Media and Blog Articles – Part 1 of 11 (to 26 May 2015)

3,971 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles – Part 1 of 11 (to 26 May 2015)”

1. The ‘end’ (so-called tax fairness) is being justified by the ‘means’ (unlawful IGA’s) – which other nations agree to by circumventing their own laws. FATCA is a house of cards just waiting to fall. May Gwen and Ginny be the first to knock a card out and get the whole thing to come crashing down.

2. I’ve been able to register successfully but I have not been able to enter a comment there.

3. Haha Bubblebustin! Good point about the “double eagle”! (Pun intended!)

4. Another survey opportunity to use the comments box to tell Democrats to scrap CBT and adopt RBT.
   http://action.dccc.org/page/s/2016-Priorities-Survey-2?&source=em_pet_2015.01.13_b1_brl_2016-priorities-survey_all

   This is different than the survey in the Brock side-bar listed under “Current Surveys You Can Take.”
   And yes, be prepared for a flurry of partisan crap e-mails back, but they allow you to unsubscribe.

5. Thanks, Shovel!
   I’ve updated the “Current Surveys You Can Take” page accordingly.

   @All
   Looks like they updated their survey, asking people to choose the most important of the top 5 issues from the results that came in. Fortunately, as with the previous version, it still has the box for “Are there other priority issues you’d like to add?”

6. A new Robert Wood article over at Forbes:

   http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/01/13/irs-unleashes-global-fatca-data-exchange-offshore-transparency-everywhere/

7. Another article about China and CBT. This one just might make your head explode:

   “We can criticize the code all we want, and for good reason, but it remains the envy of governments all over the world — including the only other global superpower.”

   http://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2015/01/13/chinas-fiscal-roadmap-tax-like-america/

8. Boom! Dang, I needed my head.

9. Thanks for the warning about that Forbes article Charl. Definitely warranted. Should come with a strong consumer warning;
   “This Propaganda product placement is not objective or informed journalism, it is an unpaid ad sponsored by the IRS and US Treasury”.

10. The Forbes article that Charl warns us about is a prime instance of the ‘propaganda model’ at work via US homelander CBT apologists:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model

11. Doggett and Whitehouse at it again with their hobby-horse Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act , billed as “strengthening FATCA”, amongst other things:

    http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/government-news/lawmakers-reintroduce-bill-to-curb-offshore-tax-havens-73303-1.html

    Rep Doggett’s own legislative summary consistently mis-labels FATCA as FACTA, which can only make you wonder how accurate the rest of it is. Especially delicious is the estimate that it raises $879MM over ten years by bludgeoning non-US banks that have had the sense post-FATCA to divest themselves of any US investments. Oh, and three uses of “deem”. A lot of wild and unsubstantiated assumptions seem to have gone into it.

    http://doggett.house.gov/images/doggettstoptaxhavenabuseactsummary.pdf

12. Globes (Israel’s Business Arena), January 13, 2015) Israeli banks extend FATCA declarations to businesses “By next year, the US Internal Revenue Service will require all Israeli businesses to declare whether any shareholders are US citizens.”

13. Posted at ADCS Blog: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/taxes/the-longer-you-stay-in-the-us-the-more-youll-pay-to-the-irs/article22418714/

    Wayne Bewick, a Canadian- and U.S.-accredited accountant with Trowbridge Professional Corp., said the first $250,000 gain on the sale of a house is exempt from taxes for a U.S. citizen, or $500,000 for spouses who are both U.S. citizens or where there is a Canadian spouse if the couple has elected to file joint returns in the United States. Gains above those thresholds are taxed at rates of 15 to 20 per cent, he said. A 3.8-per-cent Medicare surtax applies for higher-income people.

    In Canada, we pay tax on 50 per cent of our capital gains (again, houses are an exception). Americans living in Canada would pay U.S. capital gains taxes on the entire amount of their house gain above the exemption amount.

    If you’re steamed about these taxes, just wait. Mr. Bewick said there’s an additional and even more onerous tax rule applying to American homeowners in Canada. It concerns mortgages and the Canada-U.S. exchange rate at the time someone takes out the loan and pays it off or remortgages it. Listen up if you bought a house back when the Canadian dollar was worth more than $1 (U.S.).

