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. My email regarding this: Help, I Want to Expatriate But They Won’t Let Me, Part 2

    Parent or Guardian (or Trustee) – What Should You Do?
    US tax planning in the kinds of cases discussed is ever critical. If the individual cannot expatriate currently, it is very important to structure his affairs to minimize any US tax bite during the time he remains a US citizen and in planning for a future expatriation. ******If the individual is under a permanent mental incapacity such that renunciation will never be possible, then proper planning of US tax matters becomes even more critical. A well-meaning parent or guardian may often look to trust structures to ensure the continued care of the child or mentally challenged individual. However, setting up a “foreign” (non-US) trust for such an individual may well be the worst action to take from a US tax planning perspective! The stakes are high. Get proper advice.******

    So, more money for proper advice since the country in which my son was born, Canada, will / can do nothing to protect him? In fact the Government of Canada just waived my son’s rights in signing an IGA with the US. (And the rights of others like my son; and the rights of other persons who may have a “mental incapacity” like someone with age-related dementia.) The person with Mental Incompetency Issues is even lesser than the second-class Canadian citizenship that all other ‘US Persons in Canada’ now have with the US IGA, compared to “all other Canadians, no matter where their ‘national origin’ or the ‘national origin’ of their parent ( s ).

    Or, do I just do nothing and ***HOPE*** that ***they*** (whoever they is: local CANADIAN “foreign financial institutions” or the Canada Revenue Agency or the US Treasury or IRS [ who has the information on my son in my FBARs (Foreign Bank Account Reports) ] will not take action? I refuse to register him with the US and the abyss of cost of administration of compliance of a US citizenship never registered / never asked for (the only purpose for which would be the ability to renounce, which he can’t). It’s a circular argument.

    NEVER MIND: Just Me just solved my problem — his strategy to deal with it, is with that clever little Mormon trick. Turn it off. 🙂

    http://youtu.be/IiaO9rP46WU

  4. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2562093/TRIPLE-usual-number-Americans-renounce-citizenship.html

    Daily Mail (UK): More than 3,000 Americans renounced their citizenship last year – TRIPLE the usual number

    – Complicated new tax filings to blame, experts say
    – Expats working overseas saying ‘enough is enough’ to paying tax both in the jurisdiction where they live and their home in the States
    – U.S. is one of the only countries that forces to tax nationals on all income, regardless of where it is earned

  5. Maybe the US’s dirty little secret – CBT – won’t be so secret anymore. It’s only survived so far because no one knew about it.

  7. I wonder how many of those so-called “offshore” accounts are actually owned by Canadians with US connections who were forced into the OVDP? They don’t break that information out do they?

  10. http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/Treasury-IRS-Amend-Final-FATCA-Regulations-69657-1.html
    “….A senior Treasury official who requested anonymity said in a conference call with reporters that they view the regulations released Thursday as the last big step in implementing FATCA. The staff took into account many of the comments and feedback they had received on the proposed regulations. Asked about the increase in citizenship renunciations by Accounting Today, he pointed out that there are a number of reasons why a citizen may decide to renounce their citizenship and expatriate, and there is not necessarily a direct correlation between FATCA and the increase in renunciations in recent years…”…

    Good that Accounting Today is asking Treasury officials directly about the numbers expatriating. And I call BS on the Treasury answer – which is deliberate prevarication and disingenuous obfuscation; “…there is not necessarily a direct correlation between FATCA and the increase in renunciations in recent years….”..

    Treasury is still peddling the ‘myth’ that renunciations and the FATCA ‘n FBAR fundraiser and crusade persecuting those living abroad have no correlation.

    Nice to see the comment there from a professional who challenges the Treasury line.

  11. @badger

    Then it must be the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” that’s causing the renunciations.

  13. More journalists looking to contact Americans overseas who are experiencing problems due to US taxation policy:

    Associated Press
    Adam Geller
    National Writer
    The Associated Press
    450 W. 33rd Street
    New York, N.Y. 10001
    T: 212-621-6919
    ageller@ap.or

    USA Today Journalist Kim Hjelmgaard
    khjelmgaard@usatoday
    @khjelmgaard

    CNN Money Journalist: Sophie Yann
    Sophia Yan 嚴倩君
    CNNMoney – Hong Kong
    +852 3128 3247
    +852 9170 9285
    sophia.yan@cnn.com

  15. @NotThatTara
    Good grief! From your swissinfo link …

    “What used to happen is that bankers would call up and say they had referred a client to me,” he said. “Now the banker brings the client to my office and doesn’t leave until they have regularized their tax affairs.”

  17. The sidebar of that article
    http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/politics/Chaotic_US_tax_stampede_overwhelms_specialists.html?cid=38035476 furthers the usual delusional claim that being a deemed American, AND having accounts outside the US means something nefarious; …”…Another 1,058 were held in Britain and 556 in Canada.
    France, Israel, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and India were the other offshore locations uncovered by the probe.”

    Yes, except what proportion of those 556 cited are actually local legal account belonging to duals or others who were not actually US residents – for example in Canada those are probably a combination of Canadian citizens who moved to the US – temporarily, or longterm, but of course had pre-existing Canadian retirement savings or other accounts like RRSPs (with restrictions on premature dissolution), or who have joint accounts held in Canada with Canadian resident family members, or who are actually originally and presently Canadian residents with legal local Canadian savings held where they ACTUALLY live.

    Why is it that after all this time even the Swiss media doesn’t bother to note that the US government is including in those numbers the so-called ‘foreign’ accounts of people who don’t even live in the US – and hence do not or could not bank in the US. AND, the numbers surely include the pre-existing accounts of people who moved to the US – for work or study or marriage, but who had pre-existing legal local accounts created with primarily post-tax local non-US wages which they left behind in their country of origin.

    It is a useful fiction for the US to pretend that those numbers represent accounts being deliberately hidden outside the US by US residents.

  18. NotThatTara, thanks for the bedtime reading. Except just reading the author’s name and the title made me nauseous. Want to bet that it’ll cite imaginary statistics as to the amounts the US is ‘losing to offshore tax evasion’, but without any robust source whatsoever? It’s gotten so ridiculous that he can cite any number he feels like, and make any claim – without having to provide any proof or substantiation.

  20. Seems to me that FATCA is the US’s master plan to kill all the competition so that their banks can have all the illicit tax evading and money laundering business.

  25. OMG! that is a dream come true!!! After the Star has been ignoring this story for all this time, they publish James Jatras!

Comments are closed.

%d bloggers like this: