Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 6 of 11 (Year 2019)
You can access all years at this link: Media and Blog Articles – Links for All Years
If clicking on a link brings you to the wrong page in the comment stream, click here to get to the most recent comments.
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.
2019.12.15
Canadians travelling to or through the US should pay attention to their withering rights, H.M. Jocelyn, CBC News, Canada.
2019.12.12
EU revives issue of FATCA information exchange as year-end deadline for banks approaches, Helen Burggraf, AmericanExpatFinance.
2019.12.10
13 Reasons Why I Committed Citizide, John Richardson, TaxConnections.
US tax filing requirements that Americans living in Canada should know, David Altro and Avi Guttman, Globe and Mail, Canada.
2019.12.07
Confirmed – Rep. Holding to leave Congress at end of 2020, after reintroducing Tax Fairness for Americans Abroad Act, Helen Burggraf, AmericanExpatFinance.
2019.12.06
Trump is trying to make it took expensive for poor immigrants to stay, Annalisa Merrelli, Quartz, US.
2019.12.05
Revenue Neutrality And A Move To Residence-based Taxation: Open Letter To Democrats Abroad, John Richardson, Karen Alpert, Laura Snyder, TaxConnections.
What It’s Like to Retire Abroad, Glenn Ruffenach, Wall Street Journal, US.
2020.01.01: This thread is now closed. Please comment at Media and Blog Articles Part 7 of 7
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@ Fred (B)
We’d rather you were right.
@ Stephen Kish
It appears the USA has taken that right. Might makes wrong these days, as perhaps it always has. Now they even appoint presidents of foreign, sovereign countries when a duly elected president displeases them and natural resources appear there for their taking.
If Archie had a say it would be “Waaaaaaah!”
@ Heidi
” Birth of U.S. Citizens Abroad
A child born abroad to a U.S. citizen parent or parents may acquire U.S. citizenship at birth if certain statutory requirements are met. The child’s parents should contact the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate to apply for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad of a Citizen of the United States of America (CRBA) to document that the child is a U.S. citizen. If the U.S. embassy or consulate determines that the child acquired U.S. citizenship at birth, a consular officer will approve the CRBA application and the Department of State will issue a CRBA, also called a Form FS-240, in the child’s name.
Upon reading this, I have the impression that acquisition of US citzenship abroad can be “automatic ” only if you wish it to be so. Am I wrong?
Also,I don’t think the US can simply impose it on you.Of course,Meghan may already have the child’s CRBA in hand.
Robert Ross You are correct. Why are we still arguing about this.?
Yes, this is all semantics. The child is a US citizen but it must be documented as is the rule in most other countries. If not documented then the US has no idea the child even exists, so can’t impose it.
@Portland ,Heidi
There seems to be a matter of semantics,as Heidi says. To make my understanding clear , the automatic means a gift with the option of accepting it or not . If you don’t accept registering or documenting ,you decline the citzenship and they can not count nor force you to be a citzen. Has nothing to do with them knowing of your existence in some other way at all .
Federal Register of Expatriates for First quarter of 2019 is out late again.
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/05/13/2019-09731/quarterly-publication-of-individuals-who-have-chosen-to-expatriate-as-required-by-section-6039g
Thanks, Heidi. From a quick scan, it looks like it contains 1,018 names.
@Watcher
That sounds about right. I counted a few times but didn’t get the same number twice!
Not as late as last time though. My name finally showed up on the “Honour Roll”, I renounced last August. And yesterday I got my final tax filing done and 8854 completed and sent Expresspost, and got confirmation of my FBAR submission. So all in all, a productive day.
@Heidi
Cut-and-paste into a word processor or text editor and then remove the head and tail. Instant line count!
Isn’t it also comforting to see that all the old favourite typos and mistakes remain? The nugatory comma in the title and the inability to correctly abbreviate HIPAA are there every time. Maybe these errors are security features, helping to prove that it is a genuine US government publication rather than some foreign government’s knock-off. 🙂
@Arjan
Congratulations! It’s a nice feeling to know that you are shot of it all, isn’t it?
@watcher
Thanks for word processing tip.
I actually appeared twice but 4 years apart. I can’t conceive that anyone had the first, middle and surname the same as mine. Perhaps it fell down behind the desk or perhaps they wanted a second look at me!
Congrats Arjan, I keep a photo copy of the list where I appeared. Who knows those CLN’s are easy to copy and a valuable item , so I also keep the list for extra proof. 🙂
Watcher: “nugatory comma” Ha ha, good one. I learned a new word today.
@Watcher, @Heidi: Thank you, yes it is quite a relief.
