FATCA: The U.S. Flexes Its Waning Economic Muscle Abroad

9 thoughts on “FATCA: The U.S. Flexes Its Waning Economic Muscle Abroad”

1. Glad you picked up on that one.  It calls for comments, which I will get to later today, but I did quickly email it to David Macaray, who said previously, our comments sure educated him, but he didn’t have much interest in following up on the subject.  🙂  

2. I left a comment as well. Now if HuffPost approves it, it’ll be on public record: Mr. Gibson has been duly informed about his sacred obligation to file IRS information returns next June on his evil tax-evading foreign grantor trusts which hold shares in passive foreign investment companies .

3. @Eric, Swisspony

   I put up a comment tonight too, while watching the election returns.  In case it doesn’t come out of moderation, here was what I said.  Working on another one for the morning. I see Julian Hudson as been busy also, with his two part comments.

   I think it is pretty clear that the intention of Congress with FATCA was to crack down on Homeland Tax evaders. It was passed, following the successful prosecution of UBS for soliciting tax evasion schemes on American shores. It had nothing to do with Expats living abroad. I doubt Congress ever gave Expats a thought, or considered that the US is alone in the OECD world in taxing its citizens (US Persons) no matter where they live and reside in the universe. 

   Every other country taxes on residency, just like the 50 states in the Union. If you are born in California, and move to Nevada, California doesn’t continue to tax and penalize you for the rest of your life. 

   US Persons includes accidental Americans by birth and have never touched foot on American soil. It also includes many married dual citizens who have been living outside of America, far offshore, like in Canada where ~1,000,000 Americans call home. It also includes a lot of Greencard carrying immigrants who have returned to their homeland, but not officially renounced their US residency.

   So, contrary to the otherwise well written article, FATCA is not just about the wealthy abroad, it is about average middle class folks; the school teacher, the oil field worker, the computer programmer, the missionary, the peace corp volunteer or even the US serviceman who married a local and settled on foreign shores and raised a family. These are now the unintended targets of FATCA. They are hardly wealthy!

4. It is not bad but it suffers from the same sloppy journalism  ones sees everywhere.  It seems  journalists  feel free to put in the words  “FATCA”, “expatriates”,  “tax  evaders”,  “abroad” (or “overseas”), and  “wealthy”  in whatever  order they feel like.  I wonder if any of them  really have a clue what they are talking about.

5. Story on the Marketplace, Morning Report, from PRI on voting excitement in China..

   Good opportunity to place a comment and ask a question of the journalist doing the writing, and refer him to this Huff Post story

   http://www.marketplace.org/topics/elections/what-obamas-re-election-means-china#comment-71736

6. Another Huffington Post article tonight on Expats and renouncing.  This is the 3rd in a very short period of time.  I only had time for one short comment in reply to someone else, and will be off very early tomorrow for an across state trip.  Hope others can weigh in. I see Eric has made 3 comments.

   American Expat Taxpayers Would Rather Ditch Citizenship Than Face New IRS Rules

7. *Victoria, your comment is being reported as having been deleted.  Here it is:

   “Ken is dead right. I’m a U.S. citizen and have lived outside
   the U.S. for nearly 20 years now. I too am thinking hard about
   making appointment with the embassy to renounce. Is it the
   double taxation? No, you idiots, it’s the onerous reporting
   requirements that force me to hire a cross-border tax
   professional every year to make sure I’m compliant. It’s the
   cost that of paying this fine person out my IT project
   manager’s salary (money earned entirely in my host country by
   the way). It is the complaints from my French husband who
   LOATHES the idea that his financial information is now in the
   hands of the American IRS. And finally it is having to listen
   to all the “don’t let the door hit you on the way out” comments
   from folks who have never walked a mile in our shoes and know
   absolutely nothing about what we are going through.

   For all of
   you who think we should just get the hell out I want you to do
   something for me. Call your rep in the U.S. and tell them that
   you are OK with letting us go. In fact, you INSIST on it and to
   hasten our departure you want all the fees and paperwork waived
   for us. All we “traitors” have to do is walk over and dump our
   passports on the door of the local US embassy. Does that work
   for you folks? Sure works for me.”

   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Victoria_Marie_Ferauge/american-expat-taxpayers-would-rather-ditch-citizenship-than-face-new-irs-rules_n_2094559_204762323.html

8. Huffington Post:

   Most comments are removed because of an attack or insult on another user or public figure.

   So, why? Victoria’s use of the word “idiot” is the only thing I can see from where I’m reading her comment — and, of course, that is the truth. She is being shut up and we are being shut up.

   Why doesn’t Huffington Post have a dialogue on exactly what Victoria asks homelanders to do if they are offended by the expat “traitors” — are these ever the same persons who will contact their government representatives for anything?

9. *Good question.  I’ve been calling stateside Americans “‘fair share’ rejecting tax cheats” for not financing unemployment benefits for Americans living abroad, and they didn’t delete that, even though it could appear as an inappropriate generalization which could be seen worse as “idiot”.  Yet, i suppose that often it is the individual word which gets the red flag, not the combination of less controversial words.