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)”

  1. Right, George, we aren’t ‘Americans who reside in whatever country’ — we are that country’s people and we use that country’s local financial institutions in plain view, not U.S. financial institutions. Upside down, backwards, absurd.

  2. @George

    **How many Brockers hide or have money overseas? Most are no.**

    U are making an assumption like everyone who is not effected by fatca. Immigrants usually have money there because they do send money home to save, had a previous life in their home country, joint accounts with family, or to support family… Or me a citizen… moved around alot… lots of places never even heard of credit/debit card so cash is the only thing they want. I open an account as soon as I get there so I don’t carry large sums of money… When we leave… I don’t close out the accounts because I may have bills to pay.. depending where I am… or I will need the cash when I go back… Countries other then the US… pay taxes on what u have there even if u are not there & they don’t care about out of their country funds. Some countries don’t tax interest or have capital gains… Canada allows residence to declare it without a million forms to fill… if u happen to forget an account… they don’t try to steal everything u have for a mistake made…

  4. @calgary411, all the interest in my local is subject to mandatory tax at source. HMRC has warned UK persons about using offshore accounts (USA, Cayman Islands, Belize), so I bank onshore local as you say, in plain sight not behind some Delaware, Nevada or Wyoming Corporation/Trust.

  5. @Eric: Many thanks for the Economist link (http://www.economist.com/node/21601880/comments). It gave me a head of steam to post the following:
    ——–
    Please keep in mind that the “tax-evader” you catch [as this law is currently written] could be very different from the wealthy cheat that you expect.

    It could well be a penniless young American woman caring for her mentally-disabled foreign mother in Europe, who has been granted power-of-attorney to handle her mother’s bills.

    This woman works 24 hours-a-day unpaid, yet she is now threatened by fbar penalties of $10,000 for each of her mother’s many small accounts, for each year for 6 years, even though she herself has no income and no property, and even if she will inherit nothing. Based on her $0 income and holdings, this is the highest “tax” rate imaginable, i.e. mathematical infinity!!!!

    [More recently the IRS has introduced a “Streamlined” program for such cases, but even that remains beyond her reach with no resources, no time, and no internet.]

    Or your “tax evader” could be a refugee to the US from a middle eastern country where his life was under threat. He was coerced into leaving behind everything he owned and he cannot access his accounts there. He now struggles in a minimum wage job in the US, but is faced with fbar penalties of tens of thousands of dollars because of a requirement he knew nothing about.

    Are these really the “tax-evaders” you want to catch?

    Or how about a severely disabled “accidental American”, barely getting by on benefits provided by the country where he has lived and worked for his entire life since he was six months old, who is now being forced to pay US tax out of those benefits (as they are NOT covered by exemptions)?

    Did you really picture your “wealthy tax evader” as having to choose between heating and food, as this man will now have to? He cannot possibly afford the costs of renunciation – and it seems ridiculous that he should have to.

    **** If the tax-sharing agreements are to actually work as their good intentions proclaim, two changes MUST be made to current US tax law:

    1) ALL penalties must be based on the amount of TAX actually due. (As opposed to the current “reporting penalties” (for fbar, form 3520, etc.) which are unrelated to tax owed. These reporting penalties are so unimaginable that they belong in horror movies, not tax law, and to add insult to injury, the can be higher for small offenders than large ones! The public in its innocence assumes these massive penalties relate to tax due, while in reality they can be assessed in hundreds of thousands of dollars when ZERO tax is due.

    2) Restrict US taxation to those who live (or usually live) in the US. It is unbelievably wrong to tax those who do not live (and may never have lived in the US) – even if it could be done simply and fairly, which it cannot.

    FATCA will only succeed if the above changes (1) and (2) are made. Without these changes, the law is making enemies and destroying the goodwill of those who previously loved and respected the US.

    Let us encourage our lawmakers to fix these issues before irreparable harm is done. Then, and only then, I too will be able to applaud the measures.

    ——
    PS: Another very real concern remains for Americans living in “high risk” countries, which is that when their banks identify them as “US persons” the information may well “leak” to groups who wish Americans harm. What can be done to protect against this?

  7. @ Sad-in-the-UK
    Excellent comment but after reading some of the others there you almost stand alone as someone who truly understands US citizenship-based taxation and its evil consequences. Just throw out “tax evaders”, and people will follow those bouncing balls to all the wrong conclusions I’m afraid.

  9. According to this article there’s a new breed of Canadian bird flocking to the US, I’d like to call the ‘work bird’ who are trying to maintain tax residency in Canada while living and working in the US.

    I suspect that under these conditions, one wouldn’t likely be reporting those offshore accounts, believing that they are still resident in Canada, would they?

    http://taxconnections.com/taxblog/thousands-of-canadian-expats-in-the-u-s-needlessly-pay-canadian-tax/#comment-10769

  11. Guess this isn’t news to us but reading about it again in this new article makes me angry:
    http://www.nestmann.com/why-the-irs-can-now-ground-you#.U3wJSij_Q21
    Here’s just a sample from the Mark Nestmann article:

    For instance, the IRS is now targeting Canadian “snowbirds” who flock to Arizona, Florida, and other southern US states to avoid wintry weather at home. The agency is using C&BP databases to count the days these folks are in the US. Taxes in Canada are higher than in the US, courtesy of the “foreign tax credit,” so snowbirds who are deemed to be US tax-residents usually don’t owe any US tax. But even an innocent overstay can result in a $10,000 fine.

