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.
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.
“What happens when FATCA kicks in?” at moneynews.com
http://www.moneynews.com/seanhyman/foreign-account-tax-compliance-act-fatca/2014/05/24/id/573219/
Haven’t seen the U.S. Chamber of Commerce article posted yet… but then I have been busy and NOT looked everywhere. 🙂
IRS Delays FATCA Enforcement for Banks as Start Date Looms
“Hire FATCA Has many Americans Concerned about future finances” at CanadaFreePress.com which displays on its ‘About Us’ page:
“Welcome to Canada Free Press…Because without America there is no Free World”
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/63320
Regarding the Woods forbes article that Chad posted about above…
Even Memorial Day, Some Americans Wish They Weren’t
There is a GREAT retort to one ill informed Robert Kelly by Atticus that should be highlighted and maybe posted on its own…
Here it is, if you have not seen it.
Katherine Keneally is leaving the Department of Justice next Thursday. Guess she’s done helping out with the IRS’ “good cop, bad cop” migrant-terrorising OVDI routine (“pay us half your life’s savings or you might be in danger of criminal prosecution!”). Now she’s off to New York where I’m sure her next job will have nothing whatsoever to do with helping rich Homelanders lower their tax bills.
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2014/05/kathryn-keneally-.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/05/27/us-usa-justice-tax-idUSKBN0E71SV20140527
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2014/May/14-tax-563.html
Looks like Carl Zwerner lost his jury trial. Found willful on multiple but not all counts. This is an 87 year old man who filed amended returns prior to the existence of OVDI.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/05/29/on-heels-of-credit-suisse-plea-court-upholds-record-fbar-penalties-consuming-offshore-account/?partner=yahootix
Two FATCA articles from the “fringe” as they say…
One from International Man
http://www.internationalman.com//articles/the-shocking-real-reason-for-fatca-and-what-comes-next#
This one is using our GATCA reference to the impacts of FATCA and what comes after that.
and
One from Dollar Vigilante.
http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/5/28/capital-controls-rolling-into-high-gear-under-fatca.html#
Interesting, that a Skype Number with US area code was enough to trigger an account closing…
Americans continue to slumber on, so it would seem. No Outrage anywhere, and the juries like to sock it to 87 year old men, like shown above.
New at Forbes…
Explaining The Wormy Morass Of Obama’s FATCA Tax Evasion Law
I put up a comment about DATCA and GATCA.
From today’s Daily Telegraph in the UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/investing/funds/10864539/Why-are-British-investors-being-forced-to-fill-in-US-tax-forms.html
Jack Townsend still thinks Americans abroad having difficulty opening and/or keeping bank accounts is ANECDOTAL MYTHOLOGY. Have a look at what he keeps writing back to expat commenters:
http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com/2014/05/thoughts-on-what-swiss-and-other.html#disqus_thread
Jack’s attitude towards expats represents the general attitude of most homelanders — expats are all a bunch of whiners who need to be punished.
It doesn’t matter if expats can’t get banking services where they live, they ought to be keeping their money in the US anyway. If not, they should be droned with FBARs.
It also doesn’t matter if they pay taxes where they are living and using public services, they need to pay “double their fair share” back to the US.
Shame on those expats for living outside the good ole USA — don’t they know that America is the greatest and most free (cough, cough) country on the planet?
I wonder if Jack even has a passport.
“Droned with FBAR’s”. That’s a keeper, Mythological Expat!
@Mythological Expat
Townsend may be a wacko bird but boy are the comments great over there. There is a really smart swat team going after him that I have learned a LOT from. It was way above my grade level to contribute anything to the dialogue.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/more-u.s.-citizens-turning-in-their-passports/article/2548986
Posted up at the Drudge Report today.
