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)”

  4. e-News for Tax Professionals Issue 2015-19:

    2. Report Foreign Financial Account(s) by June 30
    ________________________________________
    If you have a client with one or more foreign bank or financial accounts exceeding $10,000 in value, you must file a Report of Foreign Bank Account(s) (FBAR) by June 30.

    Written in a way that suggests the back account itself must exceed this value rather than some crazily define aggregate balance.

  9. May 15, 2015: UN Issues Scathing Assessment of U.S. Human Rights Record (Huffington Post)

    I don’t see *our* UN Human Rights Complaint in the listings — but there are related issues — like *Privacy* — included in reference to several countries.

    The UN Human Rights Council adopted a scathing report today, consisting of 348 recommendations that address myriad human rights violations in the United States.

    The report came out as a part of a mechanism called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which examines the human rights record of all UN member states. The council questioned the United States on its record earlier this week.

    Although many of these recommendations in the report are redundant or too general to offer tangible solutions to the human rights situation in the U.S., they echo many of the concerns raised by U.S. civil society groups like the ACLU, who attended the review and offered concrete recommendations to reverse policies that are inconsistent with international human rights principles.

  11. This is a copy of my comment on the Human Rights Complaint thread:

    The report from the UN covered by the Huffington Post details the report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review. Our Complaint has not even made it to a “Working Group” yet; at least we have not been informed of this one way or the other.

    The recommendations contained in this report have all been submitted by United Nations member states. It is essentially a “peer review”. Our Complaint would not have been a part of this particular review so, in this context, the absence of our issue from the list doesn’t indicate that we are being ignored. However, after nearly a year of waiting for our concerns to be acknowledged by the UN we are more than justified in feeling that we’re being ignored!

  12. @MuzzledNoMore. I’ll help the complaint not be ignored. From an outsider viewpoint: I need an executive summary of it/the injustices in a page and a half. I am thinking it would be best in press release format – so that the press/bloggers may do a copy and paste of lines and quotes. Did I see somewhere that Victoria Ferauge, was going to comment on it? How about in conjunction with Lynne Swanson? If a press release appears for this – and that needs a press contact listed who could be Stephen Kish, with at least one quote from him, and suitable image, I’ll contribute the $369 prweb.com package to get it out. There is no guarantee that the prweb will do anything, but that would be on my coin (at least the exercise would help make the press release itself a reality). It would also be prudent for ADCS to e-mail/send out the release to their list of press contacts. We have not quite gotten to the Joe Arvay calibre PR assistance, so just my little suggestions toward that route.

  13. My comment in VOANEWS from the above link still sitting in moderation. I don’t think they like it.

  15. @ northernstar
    When I opened the VOA article your name and e-mail address appeared in “Leave a Reply”. I deleted them and posted a comment and then, despite having cleared my cache, cookies and everything else I could think of, it was my name and e-mail address appearing there. Neither are real BTW (I closed that e-mail box ages ago). Finally I did a restart on my computer and now my comment has disappeared. VOA is a very strange site to say the least.

  17. Looks like all three of our comments are now out of moderation.

    Just where does that crayon/exit tax idea keep coming from? Hmmm. 😉

  18. JC: Thanks for your continuing enthusiastic support of the UN Complaint! Things are happening on our end as you now know. I’ve asked Blaze and Calgary to give you my email address. Thanks again!

  21. Well, bubblebustin, isn’t that a unforeseen pickle — like so much other US legislation or proposed legislation meant to punish us all.

  24. The last comment posted was:

    Opinions about which laws need to be replaced or modified is outside the scope of the forum.

    Shades of ExpatForum.com just before Isaac Brock Society blog can into being.

  25. More of *the law is the law is the law* as we got from Mr. Mopsick a few years back.

    Note to Self: Besides it being a useless process for your son to apply for a US SSN to be able to file back US income tax returns and FINCEN reports,

    the only reason for which would be to renounce a US-defined citizenship that (I say) my son should never have received automatically as he became a Canadian citizen by being born to me in Calgary, AB, Canada, never registered as a US birth abroad and by becoming a Canadian citizen in those times meant you were warned, as I was when I chose to become a Canadian citizen, that you would thereby lose US citizenship (except that the unfair US law is the law is the law is the law and in these times what we were advised by the US Consulate WAS NOT the law, unbeknownst to us). If by some chance, all of that process should work, said son would still not be able today to renounce such a US-defined US citizenship in a US Consulate in Canada as the US Department of State regulation says that such persons must have *requisite mental capacity*, must have no help in the act of renouncing or influence from anyone, in making such a decision; and a parent, a guardian or a trustee (who makes other decisions about the well-being of said person) does not have the right to act on such a person’s behalf to renounce an acquired US citizenship which is meaningless to them, even with a court order;

    And, now it is brought to our attention that it is the law that / guess we should not have to be reminded of such …

    Travel to the U.S. is Also Not An Option for a USC without a SSN, Due to 22 CFR § 53.1 Requiring a U.S. Passport

    A possible solution to this TIN/SSN dilemma may appear to be a trip to the U.S. by the USC to apply for a SSN in the U.S. Unfortunately, this simply creates another dilemma, since the USC must have a U.S. passport to travel to the U.S. The immigration law regulations 22 CFR § 53.1 require that a U.S. citizen have a U.S. passport to enter or depart the United States. The relevant part of the regulations is § 53.1(a) which provides as follows:

    Passport requirement; definitions.

    (a) It is unlawful for a citizen of the United States, unless excepted under 22 CFR 53.2,[2] to enter or depart, or attempt to enter or depart, the United States, without a valid U.S. passport.

    These regulations were first published in 2006 and unfortunately, simply create another dilemma for the USC residing overseas without a SSN. This additional dilemma is that an application[3] for a U.S. passport requires the individual have a SSN; a vicious circle back to the inability to obtain a SSN.

    At the end of the day, the restrictions imposed on USCs make it legally impossible for a USC without a passport to travel to the U.S. (even if they wish they could) to obtain a SSN.

    End of note to self: Do not even try to deal with such crazy people even when you are told that the US law is the law is the bloody US law. Your son IS a Canadian!!

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