  12. @Em

    Its time for the Canadian Snowbirds to get rid of US anything. Tons of Canuckers in Florida when we went to visit friends… I thought I was back home… There are plenty of places to go that won’t have these fatca issues… Some are starting to flock to other countries which welcome them without all these rules & regulations. Reason many choose the US was because it was similar to Canada & they are able to drive home…. time to move on… Retirees should enjoy their life… not choke to death under these taxes

  13. @Em – Thanks for posting the newest Nestmann article – – I will certainly send it to all I know who are snowbirds. Looks like the US is getting nasty with everyone but then there was the TV US Business News mention that Obama just met with business leaders from around the world asking what it might take to get them to invest in the US. And you can guess what I thought about this clip – – WHAT DO YOU THINK, OBAMA? And then the commentator said that part of this Presidential discussion was that MAYBE the US could provide some tax incentives….. I wanted to throw something really heavy at the TV; I mean, tax the minnow who lives abroad but give tax breaks to businesses who want to invest in the USA? OUTRAGEOUS!!!

  14. @ USPF and LM
    Did you see this comment by Robert Collins at the Nestmann article? Arrested on the basis of a “secret profile” — bone chilling! He wrote:

    “Wow. The United States is becoming more and more a prison everyday. I wonder why so many Americans chose to live in this county when it is being transformed into a multicultural, third world cesspool. I had a friend who was detained by CBP and interrogated for 12 hours straight accusing him of smuggling when he had nothing on him. The Agents probable cause was he was a frequent traveller and he fit their secret profile of a criminal that they refused to disclose. The Federal Agents charged him with lying since they needed something and his talking his way out instead of remaining silent cost him. US Attorney froze his bank accounts so he had inadequate defense counsel and he felt he had to plead guilty and served 13 months, plus fines in addition to seizing all of his 401Ks. This system is rewarded more and more for criminalizing people than it is to serve the public. US government has become the master and the US people are now the slaves, just people have no idea until it is too late. Check out: http://facebook.com/veteransab…”

  15. @Em

    I constantly cross the border because of the elders in my family who I help take care of that live in the US… I have deep anxiety every time I cross the border… its getting to the point that I am trying to convince them to come home but because their family are in the US… they don’t want leave… but their family are unable to deal with their issues so I help out… Story told above is my worse nightmare… What happen to the land of the free…. The search of the so call terrorist has become a witch hunt for anyone they think is a criminal even if they are not… talk about the abuse of their power… If I could… I would never step onto US soil again…

  16. New Zealand Bankers Association (NZBA) has issued a media release entitled “US tax law to take effect in New Zealand”: http://www.nzba.org.nz/news-media-releases-and-opinions/media-releases/us-tax-law-to-take-effect-in-new-zealand/ along with a disgusting fact sheet intended to inform people affect of their US tax obligations: http://www.nzba.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Documents/You-and-your-US-tax-obligations.pdf containing the following:

    The only information about affected customers that is reported is their name, address,
    account numbers, US tax identification number (or date of birth if no US tax number),
    account balances, and interest payments.

    If that is “only” what is reported, why worry? They also continue to mislead people by claiming that non-US spouses will not have their data reported:

    Personal information about non-US persons will not be reported (except where they do
    not provide information requested in relation to FATCA). Where someone has certified they are not a US person and has a joint account with a US person, only information about the US person will be reported

    I guess they consider all of a persons account balances, account numbers etc. is not “personal information”. What a bunch of disingenuous liars.

  17. @Em

    ” I wonder why so many Americans chose to live in this county when it is being transformed into a multicultural, third world cesspool. ”

    That kind of attitude will get you nowhere, perhaps especially at the border.

  19. @ bubblebustin
    That commenter says his friend was detained, arrested, jailed and asset stripped simply because he fit a “secret profile” (no actual evidence of smuggling was found) and during 12 hours of interrogation he tripped up with a lie of some sort. (I’d forget my own name under those conditions.) I think the commenter is entitled to some bitterness and I can only imagine the rage his friend must feel. Maybe we all need a little “attitude” instead of “acceptance” sometimes. I don’t have to worry about border crossings like USPF does (I’m never going there) but I do worry whenever my husband is in the USA (hopefully only one more time). Luckily my husband always presents a very pleasant visage, even when he is seething inside. Unfortunately when I seethe it shows.

  21. I’ll try to answer my own question, Em. Maybe our commenter isn’t as upset about what CBP did, as he is WHO did it. I think what this good ol’ boy is saying is “back when we were running the lynch mob, this never would have happened.”

  22. @ bubblebustin
    “Just wondering what multiculturalism has to do with crossing the border.”
    “Maybe our commenter isn’t as upset about what CBT did, as he is WHO did it.”

    I really didn’t focus too much on that multicultural sentence. It was the story of his friend’s ill-fated crossing that I was looking at. I understand people get all rhetorical when they are upset. (I do anyway.) I definitely didn’t see any CBT connection in his comment so that kind of confuses me. Chances are CBT doesn’t affect either him or his friend since they appear to be all American and living in the USA. I hope if either has plans to escape Prison USA that they do learn about CBT. I don’t even know which border (north or south) is involved here.

    Anyway, Mark Nestmann is among the Americans I appreciate for understanding FATCA and speaking out against it.

  24. @George
    The problem is that the U.S. thinks that where we live is overseas.

    Someone has written a very lengthy posting on the Economist article about some of the people who could get caught out by FATCA. It might be a good one for Brockers to “recommend” on the website, which can be done without registering for the site.

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