    In fall 2007, a $350,000 mortgage in Canadian dollars would have been valued at roughly $367,000 in U.S. dollars. Let’s say you pay this mortgage off at some future date when the Canada-U.S. exchange rate is the same as was at the start of the year. That would cut the initial cost of that $350,000 mortgage in U.S. dollars down to about $298,000. As Mr. Bewick describes it, the IRS would view you as having made a gain on your mortgage of $69,000 – it only took $298,000 to pay off a debt of $367,000.

    This gain would be taxed as ordinary income and would apply even if you have a loss on the sale of the home. Also, you can’t offset a capital loss on the sale of a home against the mortgage gain.

    The obvious question in considering the potential taxes for American homeowners in Canada is how the IRS can enforce the rules. Canada shares information with U.S. tax authorities, but virtually no one in Canada reports the sale of a principal residence on their tax returns.

14. That’s where FBAR’s come in, Calgary411. FBAR’s make the sale of a principal residence an easily discoverable event, and for those who’ve never filed before, there’s no statute of limitations on how far the IRS can back, if they feel so compelled.

15. FATCA is just the best thing since sliced bread it seems:

    http://www.dailynewsen.com/business/us-introduces-safe-automated-method-to-address-tax-avoidance-detect-hidden-bank-accounts-h2817406.html

16. @Neill

    Lets see how long it will take for them to get hacked… hackers love when people say… It can’t be hacked then it becomes a game for the heck of it… plus… I am sure terrorists will be making an attempt so they can grab all the money they can… US is doing the work for them… everything is there for them to scoop on up

17. I dunno. Sometimes I think the banks are bullied into compliance, then there are the sanctions…. Everything America doesn’t like results in “sanctions”. Russia, Iran, North Korea etc etc. I wonder if there will be a tipping point? When the world gets fed up with the “sanctions” and looks for alternatives? But then, maybe they already are.

18. More from Robert Wood:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/01/13/citizenship-renunciation-fee-up-422-with-no-return-just-ask-bitcoin-jesus/

19. @Calgary411. There is a question on the 1040 return if you own your house.

20. Insights from Taiwan from E&Y:

    http://youtu.be/XPg0c1-w5ys

21. Sent to me by a US Expat friend – Anyone going to be Boris-in-Canada and say “stuff it”?

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/personal-finance/taxes/the-longer-you-stay-in-the-us-the-more-youll-pay-to-the-irs/article22418714/?utm_content=PersonalFinanceReader&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_campaign=122975573&utm_source=Personal%20Finance%20Reader&ord=1&utm_type=text

22. PS (re the G&M article) – read particularly the part about mortgage and exchange rate. Of course, the “answer” is to see an accountant. OY and GRRRRRRR. Rob Carrick is usually pretty reasonable and straight with his reporting – – just the facts. I think he needs to get some “feeling” replies and encouragement to look deeper at this issue from the perspective of 1 million Canadians.

23. @Orwell,

    Thanks for this. Very interesting stuff on a lack of a tax treaty so no reason to have an IGA.

24. @Watcher
    This sentence caught my eye. What does this mean? Are they going to start taxing outflows?
    “In addition to the control presumption, Section 102 would presume that any money transferred to an offshore account is taxable income that has not yet been taxed.”
    This bill is so poorly prepared that one would hope that it was just done to get a bit of media attention, but we are so far from an election that they might actually be serious.
    @US_Person_Foreigner
    Yes, this is particulary worrying after the CentCom hack. And IS hacked into information on the military, a group that the U.S. cares about.
    @Bubblebustin
    It would make sense if the FBAR crackdown was about enforcing capital gains on housing. Over a third of the U.S.-born population of the U.K. lives in London, with the highest concentrations in some very wealthy areas. The increase in house prices in London has been so great that most people there probably have over $250,000 in capital gain.
    @Charl: That was such a bad article. Great comments underneath, though.

25. Agreed, LM and bubblebustin and JC.

    Some commenters to the article think there will be no problem — and at least one says what the Conservatives do — “Just renounce!”.

    “U.S. persons” who object are free to relinquish their citizenship at any time. If not send your cheque to Uncle Sam or return from whence you came.

    The Canadian government should not lift a finger to help.

Comments are closed.