Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Brock project: Advice on how to explain the effects of the @USTransitionTax through a question in the House of Commons

Posted on by Posted in Canadian Government, Issues regarding US persons abroad, Law & Morality, Non Resident Taxation 46 Comments

This Brock comment which just appeared is deserving of its own post and your specific attention, thoughts and assistance.

But first, …

This has been a very interesting week for Canadians who are possibly impacted by the U.S. Transition Tax. We have the interview of the Hermans which appeared on the National.

We have articles by Elizabeth Thompson. I expect that Ms. Thompson’s articles led to the the following editorial in the Halifax Chronicle:

A second article from CBC indicated that Murray Rankin* (a 2014 ally in the fight to stop the FATCA IGA, had referenced the “transition tax” in the House of Commons.

It appears that there is momentum growing in the “campaign for awareness”.

Moving on: How can we better frame the message? How can the right question(s) be used to educate?

It would be helpful for Brock readers and commenters to consider, when conveying the message:

1. What are the most important aspect(s) of the transition tax to convey?

2. What should be the language used to convey those ideas?

Beginning with the following Brock comment …

CAB asks for the assistance of Brockers as follows:

“URGENT I have been in contact with my local MP (conservative) and he is willing to submit a Question for Question Period regarding the Transition Tax. What I need to do is put together some background information and the actual wording of the question we want to have asked. There is no guarantee that it will be selected but it is certainly a shot. My understanding is that if not selected for this weeks question period then it can sit in the queue and be picked up at a later date.

My first kick at the can in composing a question — ” Mr. Speaker, The United States as part of their tax reform has recently passed a new law aimed at bringing home the profits of money off shored in large multi-national corporations. While it is laudable to repatriate these earnings back to the US homeland the application of this law makes no distinction between the large American corporations and those small Canadian corporations owned by Canadian citizens permanently resident in Canada but also hold a secondary US citizenship. These Canadian corporations owned by doctors, restaurateurs and small mom and pop shops are not Google and Apple . These corporations hold the retirement savings of Canadian citizens; the retained earnings of Canadian entrepreneurs ear marked to grow and expand their business. Application of this tax will effectively bankrupt Canadian businesses and wipeout the pension plans of our Canadian citizens. It is a violation of the Canada -US tax treaty as the US has created a fictional tax event retroactive to 1986 where the first right of taxation has been usurped by the US. First installment of this tax is due June 15 2018 .

Will the government of Canada commit to negotiating with US treasury to exempt Canadian corporations from the disastrous effect of this tax? Will the government use the the Canada US tax treaty to protect our sovereignty and tax base against this raid by the US government? The Finance Minister has committed to studying the effects of this extraterritorial law. But time is of the essence. Will the government provide direction to our citizens prior to June 15 2018 when the first installment is due.
Those affected are first and foremost Canadian citizens ,resident in Canada , and deserve the protection of the Canadian government.”

Looking for your feedback – want to make sure I set the right tone and get the right question asked that will help us the most. Also any suggestions as to what I can include in the package that I need to send would be helpful.

Keep our fingers crossed”

_______________________________________________________________

*For those who were not following this in 2014, you will see that MP Murray Rankin played a prominent role in opposition to the FATCA IGA. See here:

Be on the Lookout! Bubblebustin to be on CBC The National- on the #TransitionTax

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 189 Comments

Update from BB / Bubblebustin

Those in Canada who are potentially affected by the Transition/Repatriation Tax (or not but care about Canada’s sovereignty) need to contact their government representatives and Ministers. As suggested by our MP’s office, start with:

Your Member of Parliament, and

Minister of Foreign Affairs,
chrystia.freeland@parl.gc.ca,
chrystia.freeland@international.gc.ca
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613-992-5234
Fax: 613-996-9607

Minister of International Trade of Canada
Francois-Philippe.Champagne@parl.gc.ca
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
Telephone: 613-995-4895
Fax: 613-996-6883

Minister of National Revenue
Diane.Lebouthillier@parl.gc.ca
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6

Minister of Finance
bill.morneau@canada.ca
The Honourable William Francis Morneau
Department of Finance Canada
90 Elgin Street
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0G5
House of Commons
Parliament Buildings
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Send a message to the Minister

Daniel Lauzon was quoted in the CBCNational News segment.
Daniel Lauzon works as Dir. Communications for Finance Canada.
Daniel can be reached at 613-369-5696

Should you PM me or post here with the efforts you’ve made, I would like to take them to the reporters with the CBC covering this story in developing the government action (or inaction) side of the story. The press needs to know how Canadians are getting treated by our government and maybe the additional coverage will cause the government to take action.
 

UPDATE: Here is a direct link to the segment.

Trump’s tax reform affects Canadian residents The National
 
 
cbc the national
This aired on Monday, April 30. CBC News – The National Interview with Evan Dyerevan dyer

Outstanding new resource on FATCA, CBT, etc. by Andrew Grossman

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 135 Comments

A new resource on all the issues faced by expats, #AmericansAbroad, #AccidentalAmericans, #US persons, et al:

andy g
FATCA: Citizenship-Based Taxation,
Foreign Asset Reporting Requirements and
American Citizens Abroad

 
 
By Andrew Grossman

I don’t think there is anything else which is so extensive or thorough. This is brilliant research and gives reference to many, many court cases. Definitely a resource we are fortunate to have. (Brock SWAT to compliance community: “Watch out!”)

Thank you Andrew Grossman!

It is permanently located on the sidebar at Brock under the Important Information box – Introductory and Essential Material on CBT, FATCA, Citizenship Issues.

Here is the link to the Brock page.
Here is the original.

If you Decide to Comply, DON’T choose a Homelander Tax Compliance Professional

Posted on by Posted in Non Resident Taxation, Renunciation 73 Comments

I was very surprised to receive the following email on Friday evening. I cannot recall ever getting anything like this before. I will not identify the author because it is not proper to publicly share an email without the permission of the sender. It is not anyone I have ever heard of before and I doubt any of you have either. It took me a while to decide if I would answer or not. I tried to put my reaction aside after all, why be surprised that a tax compliance professional would demonstrate so little awareness outside of his/her experience. In the end, I simply could not ignore how I felt. I replied and have decided to publish the email without naming its author and my response.
Continue reading →

Part 9-2: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: From the “Pax Americana” to the “Tax Americana” (cont)

Posted on by Posted in Non Resident Taxation 6 Comments

 

This is a continuation of the post “Part 9: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: From the “Pax Americana” to the “Tax Americana”
cross-posted from citizenshipsolutions by John Richardson

The first portion of the post was published Nomad Capitalist, in 212 AD the Roman Emperor Caracella expanded Roman citizenship by bestowing Roman citizenship on all free men. A listing in Wikipedia suggests that:

The Roman jurist Ulpian‘s Digest stated, “All persons throughout the Roman world were made Roman citizens by an edict of the Emperor Antoninus Caracas” (D. 1.5.17).
Continue reading →

Part 9-1: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: From the “Pax Americana” to the “Tax Americana”

Posted on by Posted in Non Resident Taxation, Transition Tax 7 Comments


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
cross-posted from citizenshipsolutions by John Richardson

Part 9: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: From the “Pax Americana” to the “Tax Americana”

This is the ninth in my series of posts about the Sec. 965 Transition Tax and whether/how it applies to the small business corporations owned by taxpaying residents of other countries (who may also have U.S. citizenship). These small business corporations are in no way “foreign”. They are certainly “local” to the resident of another country who just happens to have the misfortune of being a U.S. citizen.

(Links to the first eight posts in this series can be found at the end of this post)

Introduction – The purpose of this post is …

to demonstrate that the “transition tax” is an example (particularly egregious) of the principle that (1) not only does the United States impose “worldwide taxation” on the “tax residents” of other countries, but (2) it imposes a separate tax regime on certain “tax residents” of other countries that is different and far more punitive than the regime imposed on Homeland Americans. Yes, you read correctly! Continue reading →

Part 8: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: This small business thought it was saving to invest in business expansion – Wrong, they were saving to be robbed by America!

Posted on by Posted in Transition Tax 16 Comments

by John Richardson

This is the eighth in my series of posts about the Sec. 965 Transition Tax and whether/how it applies to the small business corporations owned by taxpaying residents of other countries (who may also have U.S. citizenship). These small business corporations are in no way “foreign”. They are certainly “local” to the resident of another country who just happens to have the misfortune of being a U.S. citizen.

Continue reading →

How is the IRS levying taxes to renounce US citizenship different from the Berlin Wall?

Posted on by Posted in Freedom 96 Comments

cross posted from Quora

NB: This title comes from the question asked
        at Quora and represents that individual’s
        mindframe


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
by John Richardson
Lawyer (1982-present)

President Kennedy at the “Berlin Wall”

On June 26, 1963 President Kennedy gave his historic “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech. After World War II, the administration of the City of Berlin was divided among the allied powers (Soviet Union, USA, Britain and France). In 1961, the Soviets created a wall in order to prevent their people from leaving the Soviet Sector. (The City of Berlin was actually inside East Germany). Among other things, President Kennedy’s speech included the line: “We have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in – to prevent them from leaving us.”
Continue reading →

Canadian FATCA IGA Litigation Update: Court has fixed Monday January 28, 2019 as trial date

Posted on by Posted in Ethics 21 Comments

Now appears more likely that we will get to trial in January 2019 in our Canadian FATCA IGA enabling legislation lawsuit in Federal Court.

The Case Management Judge has just advised:

“The hearing of this summary trial motion shall take place before this Court at the Federal Court, 701 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, on Monday, the 28th day of January, 2019, at 9:30 in the forenoon for a maximum duration of five (5) days. The number of hearing days may be reduced depending on the number of preliminary motions.”

Other:

“The following timetable shall apply to the motion for summary trial: (a) The Defendant [Mr. Trudeau's attorneys] shall serve her evidence (with the exception of one expert report) by April 16, 2018. (b) The Defendant shall serve her remaining expert report by April 30, 2018. (c) Notice of any objections to expert reports shall be served by June 15, 2018. (d) A case management conference shall be held, by teleconference, on July 12, 2018 at 1:00 pm (Eastern) to address any motion to strike affidavits. (e) All cross-examinations shall be completed by July 31, 2018. (f) The Plaintiffs [Gwen and Kazia] shall serve and file their complete motion record by September 28, 2018. (g) The Defendant shall serve and file her complete responding motion record by November 16, 2018. (h) The Plaintiffs shall serve and file their reply submissions by December 7, 2018.

Part 7: Responding to the Sec. 965 “transition tax”: Why the transition tax creates a fictional tax event that allows the U.S. to collect tax where it never could have before

Posted on by Posted in Non Resident Taxation, Transition Tax 118 Comments

 

cross posted from citizenshipsolutions

    by John Richardson
 

Introduction

This is the seventh in my series of posts about the Sec. 965 Transition Tax and whether/how it applies to the small business corporations owned by taxpaying residents of other countries (who may also have U.S. citizenship). These small business corporations are in no way “foreign”. They are certainly “local” to the resident of another country who just happens to have the misfortune of being a U.S. citizen.

Continue reading →