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)”

  1. @Karen,

    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.

    Neither did my official renunciation of USC stop me from giving input to this DA effort or to the RO efforts. They are welcome to use the words I submitted, but I doubt they would.

  3. No opportunity to comment, so no way to insert comment about FATCA, but might provide more ammunition for arguments to our non-US home governments that the IRS is not able to keep secure the data it holds. It only cancelled the contract with Equifax after pressure from members of Congress. Those ‘abroad’ have no leverage with Congress and no true representation. Automatically sending the information of Canadian taxpayers to the US without any evidence of guilt or wrongdoing exposes personal and financial data that belongs inside Canada to the incompetence and insecurity of the laws and actions of a foreign nation and its government agencies – where Canadians have NO control or recourse or oversight;
    “……The IRS suspended a $7.25 million contract with the credit reporting company Equifax Friday after members of Congress complained the tax agency had awarded a no-bid contract to a company that recently had a massive data beach.

    The IRS had contracted with Equifax to validate the identity of taxpayers communicating with the agency on the telephone or through its website.

    In a statement Friday, the IRS said it suspended the contract as “a precautionary step” while the agency reviews the company’s security systems.

    “During this suspension, the IRS will continue its review of Equifax systems and security,” the statement reads. “There is still no indication of any compromise of the limited IRS data shared under the contract.”….”….
    https://www.thestar.com/business/2017/10/13/irs-suspends-equifax-contract-after-pressure-from-us-congress.html

  6. “Attack the French State for negligence of protection”

    L’enfer de ces milliers de Français poursuivis par le fisc américain
    Frédéric BIANCHI
    15/10/2017 à 09h53

  11. “In order to be relieved from the non-compliance status, the Foreign Financial Institution will have to report the account holder’s date of birth, make annual requests for the TIN, and search its electronic records for missing U.S. TINs before reporting information on 2017.”

    So FFI’s are required to report on account holders who could quite possibly not even be US persons, and harass those persons until such persons make the time and effort to prove a negative?

    FATCA, another great American boondoggle, shared by the rest of the world.

  12. “So FFI’s are required to report on account holders who could quite possibly not even be US persons, and harass those persons until such persons make the time and effort to prove a negative?”

    In a Model 1 IGA country (or at least in my Model 1 IGA country), there’s not much the FI can do to an existing customer who can’t/won’t/doesn’t give them a TIN.

  13. Karen & JC: Great articles! There are some wonderful comments now on the Daily Signal article (I recognized the efforts of at least one Brocker there!) The Jewish Week/Times of Israel article includes some fabulous testimonials. I wish I could read the French articles adequately. It’s fabulous to see this excellent coverage during this final push for recognition of the validity of our cause.

    On the other hand, the EBF Notes on US Treasury’s guidance on dealing with accidental Americans is proof positive (like we need it) that the Treasury Department actually believes it is right and proper to try to locate these innocent people in foreign countries and bilk them out of their hard-earned cash. If they can’t get their tax numbers (because they’re non-existent) they’ll take their birth statistics. They really DO think these people OWE the United States! Sign that petition, everybody!

  14. The EBF item should really be headlined “Good news for banks”. The revised guidance is a kind of plaintive bureaucratic howl of surrender from the IRS on the question of how do you make a bank make a customer hand over a TIN if they can’t or won’t co-operate.

    It’s nothing the customer has to worry about.

  15. Letter to RO, responded to by Solomon Yue.

    I thought the platform was THE platform, apparently there is more nuance to it. I imagine that the RNC Platform has substantial sway over other parts of The National GOP, more so than Solomon suggests below.

    Dear Republicans Overseas,

    Although not a Republican, as an overseas American I very much appreciate your important work on this issue. However, I don’t understand why TTFI isn’t being automatically included in the tax reform package, given that it was part of the 2016 Republican platform and has also been endorsed by the RNC. Can you please explain?

    Chris Dymkowski

    Dear Chris,

    Thank you for your question.

    The National GOP is made up of four national committees:
    • The Republican National Committee (RNC) is responsible for electing a Republican President.
    • The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is responsible for electing GOP Congressmen and women.
    • The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is responsible for electing GOP Senators.
    • The Republican Governors Association is responsible for electing GOP governors.

    The RNC passed a resolution in support of territorial taxation in 2017, and the White House supports inclusion of TTFI in the tax reform bill.

    But White House support does not mean that the House GOP leadership or the Senate GOP leadership will necessarily support Republicans Overseas’ initiatives as neither the House GOP nor the Senate GOP campaigned on repealing FATCA or replacing CBT with TTFI in 2016.

    However, both the House and Senate GOP are open to discussions about including TTFI in the tax reform bill, and Republicans Overseas will return to Capitol Hill on October 23 to meet with members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee to lobby Congress for TTFI.

    Thank you,
    Solomon

  17. “Don’t miss your chance to bring your pressing questions directly to the IRS.” Join a webinar for US taxpayers abroad with the very ones in charge, as well as everyone’s favorite condor, Roy A. Berg. On Wednesday, 15 November. Maybe we should all attend?

    http://moodysgartner.com/webinar-irs-voluntary-disclosure-developments-insights-from-the-experts-irs/

    From the description:

    Presented by: John Cardone, Director, Withholding & International Individual Compliance, LB&I Internal Revenue Service; Dan Price, Attorney, Internal Revenue Service Office of Chief Counsel; Elise Gardner, Director of Field Operations, International Individual Compliance, LB&I Internal Revenue Service; Roy A. Berg, Director, US Tax Law, Moodys Gartner tax Law; Marsha-laine Dungog, Director, US Tax Law, Moodys Gartner Tax Law.

    Get insight and direction from the IRS experts on current trends and issues in offshore compliance options (OVPD, Streamlined Filing Compliance Procedures, etc.). Don’t miss your chance to bring your pressing questions directly to the IRS; and find out about a recently rolled out IRS compliance campaign and what it means for you and your clients.

  18. Musician Alvin Queen, 67, was born in the US, moved to Switzerland, Swiss/dual for 30 years, renounced 2016 “to make life simpler at tax time.” Denied entry to the US by Homeland Security.

    Queen’s manager is trying to get the ban lifted: “It’s really about money, not justice. I have a call in to Senator Charles Schumer’s office, as he’s in New York, which is also Alvin’s birthplace.”

    http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7990197/jazz-drummer-alvin-queen-denied-entry-us

  21. Plaxy’s post makes it appear that this is an example of the Reed amendment which it is not.
    DHS dragged up 2 ancient charges against Mr. Queen in order to deny entry. He then made a mistake bringing taxes in to the equation.
    America’s loss not Mr. Queen’s. . Sad.

  23. DoD: “Plaxy’s post makes it appear that this is an example of the Reed amendment which it is not.”

    Not at all. It shows they don’t need the Reed Amendment to express their vindictiveness.

    “He then made a mistake bringing taxes in to the equation.”

    Queen wasn’t speaking to the DoS when he referred to taxes. He was commenting on the fact that the ancient dropped charges were never mentioned by the US for fifty years, until he renounced so he could stop filing taxes.

  25. This is is a bit of a red herring as it’s not about taxes and only very peripherally about renunciation; it’s about being denied entry because:
    – your name is in the NCIC criminal database (even though you are not a criminal),
    – the border official doesn’t like you (e.g because of your race and being an ex-US citizen), and
    – the border official needs keep the number of denials up to prove he or she is doing their job.
    In theory, a charge that was dropped should not prevent you from entering But the record created whenever anyone is arrested and fingerprinted can be accessed indefinitely even if the charge is dropped or the person is acquitted. Border officials have complete discretion as to whether to let someone pass. The normal person denied entry for an old arrest or conviction can apply for an I-192 Waiver of inadmissibility, typically valid for a period of 5 years. I don’t have any personal knowledge but I hear that the I.192 process is slow, costly and requires a lot of paperwork.

    I

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