a word with Laura Saunders about misrepresenting what he said.

    Still, one doesn’t need to be US tax compliant to renounce – in spite of what a lot of condors would tell you.

  16. @ Patricia Moon
    I said he tries to bring peace of mind. That’s exactly the opposite of a condor who only wants a piece of your assets. John is a gem. You’re just seeing the usual cringing we tend to exhibit when the word compliance is used. Despite its letter count, it’s a four-letter word to some of us.

  18. From a comment on Allison Christians’ blog entry about the Spiro paper:

    “…several of the lawmakers quoted [in a BNA piece about Trump’s tax reform plans] were recently part of an EU delegation to Washington DC that refused to meet with Chairman Meadows who recently held a hearing on FATCA last week or in fact ANY elected Republican elected officials. ”

    Is this fact or fiction, I wonder? Did Mark Meadows request a meeting the PANA mission?

  19. # iota

    This is fact. When it became known the EU politicians were not scheduled to meet with any GOP leaders on these issues, an invitation to facilitate such a meeting was offered. After some hesitation, the offer was accepted. Then, just before the meeting was to take place, they (the EU contingent) abruptly cancelled.

  21. Me:‘From a comment on Allison Christians’ blog entry about the Spiro paper:

    “…several of the lawmakers quoted [in a BNA piece about Trump’s tax reform plans] were recently part of an EU delegation to Washington DC that refused to meet with Chairman Meadows who recently held a hearing on FATCA last week or in fact ANY elected Republican elected officials. ”

    Is this fact or fiction, I wonder? Did Mark Meadows request a meeting the PANA mission?’

    PM‘This is fact. When it became known the EU politicians were not scheduled to meet with any GOP leaders on these issues, an invitation to facilitate such a meeting was offered. After some hesitation, the offer was accepted. Then, just before the meeting was to take place, they (the EU contingent) abruptly cancelled.’

    Actually, it seems to have been the paid lobbyist Jatras who tried, and failed, to get a meeting with the PANA mission. (http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2017/04/06/rep-mark-meadows-sen-rand-paul-letter-to-white-housetreasury-urging-action-to-nullify-fatca/comment-page-1/#comment-7856317)

    I haven’t been able to find any mention of Mark Meadows requesting a meeting with the PANA mission – or indeed taking any interest at all in FATCA now the hearing’s been delivered.

  22. I am not referring to Jim Jatras. This was relayed to me by another individual who I choose not to name because I would never do so without asking first. This is not something one will find hidden (or otherwise) in documents and so on. And I did not say Mark Meadows requested this meeting. To the best of my knowledge, he was not involved directly in the situation

  23. My question was:

    “Did Mark Meadows request a meeting the PANA mission?” (typo – should have been “a meeting with”)

    As far as I can discover, the answer is “No.”

    If Mark Meadows did request a meeting with the PANA mission, I would be interested to hear.

  24. … With about 9-M Americans living abroad, this has resulted into their being trapped in a traumatic situation. The greatest concern is the complete loss of financial privacy.

    Paul Ebeling at Live Trading News gets it. He really, really gets it. FATCA — Find And Tyrannize Citizens Abroad.
    http://www.livetradingnews.com/facta-must-killed-gop-congress-44292.html#.WTXzCYWxmdO
    And this article by Denis Kleinfeld at Newsmax is almost the same. (Don’t know who wrote first.)
    http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/DenisKleinfeld/Republicans-FATCA-GOP-Trump/2017/06/04/id/794044/
    I found both these links at Americans Expatriates FB.

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: