Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

New article on FATCA and Israel

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 38 Comments

Things seem to be really heating up there. More fror Haaretz.

http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/anglo-file/israeli-banks-demanding-to-see-u-s-citizens-tax-returns.premium-1.473899

The impression I get is Israeli banks are probably at this point violating Israeli law. It is interesting the different responses from country on this issue.

 

In a move that some tax lawyers are calling a blatant violation of customer privacy, two Israeli banks are requiring current and prospective account holders with American citizenship to furnish portions of their U.S. tax returns, Anglo File has learned. Those who refuse to do so risk having their applications denied or existing accounts frozen.

For several months, two Israeli banks – Bank Leumi and Bank Hapoalim – have required customers to sign a waiver authorizing the banks to review a series of financial disclosure forms. One such form is the Schedule B – which shows dividend and interest income, including the names of all financial institutions paying out dividend and interest income – and a supplementary form known as a Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts form, or FBAR, for Americans with at least $10,000 in foreign bank accounts.

38 thoughts on “New article on FATCA and Israel”

  1. http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000814455

    Israeli investment houses to report on US citizens’ accounts

    TASE tells brokers: We’re examining FATCA’s provisions and their significance.

    15 January 13 13:20, Irit Avissar and Lital Istamati
    The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which requires non-US financial institutions to provide the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with details of bank accounts of American customers, will also affect foreign investment houses. Sources inform ”Globes” that, two weeks ago, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) notified its members that they should prepare to implement FATCA at their institutions. TASE members have until Sunday, January 20, to confirm their awareness of the matter and that they are preparing for it.
    …

  3. Are they dreaming or what?

    Various sources told “Globes” that they agreed that everyone hopes that the Ministry of Finance and the US Department of Treasury will sign an agreement. “An agreement with Israel’s Ministry of Finance will bring salvation to us all,” said a source at an investment house.

    “We strongly hope that there will be an agreement with the Americans, otherwise, this will be a complex and Sisyphean task for the financial institutions,” said another source.

  4. *FromTheWilderness, without donating $115+ billion to foreign nations and foreign citizens, America could easily justify a switch to residency-based taxation like the rest of the world.  But, hey, I’m no longer a US citizen so why should I care if America blows away a fortune of money on non-citizens while pressuring its own citizens to renounce?  Americans in Israel should simply renounce US citizenship and continue enjoying free American tax dollars that they would never get as US citizens.  America will just give them hell if they continue being Americans.

  5. Six new MKs must renounce foreign citizenship

    Saved by Parliament from the FATCA jihad. 🙂

    Two new MKs – Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennett and Yesh Atid’s Dov Lipman – will no longer be American citizens.
    Though Bennett was born in Israel, his parents immigrated to Israel from California and he lived in the United States for several years.
    Lipman, who made aliya from Maryland eight years ago, told The Jerusalem Post last week that giving up his American citizenship is one of the hardest things he has ever done and that he sees himself as a voice for the Anglo community.

    BTW, I watched this documentary last night.  Well worth the time.

    LOUIS THEROUX: THE ULTRA ZIONISTS

    Listen to all those American voices, and ask yourself, will FATCA out them for tax noncompliance?  

  6. @Just Me…I know some of those folks out there.  My suspicion is if it ever caught up to them, they’d tell them to go jump in a lake.

  7. *A Canada paralel might be the “Mohawk Warriors” on the Kahnwake and Akwasne Reserves many of whom were born in the US and in fact some of them were Vietnam Vets. These were the people behind the famous Oka Crisis and Standoff back in 1990. A movie was made about this linked below.

     



  8. *

     

    I will really enjoy seeing a band of IRS Agents crossing into “Mohawk” Territory. The sign below in French translates into no Tax(illegal) cigarrettes. RCMP is of course many as Canadians and non Canadians know is the national police force while SQ is the Quebec Provincial Police.

  9. I haven’t listened to this, but some IBS readers may be interested:
    Radio broadcast on US taxation of those in Israel
    http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Radio/News.aspx/4507
    Audio: Are you a Tax Criminal? How Expats Deal with U.S. Tax Laws

    What’s so great about being a U.S. citizen today? Tax laws for American citizens abroad.
    2/11/2013, 1:57 PM

    A7 Radio’s “Goldstein on Gelt” with Douglas Goldstein

  10. Israeli Banks Said to Be Implicated in U.S. Tax Evasion

    A California man born in Israel agreed to plead guilty to conspiring with people at Bank Leumi Le-Israel Ltd. and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank Ltd. to hide offshore accounts and income from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, according to court filings and people familiar with the matter.

    Zvi Sperling was accused Feb. 14 by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles of conspiring with people at two Tel Aviv-based banks, identified only as Bank A and Bank B. The charging document and plea agreement didn’t identify the banks. Bank A is Mizrahi, according to a person who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the case. Bank B is Leumi, according to a second person, who similarly asked not to be identified.

  12. http://www.timesofisrael.com/americans-in-israel-to-face-fatca-irs-collectors/
    “The US is gearing up to reach out to American citizens abroad that it believes have not paid their fair share in taxes. Israel is set to begin enforcing new US rules on reporting the existence and activities of accounts in Israeli banks held by American citizens or dual-citizens. That is in addition to a marked increase in audits and investigations of American ex-pats in Israel by the US — to the extent that a rumor has surfaced that the Internal Revenue Service has opened a “branch office” in Israel to handle the volume of audits.

    As of Tuesday, Israeli banks will no longer serve American customers who refuse to sign documents that will allow banks to report on their accounts to US authorities. New rules issued by the Bank of Israel will bring the country into full compliance with the requirements of FATCA — The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act — which imposes harsh penalties on non-US banks that do not comply with US reporting requirements. The rules were listed in a note issued by the BOI to banks in Israel on Sunday……..”

    Note that this move from the banks comes BEFORE a FATCA IGA in Israel has been signed.

  13. Have to pay for those bunker buster bombs we give them somehow… Wonder how the U.S. Person settlers are dealing with their ‘responsibilities’ back to the U.S. Holy Land

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