I got this notice from one of my followers on Facebook. In case anyone would like to air their grievances to another reporter:
Keith Redmond
May 27 at 5:51pm · Paris, France ·
Danielle Douglas, a reporter for The Washington Post, is looking for average Americans overseas whom she can interview vis-à-vis their tax difficulties as it pertains to FATCA and citizenship based taxation. She is interested in sharing these stories so her readers have an accurate understanding of what Americans overseas are encountering because of these measures. Her contact details are:
Danielle.Douglas@washpost.com // +1 202 334 9952
Also this: AARO is conducting a survey asking overseas Americans to explain their banking problems to congress:
http://www.aaro.org/banking
The UK Government worked to include language about discrimination in the FATCA IGA;
“j) The Financial Institution must not have policies or practices that
discriminate against opening or maintaining accounts for individuals
who are Specified US Persons and who are residents of the UK. “
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/drafts/uk-us-fatca-guidance-notes.pdf
But was that nothing more than window dressing?
National Savings & Investments (NS&I) was established as a people’s bank in order to provide products that had the backing of HM Government;
“In 1861, the Palmerston government set up the Post Office Savings Bank – a simple savings scheme aiming to encourage ordinary wage earners to “provide for themselves against adversity and ill health”. We separated from the Post Office in 1969, becoming National Savings. In 1996, we became an Executive Agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. NS&I (National Savings and Investments) is now one of the largest savings organisations in the UK, with over 25 million customers and more than £100 billion invested.”
http://www.nsandi.com/why-save-with-us
One of their products is a simple savings account called Direct Saver. Minimum investment is £1.
Through 30 March 2014, anyone could save through Direct Saver;
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20071001175113/http://nsandi.com/products/invac/termsandconditions.jsp
What does HM Government do as of 1 April 2014 with this simple and popular savings vehicle? It is available to everyone except……………………..;
“17 . General limitations . Accounts cannot be:
(a) opened by a person who is either a US citizen and/or a US resident for tax purposes;
(b) opened by a person who is an undischarged bankrupt;
(c) opened by a person under a legal disability otherwise than in accordance with paragraph 16; or
(d) opened by one person on behalf of another otherwise than in accordance with paragraphs 14 and 16, unless the applicant is acting under a valid power of attorney; or
(e) held in trust.”
http://www.nsandi.com/savings-direct-saver
HM Government is taking the lead with instutionalized discrimination against US Citizens, or
do as we say and not as we do.
@Calgary411, my post above may be of interest in Europe and might be an interesting front page post.
Thanks. I will look at that soon — my hubby has breakfast ready AGAIN for me. He is so good at supporting me in many little ways as I am in front of my computer. Bless every little and big contribution.
http://compliancealert.org/exclusive-u-s-treasury-unit-seeks-to-resolve-suit-challenging-patriot-act-power-over-foreign-banks/
Found this interesting article I didn’t see anywhere
That’s an interesting article, USPF. It would appear that the Patriot Act has an Achilles Heel, which is it’s legal standing. It was just a matter of time before someone had the wherewithal to stand up to these bullies.
Mr Wood at Forbes has another article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/06/03/irs-nets-offshore-data-from-77000-banks-70-countries-in-fatca-push/?utm_source=followingimmediate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20140603
He closes with: “…..the IRS should have a new slogan: Today Switzerland, Tomorrow the World.”
And same stuff at Yahoo Finance: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/foreign-banks-sign-help-us-214810747.html
Why are British investors being forced to fill in US tax forms?
From Allison Christians’ blog:
Koskinen: Tough as Nails on Individuals; Cautious and Worrisome on US Multinationals
Koskinen: “…we are well aware that there are many U.S. citizens who have resided abroad for many years, perhaps even the vast majority of their lives. We have been considering whether these individuals should have an opportunity to come into compliance that doesn’t involve the type of penalties that are appropriate for U.S.-resident taxpayers who were willfully hiding their investments overseas.”
Code for fleece them politely.
@fromthewilderness
Yeah- I read through his report too- and I don’t think anything will change. He made some comment about remaining punitive- like having that correct “balance” between being frightening and being threatening enough. Right.
Big Brother list of the 77,000 FFIs allegedly FATCA registered.
https://www.abolishfatca.com/IRS_FFI_List.pdf
Very creepy!