Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

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

You can access all years at this link:

http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-links-for-all-years/

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.  You could mention such articles in the comment stream for this page, or if I see one on another thread, I can copy the link to here. I’ll keep adding to the list, but not deleting, so we’ll end up having sort of a “bibliography” too.  [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.

Note also: JC suggests 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.

26 May 2015:  This thread is now closed.  It continues at Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment, Part 2 of 2.

2015.05.26

New Survey finds US expat voting could impact 2016 Presidential Election, Greenback Expat Tax Services, NASDAQ GlobeNewswire.

This congressional committee wants to hear all your FOIA gripes, Colby Itkowitz, Washington Post, US.

The black money recovery skills of IT department are nothing to write home about, Vivek Kaul, The Daily Reckoning.

2015.05.25

The Intersection of US Federal Tax Law with Collection of International Information- – Including Other  Federal Agencies, Patrick W. Martin, TaxExpatriaation, US.

2015.05.23

America the not so brave:  America has led the global assault on tax dodgers and their enablers.  But the reality still lags behind the rhetoric, The Economist, UK.

Cash Banned from Chase Safe Deposit Boxes, Matt Chilliak, Live and Invest News.

2015.05.22

US Steuergesetz hat unerwartete globale Konsequenzen, Colleen Graffy, Geopolitical Information Service.  Also at Consequences of US widening net to catch tax dodgers, Colleen Graffy, World Review.

The horse may have bolted … but, Angelo Venardos, Asia Asset Management.

Important Correction:  Passports Required to Enter and Leave US — but SSNs May be Optional, Patrick W. Martin, Tax Expatriation, US.

2015.05.21

Americans working abroad face unexpected financial issues, Sarah O’Brien, NBC, US.

Senate tax reform groups get more time, Bernie Becker, The Hill, US.

2015.05.20

Malaysia will defer FATCA reporting, FSI Tax Posts.

America’s Self-Inflicted Wound, Moises Naim, The Atlantic, US.

Janice Mays:  The Tax Guru Who Guides House Democrats, Alex Brown, National Journal, US.

Sen. Rand Paul Launches Filibuster in Protest of Patriot Act Renewal, C-SPAN, US.

Articles from earlier in 2015 are at this link

Articles from 2014 are at this link

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment, Part 2, is at this link

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comment, Part 3, is at this link

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

  2. @Polly

    *India provides 3 billion aid to USA*

    People in India that work for a US firm has social security payments taken out…. they can’t collect the money because they don’t qualify so basically they are giving aid or free money to the US… Have u ever called a help desk for any company… majority of them are in India

  3. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/canadian-snowbirds-rules-you-need-to-know-1.2925513 is an excellent write-up. The comments show that *Canadian Snowbirds* as a whole need some larnin’. I’ve placed two comments. Some more would be good.

    …comments like:

    Likarok

    Give me a break! 1/6 of a day. Who came up with this screwed up formula? As for the US they should be welcoming seniors with money. In Mesa Arizona where my wife and I go Canadians are a major contributor to their economy! As Carbon said we are paying our way and if anything helping a US economy!

  4. To make clear why I posted this above ( http://bigstory.ap.org/article/31490a20926d4ed3b98ff2d0ed8fc81d/new-privacy-concerns-over-governments-health-care-website ) , my reasoning is as follows:

    If the US government can violate and compromise personal privacy and security via the mandated healthcare portal, it indicates what their mindset and modus operandi is.
    http://bigstory.ap.org/article/31490a20926d4ed3b98ff2d0ed8fc81d/new-privacy-concerns-over-governments-health-care-website

    How can our home countries as IGA signatories believe the US that the FATCA data portal, data collection, data storage and dissemination will not also pose a significant threat to personal and financial information? There are already no guarantees and no recourse ala the Patriot Act and Homeland Security laws once the data crosses into the US. And the IRS has been taken to task in the past by TIGTA http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2014reports/201410037fr.html and the GAO (ex. google U.S. GAO – Information Security: IRS Needs to Address …
    http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-14-405 Apr 8, 2014 ) for its failure to secure taxpayer data http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2014/08/14/irs-handed-taxpayer-information-to-contractor-without-background-checks/ and problems with identity theft, phishing, and even security in terms of access to IRS servers and computer systems etc. The FATCA data will be a juicy target for hackers, terrorists, etc.

  6. This comment opportunity got lost in the shuffle so I took it upon myself to nominate FATCA as Canada’s worst policy ideas of 2014.
    http://induecourse.ca/canadas-worst-policy-ideas-of-2014/

    It’s called FATCA — Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. It’s a U.S. law and in 2014 the Canadian government, by means an omnibus bill (Part 5 of Bill C-31), put FATCA into Canadian law. Effective July 1, 2014 (Canada Day no less) anyone living in Canada with even the slightest connection to the USA will have all their financial account details (numbers, balances, transactions) compiled by their financial institutions (banks, brokers, insurance companies) and these FATCA reports will be sent to the CRA. The CRA will then pass these reports along to the IRS and from there it’s anybody’s guess what other U.S. 3-letter agency will gain access. FATCA is a threat to the financial privacy and security of individuals living in Canada and to the sovereignty of Canada. It turns all Canadian financial institutions into agents of the IRS and the CRA into an intermediary agent. FATCA has a huge implementation cost attached to it and every single Canadian taxpayer will have to pick up the tab. So I would say that Canada’s worst policy idea of 2014 just happens to be a direct result of one of the USA’s worst policy ideas.

