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. @ Orwell
    Haydon Perryman says,

    The US definition of an American goes “way beyond counter-intuitive and possibly the other side of lunatic fringe”.

    Well he got that right, that’s for sure. Can’t believe I’m watching this on Christmas Eve.

  3. @EmBee
    I was having the same thoughts. It is Xmas Eve and instead of wrapping, cooking, cleaning I am watching Haydon Perryman, yelling at Pope Francis to launch a spiritual class action suit against the US for violating 3 of the Ten Commandments over at the Forbes Holy See article and trying to challenge, via Foo’s voice, the RO on FB! Man, how life has changed. Never knew at my age I could still multitask. Rage has opened up some long closed channels in this ancient brain.

  4. @ Charl
    Back away from the computer and do some wrapping, cooking and cleaning — imbibing too if you are so inclined. I have no wrapping to do, cleaning (forget about that) but I do have a gorgeous looking prime rib roast to cook later this afternoon for Mr. EmBee and me (we do Christmas Norwegian style — big meal on Christmas Eve). Merry Christmas to you and thank you for making such wonderful contributions to so many comment sections in the past year. I’m off to enjoy a nice walk now.

  6. Pingback: Holiday season reminds us that #Americansabroad have the essentials of happiness in a #FATCA world | Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty

  8. @Neill

    US is licking their lips for the info from India…. they know people from the US sends after tax money to their families, investment, & saving for the future…. Other asian countries who have a large amount of poor people have similar customs… India thinks they will get a huge amount of info from the US about their residences with accounts there… yeah… right

  10. Here’s the WSJ letter from DA. No mention on eliminating CBT:

    Mr. Gandal makes some excellent points in his op-ed about FATCA, which was intended to make it more difficult for wealthy Americans—living primarily in the U.S.—to use offshore accounts to evade U.S. taxes. In a classic example of unintended consequences, FATCA affects every one of the millions of Americans who live and work abroad.

    Democrats Abroad conducted a survey in June that attracted almost 7,000 respondents, predominantly middle-class Americans. Sixteen per cent reported having financial accounts in their country of residence closed, and nearly 13% have been refused when applying for new accounts. We expect these figures to grow as financial institutions around the world fully implement their FATCA compliance plans. In many countries simply being an American citizen is now a bar to obtaining the normal financial services that people in the U.S.—and elsewhere—take for granted.

    Since early 2011 Democrats Abroad has been lobbying Congress, the Treasury Department and the IRS for an exemption for Americans abroad from FATCA reporting on accounts in their country of residence. Under the FATCA Americans Abroad Safe Harbor Exemption, the financial accounts in the country where the U.S. citizen is legally resident would be treated the same as the U.S.-based financial accounts of an American living in the U.S. For example, if an American legally resident in Italy held an account with Banco d’Italia in Rome, Banco d’Italia would not have to report on that account to the IRS and the U.S. citizen in question would not have to file a FATCA report including any of his Italian accounts.

    The advantages of the Americans Abroad Safe Harbor Exemption are obvious. First, with a drastically reduced obligation to report, banks would have no reason to treat American account holders differently. Second, it would make the IRS’s job a lot easier. Even before Congress slashed the IRS budget, it did not have the resources to process the millions of data points that mass FATCA compliance is beginning to generate.

    Joe Green

    Toronto

    Carmelan Polce

    Singapore

    (Mr. Green and Ms. Polce are co-chairmen of the Democrats Abroad FBAR/FATCA Task Force.)

  11. So I called them on it:

    BC_Doc 8 hours ago:

    Democrats Abroad– Why isn’t your organization forcefully lobbying for an end to citizenship based taxation? Republicans Overseas is calling for a repeal of CBT. Surely you can reach across the aisle and find some common ground. CBT harms expats of all political stripes. Combined with FATCA, it produces a toxic cocktail which has led to a flood of expats relinquishing and renouncing their US citizenship. The 7.6 million Americans living abroad need both political parties to work together to fix this crisis.

  12. @BC_Doc Good points.

    Weaknesses of DA Safe harbor is that the harbor has CBT mines. So it sounds like no 8938 forms or penalties that they attract – missing in the explanation is that DA would only extend this to compliant individuals & accidentals still under the bus.

    Banks would still have to do their due diligence of all new and existing accounts with their potential penalty if not done right. I am not seeing how safe harbor reduces financial institution costs of dealing with US persons.

    DA pretends that FATCA is constitutional.

    Tricia gave us this fine trick to crack the WSJ Paywall:

    1) type in Google news into Google
    2) Click on Google news
    3) Enter name of article into the search bar: A Clumsy Law Makes U.S. Expats Financial Lepers
    4) Click on article

  14. @Charl I believe you may need a WSJ account. Not a subscription, just an account. I would say “Bill Wald” is a troll. He’s leaving snarky little one-liners that wouldn’t seem to make sense to any sane person. I’ve decided not to respond to him.

  15. @BC Doc You are way more mature than I. I do have an account but cannot figure out how to reply to a specific comment. The @ function in the section where one writes a comment allows you to specify a person but not a comment.

  17. @Publius,

    I hit another detailed OVDP presentation of here while searching as well. She should be on our side but I am sure she will make the transition easily.

  19. @Canoe The LAT is only really accepting comments on Twitter @ #21stCenturyCitizen . I put a comment in there yet not many others. Focus of article is those who live in Southern California.

  20. Wouldn’t it be nice if India did something different than just agreeing to a FATCA IGA?

    India now has until the end of January to sign. And, Obama will be there end of January.

    How about we give India some suggestions? We know that they will be extorted to sign but they could include some conditions. I landed the first part of my comments here: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/india-gets-a-month-more-to-sign-fatca-with-us-revenue-secretary-shaktikanta-das/articleshow/45650243.cms

  21. Comments like:

    Dual citizenship may have a place in American society, but the goal should be the cultivation of undivided Americans, proud of their heritage and committed to this nation.”

    and, another:

    In other words the oath taken at Naturalization ceremonies is no longer valid, but SHOULD be. Become a U.S. citizen for monetary gain, or a safe place to flee if your chosen country becomes unstable? You are a citizen when it’s convenient….disgusting!

    Here’s one I can agree with:

    Interesting that you bring up the Vietnam War, since many American citizens did walk away. Imagine if more had? The result might have been better for this country.

    It’s amazing to me how so many commentators here seem to want to nation of sheep: do what the government tells you do, no questions asked.

    So, my comment (awaiting moderation):

    I can agree with the comment:

    “It’s amazing to me how so many commentators here seem to want to nation of sheep: do what the government tells you do, no questions asked.”

    The article starts:

    quote
    Before becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen, immigrants must take an oath that says, in part, “I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.”

    Why does the naturalization oath, then, still SAY (have a person recite the words): “I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.”?

    Double-talk from the beginning.

    I’d make the point, with the trap of extraterritorial US citizenship-based taxation law and cost of compliance for a dual US and other country citizen who have their lives and the lives of their families in those other countries, THOSE are the “dual citizens” that should think more than twice about retaining a dual US along with an other-country nationality. It will also entrap children born to them into the same absurdities. A step in the right direction would be for the US to change to residence-based taxation as the rest of the world’s countries (except for the other such like-US country, Eritrea).

    Every “New American” should know about FBAR (FINCEN114). More and more thinking of coming to the US are getting the message and NOT signing on for a green card and a path to US citizenship.

  24. @ Orwell – – I checked out the EPW (Econimic & Political Weekly); the search for FATCA turned up zero/zilch/nada – – so the EPW is a blank slate as far as this issue. I have no idea what their readership is though the footer at the bottom indicates a Mumbai, India location & phone number. Charl and EmBee and Calgary411 and all you good IBS bloggers – – GO FOR IT!!!!!
    Thanks, Orwell, for bringing us this opportunity!

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