I wanted to mention to everyone that their is a Canadian parlimentary delegation visting the Washington this week. I suspect they have probably already arrived and have been told tax issues are going to be on agenda. Supposedly John Williamson who in the past has raised FBAR-Tax Issues in the House of Commons is one of the members on the trip. According to what I have found the first part of the visit is going to spent at the winter meetings of the National Governors Assoication then on the Thursday and Friday they will be up on the Hill. My suggestion would be to any of who are involved the US side of things to encourage any sympathetic members of Congress (not sure there are any) who might not necessarily be interested in US Canada relations to attend this meeting. I know Carolyn Maloney was an attendee at last years meeting (nothing to do with ACA from all appearances) along with Gregory Meeks. In general looking at the last years attendee list it was pretty heavy Republican with Maloney being one of the few Democrats although Jack Reed of Reed amendment fame of all people was there. There was no discussion of tax though last year. One thing to note is with the Keystone Pipeline being as hot button of an issue as it is I suspect the Conservative Republican presence will be huge. (I noted with interest that Congresswoman Michele Bachmann was an attendee last year).
Here is a link to last years attendees:
And here is an overview of last years discussion
Do you know who the members of the Canadian delegation are?
Unfortionately not the specifics of who is going or in all likelihood is already in Washington other than I heard many months ago John Williamson was going. Last year it was John MacKay and Brent Rathgeber.
I hope there’s at least one NDP member going as well, preferably Julian, Laverdiere, or anyone from the BC caucus. Those folks are well-informed both about FATCA and about concerns of Canadians who don’t think of themselves as Americans even though the US seems to. Let’s hope the FATCA discussion goes beyond the costs to the poor beleagured banks (sob) and addresses concerns of ordinary tax-paying, law-abiding Canadians who are more likely to swept up in this net than are the true tax cheats (for whom, like most others on the forum, I have zero sympathy or concern).
@schubert1975
One thing to remember Schubert is that if the Government of Canada were to enter a “FATCA Partner” agreement with the US much of the compliance cost would shift from the banks to the Government of Canada and CRA with Canada really getting nothing in return. As I pointed out in a previous thread Canada has been givning information to the US for many years(as far back as 1988) on US “residents” holding accounts in Canada. Thus I pointed out if someone from Malibu or the Hamptons flies up to Ottawa or Toronto and opens a Canadian bank account with a US address the account information is automatically sent to the US. In return the US does vice versa with Canadian “residents” who have accounts in the US.
Right now they are currently only a couple of hundred US resident accounts in Canadian banks that being automatically reported by CRA to the US. Under a FATCA Partner agreement this would increase in to the millions with Canada basically getting nothing in return that what we are already getting with all costs associated with it being put upon CRA.
@Tim, I guess what the US is really looking for is Americans who have fled and are now residing in other countries therefore not considered US residents. They are now on some other country’s tax rolls. That’s where the big money for the IRS is to be found. People who’ve had enough and chosen to leave.
It seems to me the IRS is fighting a losing battle. They chased away the rich with all their raising taxes talk and now want to use threats of punishment against those citizens as well as banks to get those tax payers to come back. When someone is negotiating from a position of weakness they tend to use strong arm tactics.
People all over the world move to other countries to find a better life. Why can’t Americans be allowed to do the same? Is the US some kind of jail you can’t escape from?
@omghe’sstillanamerican
At least from what I see publically they are very few “super rich” people that I have seen that have moved to Canada from the US. There are definately “covered expatriates” though in Canada some of which arrived quite recently and in fact one or two have even made a comment on this blog from time to time. Now I don’t know if these people are ones who just a have a couple of hundred thousand dollars in wealth or whether they have millions however they are definately people from the US who have come to Canada from the US since Obama was elected and are intending to renounce their US Citizenship at least partially for tax purposes.
Check out this article
http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/07/19/the-great-white-tax-haven/