Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Monthly Archives: August 2012

Roy Berg: Did the IRS really concede that FBAR penalities are not collectible under the United States/Canada tax convention?

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The following article appears here with permission.

IRS says FBAR penalties not collectible under Canada-US Treaty?

Published on Wednesday, 22 August 2012 10:26
Written by Roy A. Berg JD, LL.M. (US Tax)

Does the Canada-United States Tax Convention (the “Treaty”)1 require the Canadian government to assist the US government in collecting penalties for failure to file the Foreign Bank Account Report (“FBAR”)?2 The Canadian Ministry of National Revenue thinks not. More importantly, however, on January 23, 2012 the Ministry said that the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) agrees. The Ministry even said so in a statement recorded in the Parliamentary Record.

Has the IRS really conceded this issue (ignoring for the moment the US Constitutional issues)? The short answer is “no.” Both the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) and the IRS informed us that there are no documents, briefing papers, talking points, or other memoranda that would support the Ministry’s statement.

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Front Row with Barack and Michele, Airfare and Hotel included, Americans abroad excluded

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Sounds like a cool thing to do.  One can meet the most powerful man and woman in the world in person, free of charge!  This is a great benefit of being an American citizen, of paying US taxes, of contributing to a presidential campaign!

Meet the President in person and be a guest of the First Lady at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte. Airfare and hotel included!
– BarackObama.com

Yet, there is a little catch, hidden away in the fine print.  If you are an American working overseas, go away.  This does not apply to you.  You are excluded, rejected, unwanted.  America is not for you!

PROMOTION OPEN ONLY TO INDIVIDUAL UNITED STATES CITIZENS AND LAWFUL PERMANENT U.S. RESIDENTS WHO ARE LEGAL RESIDENTS OF THE FIFTY (50) UNITED STATES, THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND PUERTO RICO, AND OVER THE AGE OF 18 (OR THE AGE OF MAJORITY UNDER APPLICABLE LAW).
– BarackObama.com

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Fair tax, unfair tax: or When is it paying my fair share?

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Patrick Henry: Tax Protestor

In studying historical tax rebellions, I have observed that governments have frequently been ready to commit mass murder in order to maintain their tax hegemony over a people.  South Korea committed mass murder against the poor tax revolters on Jeju Island, who rose up in rebellion in 1948; Californians rode out to suppress the Indian tax revolters in 1851; Britain waged war against American colonists who unilaterally declared a permanent tax holiday from King George; the Romans razed the Temple at Jerusalem and crucified the anti-tax zealots in the Jewish War of succession in AD 66-70.  Even George Washington, the beloved president who cut down the cherry tree but could not lie about it, personally led the troops against the Western Pennsylvanian tax protestors in the Whiskey Rebellion. No nation which wants to be taken seriously can ever allow a tax revolt.  That’s why Irwin Schiff, father of investor Peter Schiff, rots in a Federal prison.

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Asia: “If I have the choice, I just don’t want to deal with a US person’”

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Asian banks review US ties,  August 21, 2012

Cost will rise when tough new rules on derivatives come into force

SINGAPORE: Asian banks are reviewing relationships with their US counterparts to avoid being caught by tough new American rules on derivatives trading that are about to come into force.

From the start of next year, non-US banks that annually deal in at least US$8bil worth of products such as interest rate swaps with American counterparties are expected to be subject to new derivatives rules in the Dodd-Frank Act.

In practice that means they will need to register as swap dealers with US regulators and abide by their rules on capital requirements and risk management, all of which adds to costs.

“If I have the choice, I just don’t want to deal with a US person’,” said a treasury manager at a regional Asian bank.

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Federal Public Minister of Switzerland denies that Swiss banks did anything wrong by giving employees names to the USA authorities

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The federal public minister of Switzerland (similar to an attorney general or solicitor general) denies that banks did anything illegal by transmitting the names of 10,000 Swiss bank employees to USA authorities.  The lawyer of the plaintiff, a former bank employee, said that the decision signifies that, “No one committed a single illegal act” («aucun acte illicite n’a été commis par personne»).  The plaintif will challenge this decision within ten days before the Swiss federal penal Tribunal.

It seems like the Swiss authorities are circling the wagons around the Swiss banks against the rights of individual Swiss citizens.

Plainte d’un ancien de la banque HSBC classée

Hat tip:  Jefferson D. Tomas

How normal countries describe the question of dual nationality

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Here‘s what Spain has to say:

Spanish English translation
La concurrencia de dos nacionalidades en una misma persona tiene como consecuencia la existencia de un doble vínculo jurídico. La persona con doble nacionalidad es, a un tiempo, nacional de dos países, gozando de la plena condición jurídica de nacionales de ambos Estados. The concurrence of two nationalities in one single person has as a consequence the existence of a dual juridical bond. The person with dual nationality is, at one time, a national of two countries, enjoying the full juridical status of nationals of both States.

 

Imagine that: speaking of dual nationality in terms of “full status”, rather than of how the citizen must serve the government. Continue reading →

Blaming minorities leads to economic growth?

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With a weak economy, massive debt and high unemployment, are accusations against a small minority of being financially greedy the best means of improving the economy or even increasing political power?  The latest propaganda from the US government seems to lean in that direction:

“I’m a Romney girl, in a Romney world. Life is taxless. It’s fantastic,” sings the fictitious Miss Swiss
The Globe and Mail

Such talk may very well appeal to masses of poor people who are struggling to meet their daily needs in a weak economy.  They certainly have much more serious things to worry about than to question the propaganda being fed to them by their government.  Thus, they may not realize that “Miss Swiss” isn’t even Swiss, or that the video clip “I’m a Romney Girl” is not real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5v4PWW301JM

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Detention of former marine Brandon Raub for “terrorist” comments on Facebook page

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This is a developing story that has found its way on to Zero Hedge and Business Insider, two very different sites that I follow for investment news.  Hopefully, it is much ado about nothing and that there will a be reasonable explanation–though would you believe the explanation if it came out?

Here is the mother’s side of the story on the Josh Tolley Show:

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Kuwait to add to U.S. State Department renunciation backlog?

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According to an article in the Arab Times, Kuwait is going through another one of its periodic crackdowns on holders of dual citizenship, forcing them to choose one nationality or the other. Two years ago the focus was on Kuwaitis with inherited nationality of Arab or South Asian countries; this time, however, they seem to be looking to root out Kuwaitis who were born abroad in jus soli countries — including “accidental Americans” born to in the U.S. to international students who later came back to Kuwait. This could mean long lines outside the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City, and even bigger numbers of CLNs piling up on State Department desks in Washington, DC waiting to be approved.

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Here we go again: examples of others making comparisons

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Our leader of the Canadian Cheekiness Movement (CCM) may be finding himself in some interesting company, namely Carl Watner, an American historian of libertarian studies and Voluntaryist, and Paul LePage, the governor of Maine. With a great deal of aplomb, Watner’s drawn parallels between the actions of the US government and Nazi Germany, Governor LePage in remarks he recently made about the IRS.

In his paper, Watner make references to regulations, including FATCA, that are ‘reminiscent of what Nazi Germany did to its citizens in the years before World War II’.

The Noose Continues to Tighten But No Government Lasts Forever

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