  7. Should you be discussing, along with mental capacity for you or a loved one, your *US-ness* (not indicated in this video but you could imagine that in the conversation) for bullet-proofing your estate planning / your will / what you will pass on to your beneficiaries (or the IRS?)?

  8. EmBee: What an excellent “FATCA in a nutshell” comment. I would like to use it in my presentation to the Federal candidates in my riding. OK with you?

  9. @US Foreign Person
    Just when I thought U.S. tax policy couldn’t become more despicable. I checked and, low and behold, U.S.-incorporated companies take social security out of their employees’ wages, unless there is a totalization agreement that prevents this. Wealthier countries tend to have such totalization agreements, but India and China don’t.

    Is the problem that these Indian workers earn low wages? To get social security, forty credits are required. The average Indian would only qualify for one quarter per year due to low earnings and so they end up paying but not qualifying? Is that right?

  10. The Keith Redmond interview at Fox: http://radio.foxnews.com/2015/01/26/american-expat-keith-redmond-on-why-some-americans-abroad-renounce-us-citizenship/

    Gibson sits down with American Expat Keith Redmond who talks about the reasons why some Americans are willing to renounce their US citizenship.

    with a link to Keith Redmond’s commentary at CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102141113#.

    AND, with two good comments so far. COMMENTS OPEN!

    NOTE: Petros has now posted — so comment at Isaac Brock here: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/01/26/keith-redmond-on-fox-radio/

  11. @ MuzzledNoMore
    Of course it’s okay. A lot of us are or will be “borrowing” from your excellent FATCA series. It’s whatever helps, wherever and whenever, I’d say.

  12. @Publius

    I am not sure how the credits are done… even though they work for a US firm… short or long term… how do they qualify? How much they earn makes no difference… since that determines how much they get… Family member who is a non-US-person… worked for a US firm… they treat them as they were in the US… without immigration status which is not required nor do they file an income tax with the US… how do they earn enough credits or get the money back… they don’t… so its free money for the US… India workers who work for international firms are the new middle class… they earn alot of money compared to other workers in the same position in an indian firm

  15. Not directly on topic, but …

    Mens rea: What were you thinking? As the criminal code expands, intent is often ignored
    http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21640365-criminal-code-expands-intent-often-ignored-what-were-you-thinking

    Most states, though, are ignoring the problem, even as a flood of new laws means more will be unwittingly broken. Take Michigan, where a bill similar to Ohio’s failed last year. Lawmakers there create, on average, 45 new crimes each year, according to the Manhattan Institute, a think-tank. The state now has over 3,000 crimes, many of which lack intent requirements. The penal code ensnares people like Lisa Snyder, who was accused of running illegal day care after watching over her neighbours’ children as they waited for the school bus. (A legislative fix helped her avoid prosecution.) …

    At the federal level, Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court has lamented the increasing volume of “fuzzy, leave-the-details-to-be-sorted-out-by-the-courts legislation”. Federal statutes contain some 4,500 crimes, and there are thousands more in the federal regulatory code. In 2009 the Heritage Foundation, a think-tank, and the National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyers (NACDL) found that two-thirds of the non-violent criminal offences enacted by the 109th Congress (which sat from 2005-06) lacked an adequate intent requirement. A rule change that lets the House Judiciary Committee review all new federal criminal laws is intended to address these problems.

  23. Chuck Schumer’s myth of FATCATS making a bunch of cash in the US and leaving the country exposed — They do NOT need to renounce US citizenship, they just move to PUERTO RICO!

    Meanwhile, the US continues its FATCA Search and Destroy mission across the rest of the planet hunting down and smoking out everyone else with “indicia” of possible US personhood.

    And if they don’t like Puerto Rico, they can move to the US Virgin Islands for another sweetheart deal, get this, a 90% reduction in corporate and personal income taxes! Good for them, but bad for every other deemed US person living in another country.

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/janetnovack/2015/01/27/puerto-rico-expands-tax-haven-deal-for-americans-to-its-own-emigrants/

    http://www.newsweek.com/2014/09/19/made-america-offshore-tax-haven-269135.html

  24. @The Mom

    That is why when I toss out anything with a hard drive…. just in case I don’t clean it out right…. a hammer is your best friend… I bust up the hd before I get rid of it… if I am passing it to someone… I reset everything or put in a new hard drive… then I let the kids pound the old HD to death… I use to keep the old hd… I don’t do that anymore…

  25. @JC
    The post re: The Diary of Aunt Fran — in hiding from #FATCA should be published in every paper to expose the absurd atrocity of this mess. I guess if I kept a diary and was equally as creative and eloquent it would read much the same.

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