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. Finally Canada is caught with it’s hand in the tax haven jar. I have been saying for ages that all the rich people go north to ski and avoid taxes.

   http://www.breitbart.com/system/wire/db8e0acd-ede3-48d0-b024-96dc22c1590a

2. US anti-tax evasion law, FATCA, starts to hit home

   The US Treasury has opened a new front in its war against offshore tax evasion. But for some it amounts to financial imperialism.

   Was this out a day or two earlier?

   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-2824688/US-anti-tax-evasion-law-FATCA-starts-hit-home.html

3. @JC
   It seems to have come out yesterday on Yahoo news. I always find it difficult to comment on Yahoo. We can comment here tho. What a joy seeing these types of articles starting to surface.

4. @JC,
   I put up the two links yesterday. They are on the previous page.

5. Article in Business Insider mentions ADCS – but not the legal challenge.

   “…….FATCA, meanwhile, is generating ire against foreign governments for accepting the US reporting rules.

   In Canada, where there are many people with dual US-Canadian nationality, the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty accused Ottawa of infringing on their rights by signing a FATCA accord with Washington….”

   http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-us-anti-tax-evasion-law-fatca-starts-to-hit-home-2014-11#ixzz3IO9GnPls

   ‘US anti-tax evasion law, FATCA, starts to hit home’
   Virginie Montet, AFP
   Nov. 6, 2014, 9:00 PM

6. Here’s another:

   http://business.iafrica.com/worldnews/969895.html

   I added two comments.

7. Here’s an article I found on Twitter. Should put expats minds at ease about being held at the border over tax returns.

   The only part I disagree with is the end where it states that if you live abroad and haven’t become compliant you should…nope, not gonna do dat!

   http://www.federaltaxgroup.co/irs-customs-hold-risk/

8. A problem with the article is use of the expression actually owe when it is impossible to owe income tax. Taxation is stealing. Now, there are crooks e-filing fake income tax returns and getting the claimed refunds sent to the crooks’ bank accounts, and the crooks could actually owe the money back, but that’s different.

9. Treasury Inspector General reported ‘not good enough’.

   http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs-watch/irs-falls-short-on-international-tax-collections-72147-1.html

   TIGTA’s review found that ineffective management oversight has contributed to a number of control weaknesses in the IRS’s International Collection program. The review also discovered that the IRS does not have reliable statistics on the rate of noncompliance of taxpayers with their U.S. tax obligations.

   For example, the IRS’s International Collection program does not have adequate policies, procedures, position descriptions or training to ensure that international revenue officers can properly work on International Collection cases. There is also no specific inventory selection process to ensure that International Collection cases with the highest risk are worked on by IRS employees, nor are performance measures and enforcement results for International Collection cases reported separately from Domestic Collection cases.

   In addition, there is no process to measure the value of the so-called “Customs Hold” as an enforcement tool against delinquent international taxpayers. International revenue officers at the IRS can request that a customs hold be input into the Treasury Enforcement Communication System for delinquent taxpayers, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will then notify the IRS whenever the taxpayer travels into the U.S. During TIGTA’s interviews with a sample of 15 international revenue officers and all five group managers, many identified the Customs Hold as one of the most effective enforcement tools available to them in dealing with delinquent international taxpayers. International revenue officers use information obtained through a Customs Hold to attempt to contact the taxpayers while they are in the U.S. or to locate the taxpayers’ assets.

10. Another one, this time from lebanon, a non-IGA country with a few non-FATCA banks:
    http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Local/2014/Nov-07/276747-tax-data-demand-risk-to-bank-secrecy.ashx

11. FATCA and other countries trying to do the same. Open for Comments.

    Not mentioned but China is very interested in tracking down Chinese who have moved wealth overseas.

    https://www.dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/11/4/fatca-is-destroying-lives-and-its-going-global.html

12. We’ve signed at deal to bypass US greenback.
    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-china-sign-currency-deal-aimed-at-boosting-trade-1.2828707

13. @ Eliza
    Oooooooo, the monolith of the US $ is getting another chink taken out of it’s podium – – and from big-trading-partner-little-old-long-standing-tag-along Canada (imagine that!!!!)! When will Congress begin to realize that it’s “closest friend” (and others) are waking up and moving away from “big daddy Yank”?

14. @ LM – I know! Still not sure what to make of it. Need to hear more about what else Harper traded away for that deal to go through. I’m scared and happy at the same time. Yikes!

15. @ JC and All
    RE: https://www.dollarvigilante.com/blog/2014/11/4/fatca-is-destroying-lives-and-its-going-global.html

    I posted this comment:

    This is a good article but I wish it had mentioned that there is some push-back to FATCA. Some countries might have “FATCA envy” but aware Americans living abroad have even more “FATCA anger”. Resistance has begun in Canada to this form of US economic hegemony. A lawsuit against the Canadian government has been filed (go to adcs-adsc dot ca). The lawsuit contends that implementing the US FATCA law in Canada breeches the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, among other things. In the USA another legal team is working to get FATCA repealed (go to fatcalegalaction dot com). It’s time for the citizens of other countries to follow suit.

    And I got this response (first paragraph only) from Dave (Vigilante Webmaster):

    I don’t expect the legal battle to go anywhere. The courts understand that the laws regarding taxes apply only yo taxable receipts, which excludes most of what its victims earns. They remain victims out of a combination of ignorance and fear, both of which are apparent in the fact that anyone ever tries to sue the federal government on tax-related issues. They are very careful to do everything by the book and guide their victims into making the kinds of legal errors that give them cover.

    It sounds like Dave is saying, “Resistance is futile.” I obviously don’t agree but I’m not sure how to reply. If anyone wants to reply to Dave please do. I’m not sure why he went into a Title 26 digression.

16. @EmBee That response was a bit funny – as many are. I think I put in a good reply.

17. I did suggest to Robert Wood a timely article on comparing the Berlin Wall and the financial Berlin Wall the US has built around its citizens.

18. RE: http://haydonperryman.com/2014/10/02/is-fatca-failing-here-is-my-reply-haydon-perryman/

    I don’t usually read Haydon Perryman’s stuff (kind of too technical for me) but I got a kick out of this:

    I wonder if the legislators who caused the genesis of HR 2847 could have foreseen what FATCA would morph into. It seems a lot like they put a grenade into their mouths and threw the pin offshore.

    @ JC — Thanks — good reply.

19. @EmBee

    I’m not convinced that FATCA was passed as a cost saving measure for the IRS in it’s pursuit of offshore tax evaders, especially with all the sorting and minnow processing they’ll have to do. Also, if that was the aim, someone should have told the Treasury Department before they committed US financial institutions to reciprocating. It’s looking more and more like the work of Dr Frankenstein.

    Love the grenade analogy too.

20. Quite an hilarious article regarding the “Banking Secrecy Act” albeit with a few grammatical mistakes: http://www.irsmedic.com/2014/11/08/failure-bank-secrecy-act/

21. Another one:
    http://www.treasuryinsider.com/2014/11/10/fatca-costs-spiral-beyond-expectations/

22. More Robert Wood:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/11/10/fatca-letters-promise-disclosure-to-irs-what-to-do/

23. @GwEvil

    That BSA hairstyle is hilarious.

24. @Neil, just read his article and it’s just the same old stuff being parroted again….:/ I can’t figure Mr Wood out.

25. @monalisa1776, Mr Wood is paid by the word 🙂

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