French lawmakers’ report on ‘accidentels’ says France should consider unilaterally giving up FATCA reporting
May 15, 2019
Written by Helen Burggraf
https://americanexpatfinance.com/news/item/171-french-lawmakers-report-on-accidentels?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=News+Bulletin+May+Week+3+-+newsflash&utm_content=News+Bulletin+May+Week+3+-+newsflash+CID_8d76bcb14afc55c8b5693ae4664b395a&utm_source=Email+marketing+software&utm_term=French+lawmakers+report+on+accidentels+says+France+should+consider+unilaterally+giving+up+FATCA+reporting&fbclid=IwAR2_vTUcI8-ca-K9YBMhuHIly4-sjEMkEnVmqQVfWEMOGHunO9Y6IKKopWs
France Should Consider Abandoning FATCA, Parliament Report Says
By Gregory Viscusi
May 15, 2019, 9:00 PM GMT+10
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-15/france-should-consider-abandoning-fatca-lawmakers-report-says
Vive la France, vive la liberte!
Dutch are complaining about FATCA to Washington:
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2019/05/dutch-tax-minister-to-raise-facta-problems-with-washington/
French, Dutch Officials Push Back Against FATCA’s Burden
May 17, 2019, 6:51 PM EDT
https://www.law360.com/tax-authority/articles/1160645/french-dutch-officials-push-back-against-fatca-s-burden?fbclid=IwAR2wd0plCyBhgKJ6H9Wc6bKwMSGaaw63yVK5kZJDi0MNNf7AQUlj5ZNuSb8
French leftwing populist Jean-Luc Mélanchon likes the idea of citizenship-based taxation and is proposing that French citizens all over the world declare to France what taxes they are paying abroad and that if they pay less than they would in France, they pay something to France…
He is quoted as saying “L’impôt sera donc universel. Qu’on ne me dise pas que ce n’est pas possible, puisque ça se pratique aux États-Unis” (Taxes will be universal. Don’t tell me it’s impossible, the US does it)
One can only imagine France attempting to force French citizens in the US to pay tax to France.
He’s been saying this for years, but I hadn’t heard of it.
https://www.lejdd.fr/International/Melenchon-veut-un-impot-universel-pour-les-Francais-vivant-a-l-etranger-838606
More details here, in 2017. He cites the USA and Eritrea as examples.
http://www.lefigaro.fr/impots/2017/04/21/05003-20170421ARTFIG00141-impot-universel-melenchon-pourchassera-les-contribuables-aises-meme-en-enfer.php
May 14-16 Expat Tax Reform meetings with Congress: clarifying the way forward for RBT
https://www.democratsabroad.org/carmelan/may_14-16_expat_tax_reform_meeting_with_congress_clarifying_the_way_forward_for_rbt?recruiter_id=1448
JC: Very happy to see this work by Democrats Abroad being undertaken. I wish them luck.
It just seems as though we are constantly going back to some congressional committee or other for help; and every four years there are new people in government to educate about the whole mess. No wonder progress is so slow, if, indeed, any progress is being made at all. But it’s nice to have some hope injected into the matter from time to time. Thanks!
As noted in our last post, we expect the Beyer and Holding teams to create, in partnership, a consensus view on draft RBT legislation, send it to the Joint Committee on Taxation to be scored and to Ways and Means Committee Legislative Counsel to be structured into a bill which we can then build support for right across both parties and both chambers. Of course, nothing related to Congressional lawmaking is as simple or as linear as that.
We understand that a bill establishing a Commission on Americans Abroad and the Overseas Americans Financial Access Act, establishing an exemption from all FATCA reporting for the foreign financial accounts of Americans abroad in their countries of residence, are soon to be re-introduced in the House of Representatives.
https://www.democratsabroad.org/carmelan/a_step_forward_on_the_road_to_residency_based_taxation?fbclid=IwAR3JzyNX3WZiK0FX8q0xIsZ-F3ShvfFyL4jic1cCavrVwbfbY_bOAzDBp0g
@MuzzledNoMore Some thought that the Democrats were not going to come to the Holding Bill party. This seems like they will get together.
JC: Thanks so much for keeping us up-to-date on these efforts. This is certainly the most hopeful news we’ve had in quite a while.
May 27, 2019 Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit update:
Trial ended February 1, 2019 and Justice MacTavish still has not released a decision.
Those experienced in such delays tell me that the extent of the present delay, now coming on to four months, cannot be used to predict likelihood of either a good or bad decision: The Justice acknowledged at trial that the case is “difficult” and also that once decision is made another four to six weeks time needs to be added to translate the decision into the french language.
The CBC tells us that information on 600,000 accounts are turned over to U.S. IRS each year (2016, 2017, 2018?). Maybe more this year.
@StephenKish maybe they are weighing the consequences should they really do the right thing and afford every Canadian citizen the same rights.