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. Fighting U.S. tax treaty isn’t lost cause to him

   http://www.journalpioneer.com/Opinion/Columnists/2014-07-04/article-3787723/Fighting-U.S.-tax-treaty-isnt-lost-cause-to-him/1

   Another two thumbs up!

2. “YOU DON’T KNOW THE CONSEQUENCE OF FATCA”

   http://www.econmatters.com/2014/06/you-dont-know-consequence-of-fatca.html

   Another great article!

3. Not necessary to report all those gold bars everyone’s been hiding…yet.

   http://taxconnections.com/taxblog/what-you-need-to-know-about-storing-gold-and-cash-notes-in-an-offshore-vault/#.U7ip12K9KSM

4. Govt ‘using asset sales to plug holes in a leaky budget’, including $5 million on implementing New Zealand’s compliance with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)

   How much of Canada’s resources to be depleted the same way — and each other formerly sovereign country as well?

5. 7/6/2014, Did you notice that hundreds of people, according to The Barbados Bankers Association (TBBA) and (US) Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Factoids full-page advertisement Tuesday July 1, 2014, may now be considered a US person simply because they have a US telephone number. Surely the drafters of the FATCA can’t be serious.

6. Sasha,

   Thanks — yes, excellent article but no comments.

7. This article was interesting….

   http://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/5/28/capital-controls-rolling-into-high-gear-under-fatca.html

8. @calgary411

   The risk now is also on those that have a Skypein U.S. telephone number for convenience!

9. #France hits out at dollar’s dominance! Maybe they shouldn’t have been such a Fast FATCA Capitulator! http://on.ft.com/1oqo2OS @FinancialTimes

10. I don’t think it is open for on-line comments, but the lead editorial in today’s (July 6, 2014) New York Times sure needs some rebuttal. See my comment on Maple Sandbox:
    http://maplesandbox.ca/2013/whats-new/comment-page-33/#comment-50091

11. Barrie McKenna says that the US doesn’t mean to be hurting Canada, and if anything Canada’s suffering from “benign neglect”. Let’s let him and the US government know how annoying “small” can be, mosquitoes!

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/the-us-isnt-out-to-hurt-canada-were-just-too-small-to-worry-about/article19479671/

12. Foreign Couples Heading to America for Surrogate Pregnancies
    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/06/us/foreign-couples-heading-to-america-for-surrogate-pregnancies.html?_r=0

    Article mentions that many of these kids face difficulties obtaining their parents’ citizenships — i.e. the citizenship of the country where they actually grow up. I’d bet it ends up that plenty of them don’t qualify for the dual citizen at birth exception to covered expatriate status.

13. take a look at front page of ft.com

    High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8d661baa-02b8-11e4-8c28-00144feab7de.html#ixzz36nD3FYys

    “Swiss banks are trying to compel customers to do something that a customer is not contractually obliged to do and by blocking accounts, they are committing an act of coercion that is problematic under Swiss penal, contractual and regulatory laws,” …

14. @tt: Thanks for the FT article.
    It is known by many USPs in Switzerland that the PostFinance, a retail bank owned by the Swiss federal government, has been blocking USP (and suspected USP) bank accounts in its effort to obtain past FBARs from them. A consumer magazine called K-Geld had an article on a suspected USP having his account frozen until he could prove that he was not a USP. The fact that other banks in Switzerland are doing this too cannot be a surprise but is probably less well-known.

    This is from a message board in Switzerland called EnglishForum.ch (link is below):
    “The May “K-Geld” has an article called “Postfinance blocked accounts without reason”. It concerns someone from Solothurn who worked three years in the US a decade ago and suddenly had his Postfinance (PF) account blocked this spring until he signed the “Questionnaire for Completion of the Customer’s Dossier”.

    K-Geld requested the reasons for blocking this customer’s account from PF which responded:
    “The blocking or partial blocking of some customer accounts is a preventive measure to protect the Postfinance.” This measure rests on three principles:
    – The 2013 US-Tax Programme between Switzerland and the USA
    – A 2010 Finma position paper regarding legal risks
    – The General Terms and Conditions of the Postfinance AG.”

