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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. “8.5 million U.S. taxpayers filed for a foreign income exclusion or a foreign tax credit resulting from foreign income, only 1.1 million filed FBARs from this potential pool and only 300,000 filed Form 8938.”

    Is it a myth, then, that most US citizens outside the US don’t file?

    That’s depressing.

  3. Anyone in the U.S. with a Mutual fund that has investments in other countries will likely have foreign tax paid for which they claim a credit.

    1.1 million FBARS still that figure could mostly be U.S. residents.

    300,000 8938. Same comment as above. This one has a much higher threshold so makes sense that the numbers are only a fraction of the FBAR #s.

  4. JC –

    184 pages of new analysis of #FATCA and #crs for free download

    Background and Current Status of FATCA an CRS (Sept 2017 edition)
    William Byrnes, Guide to FATCA and CRS Compliance, Lexis (Sept. 2017).

    From the table of contents, this is just an updated version of the one he published earlier this year. It appears to be the introductory chapter in a large book on FATCA compliance – and he appears to update it semi-annually.

    I read the first page or two, and there does appear to be some new information, but the bulk of it appears to be much the same as the previous version.

  5. <blockquote
    “8.5 million U.S. taxpayers filed for a foreign income exclusion or a foreign tax credit resulting from foreign income, only 1.1 million filed FBARs from this potential pool and only 300,000 filed Form 8938.”

    Is it a myth, then, that most US citizens outside the US don’t file?

    That’s depressing.

    But also illuminating.

    If most US citizens outside the US were filing US tax returns before FATCA/IGA was implemented, they weren’t being coerced into doing so by FATCA/IGA. And they weren’t being coerced into filing by the IRS, because then as now the IRS lacked access to earnings/investment income for non-US-resident individuals. This group have problems due to their US citizenship. Renouncing US citizenship would solve the CBT-related difficulties but not, for those born in America, the residual FATCA difficulties.

    So it seems that a comparatively small minority of persons with US citizenship who don’t live in America are being adversely affected as a result of FATCA: those with US birthplace who have renounced, or are unable to renounce, or, as children of diplomats, have never been US citizens.

    The adverse effects of FATCA/IGA on this group are the bank/investment access problems which arise from being treated as resident in the US for tax purposes solely on the grounds of national origin. And this is part of the “Wider Approach” implementation of the Common Reporting Standard as well as FATCA/IGA, so repeal of FATCA wouldn’t make it go away.

    We may be stuck with it.

  7. JC, Karen:

    You may be right. I suppose it could also be that a lot of these claim forms could have been filed by US citizens working/living abroad but filing from a US address.

    So US citizens living outside the US and not filing could be much more numerous than it appears from the figures quoted by Byrne.

    And therefore the category “born in US, renounced or can’t renounce or was never a USC” (the category being adversely affected by the AEOI regimes) could also be considerably larger.

    Those who can’t renounce are in the most invidious position. Those of us with CLNs or proof of diplomat parents have proof of non-US-citizenship and can probably resolve the misattribution or go to another FI. So the inability to renounce is the most intractable problem.

    What could be done?

  9. And it could also include many who don’t want to renounce.

    There’s no chance any country is going to refuse to report accounts held by a US citizen. Of those born in America who can’t afford to buy a CLN, only those who can prove that they have relinquished US citizenship according to the INA rules stand any chance of winning a court case to get acknowledged in their country of residence as non-US-citizens.

    And it’s not likely any such case will ever be brought, because it would be much cheaper and easier to renounce. If a person can’t do one, they probably can’t do the other.

  10. “There’s no chance any country is going to refuse to report accounts held by a US citizen.”

    Unless laws of the country make it illegal to do so, as appears to be the case for Canadian citizens.

  11. Plaxy: I’m not sure if I understand your latest statement. As it stands, since it signed the FATCA IGA, it is perfectly legal for Canada to *report* its citizens to the US if they are also believed to be US citizens. The FATCA IGA mandated it to do this. That’s the reason for our lawsuit against the Canadian government. What Canada will NOT do is assist the US in *collecting* from us.

    So, instead of protecting us from the actions of a foreign state operating extra-territorially within our own borders, Canada will put us through the hell of being reported on and perhaps suffering harassment by the IRS but, in its great magnanimity, will draw the line at acting as a collection agency for the IRS. Thanks a lot, Canada?

  12. “As it stands, since it signed the FATCA IGA, it is perfectly legal for Canada to *report* its citizens to the US if they are also believed to be US citizens. ”

    Yes, legal under the IGA, but not allowed under the Charter – isn’t that what the lawsuit aims to settle?

  14. @ JC
    Thanks for finding the DA report so quickly. The best part are the many comments they included and I like the emphasis on complexity and extra cost to overseas filers.

  15. I nominate that research presentation for a IBS feature.

    The ACA RBT plan got a feature so this should as well. Karen wrote the into there. I don’t think much intro is needed. Just post as a feature and to highlight for comment.

    @Calgary411 this could be from your comment:

    APPENDIX V:

    U.S. tax on non-US government social welfare payments (eg for citizens who have disabilities, are unemployed, indigent, at university or aged or other):

  16. Thanks, JC.

    I have entered the post for you. http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2017/10/10/democrats-abroad-report-results-of-2017-non-resident-taxation-research-project/

    Not the words from my input (and DA may not have wanted to put the words of someone who has officially renounced US citizenship), but glad to see that others have the same concerns that made mention in the report!

    APPENDIX V:

    U.S. tax on non-US government social welfare payments (eg for citizens who have disabilities, are unemployed, indigent, at university or aged or other)

  17. @Calgary411
    “and DA may not have wanted to put the words of someone who has officially renounced US citizenship”

    I didn’t let that stop me. Those of us who have renounced are probably the ones who best understand the problems with the current system.

  18. “I didn’t let that stop me. Those of us who have renounced are probably the ones who best understand the problems with the current system.”

    We’re not voters.

    I enjoyed completing the survey though. Very therapeutic.

  21. Use of US taxation to punish dissent;
    http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/nfl/donald-trump-nfl-1.4347283

    Will the US enact some extra tax punishments for those abroad who criticize the US? When I relinquished in disgust with US extraterritorial CBT, FBAR and FATCA, I took the US flag off my Canadian fridge – which had been on there for more than 30 years. Good thing I’m no longer considered a ‘US taxable person’ or maybe the IRS will institute a new special tax on the unpatriotic abroad ……

  22. ‘Part II: Foreign Data In Chaos at IRS’
    https://www.angloinfo.com/blogs/global/us-tax/part-ii-foreign-data-in-chaos-at-irs/

    Note that author underscores the interesting fact that the TIGTA report and authors left FATCA out of their audit;
    “…As mentioned in my earlier post, my initial interest in the TIGTA Report was to learn more about the processing of data collected pursuant to FATCA. As also mentioned, the Report specifically (and surprisingly) did not include FATCA data. The AEOI program would apparently cover data received by the IRS under FATCA, had TIGTA included automatic exchange of information from FATCA in the audit. The balance of this post will focus on the flaws found in the AEOI program because they provide valuable clues as to the shortcomings with the bulk data coming in pursuant to FATCA compliance……”

  24. @Bublebustin

    From the report:

    Treasury is committed to reducing complexity and lessening the burden of tax regulations…These include regulations….and the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

  25. “The balance of this post will focus on the flaws found in the AEOI program because they provide valuable clues as to the shortcomings with the bulk data coming in pursuant to FATCA compliance.”

    Valuable to whom? The IRS? Tax evaders? Or tax advisors seeking new scare tactics?

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