    K-Geld researched these reasons and concluded:
    – The 2013 US-Tax Programme: “There is no mention of blocking accounts in the agreement.”
    – A 2010 Finma position paper: “The Finma paper is according to the bank supervisory authorities not a document that has an effect on the concrete contract between Postfinance and their customers.”
    – The General Terms and Conditions of the Postfinance AG: “In the General Terms and Conditions of the Postfinance there are indeed two articles that relate to blocking of accounts. Stephan Heiniger, head of legal consulting at K-Geld, examined these articles. His view: “Neither article 16 nor article 22 give the right to the Postfinance to block funds on a customer account until a form is completed.” Postfinance may refuse fund transfers or cancel a customer relationship, but may not keep money from a customer, according to Heiniger.”

    My opinion: Postfinance’s blocking of suspected US Person customer accounts is illegal.”

    http://www.englishforum.ch/finance-banking-taxation/200706-postfinace-demands-past-fbars-6.html

15. @Innocente
    So they can just throw him out instead. Thats legal.

16. Has anyone seen this article? Who’s David Bly and where has he been up to now?

    http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/david-bly-harper-needs-to-stop-this-american-invasion-1.1194259

17. Thanks GwEvil– good read. He writes well. Good paper to have the article in too– BC provincial capital.

18. @GwEvil
    Good article. I put on my FB to share.

    My FA in my major bank agrees that FATCA is awful. I am free with my CLN but I am emphasizing to everyone and so is my FA that snowbirds will be affected. Up my way there are many with the misconception that it is okay to be away 180 days… There may be a slew of snowbirds changing course and also selling US property. No one I know is rich up here that go “south” for the winter.

19. FYI to whoever posts the dates on the news articles in the opening comment, the year is still 2014 not 2015. I know this last week feels like a whole year went by but it didn’t : )

    Please fix when you get the chance.

20. An article in NOW Lebanon: “Imperial IRS: How Fatca forces Lebanon to disregard its own laws” by Michael Young. An excerpt:

    “In Lebanon, for instance, banking secrecy remains in place, even if it has been gradually eroded over the years. There is also a legal principle known as the “right to an account,” which means that banks cannot deny an individual an account. While these principles have been imperfectly applied, they yet remain foundations of the Lebanese banking system and speak to the more fundamental liberal philosophy underpinning it.

    Fatca undermines both. The reporting conditions effectively deny banking secrecy to Americans, who are obliged to waive their right to confidentiality. And if American clients refuse to waive that right, their accounts can be declared recalcitrant and banks can choose to close them. This, in turn, is contrary to the right to an account principle enshrined in Lebanese law.”

    https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/554379-imperial-irs

21. Expats Suffer More Collateral Damage

    Some banks started turning Americans away soon after the legislation passed; more of them took that step recently in advance of the regulations’ July 1 effective date. Expatriates and their families are not the only ones affected; small and midsized American companies, too, have had trouble obtaining banking services overseas. Under criticism, the Treasury has argued that turning away U.S. accountholders will not allow a foreign financial institution to avoid FATCA altogether, though that has not made it much easier for Americans living abroad to find a bank willing to take their business.

    Now, with little relief in sight, the headache is about to get worse. Not only are American expatriates having trouble finding foreign banks to serve them, they are now finding that American mutual fund companies don’t want to serve them either.

22. Lynne Swanson (Blaze) has come out with another great article. This one is in Tax Connections, entitled “Why Does U.S. Congress And IRS Want A Canadian Cop?” Thank you Lynne, for showing us that we must all “Push On”. Keep advocating against US tax injustice, keep donating to ADCS and keep supporting each other.

23. Sorry, forgot to put in the link for Lynne’s article …
    http://taxconnections.com/taxblog/why-does-u-s-congress-and-irs-want-a-canadian-cop/#.U7x6c0DfV8E

24. Not hit this blog before. Great article:

    http://thenecessaryandproperblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/fatca-and-hobby-lobby_8.html

25. Kudos to Blaze for her excellent article in Tax Connections.

    Neill
    I read the blog. The writer could have mentioned the CBT and RBT which is why overseas Americans are being persecuted
    The USA could have one payer health care. or take the Colorado state initiative and give out free birth control. This has dropped teen pregnancies dramatically and also abortions.
    The blogger really does not dispute FATCA but the cost of FATCA to Banking institutions.

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