I came across this while doing yet another search regarding renounciation of US citizenship. At first, it seemed beyond ridiculous but it does give food for thought. I very much like the idea of subtracting the amount of tax one owes that is used for war and directing it toward something more constructive, useful. And I like the emphasis on on “whole” (i.e., world) vs nationalities. There are some fees for joining, for the documents (which seem to be optional) and so on but they are not exhorbitant. Maybe this isn’t realistic at this point in time, but if it could work, it would definitely be better than what is going on in the world right now.
Yearly Archives: 2012
Flaherty's original Sep 16 2011 Letter
I though it would good as I am not sure everyone has seen it to repost Flaherty’s original letter on September 16th 2011 sent but unpublished, to several major American newspaper (i.e. NY Times, Washington Post, WSJ):
Fifth Amendment: Belated FBAR filings are a substantial hazard
Michael Sardar, “The FBAR and the Fifth Amendment” Journal of Taxation 111 (2009) 180-182.
The article argues that a substantial hazard of criminal charges exists if a person files a late FBAR. Therefore, on Fifth Amendment grounds, an argument can be made for not filing the FBAR at all. The first time filer says with the FBAR filing,
“I have a foreign bank account and have not reported it previously,” with the inevitable question arising whether the account existed in prior years.
Re: OVDI Switcheroo: Canadian RRSP back in the penalty base
This topic is such a source of anger and high anxiety that I wanted to comment on this in a separate post.
I don’t believe it is possible (without the individual facts) as to whether the RRSP (although in terms of fairness no retirement plan should be included) to treat this as a “one size fits all question”. I expressed my thoughts on this before in a post called “Canadian RRSPs and the OVDI Penalty Base“.
Here is how I think the arguments about RRSPs should be made: Continue reading
What does it mean for you?
Please watch the YouTube video (audio on please) and comment about what the images and nuances mean for you today.
Head of Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce to dual Swiss/US citizens: I advise you to renounce US citizenship
Please find below a very interesting article from Switzerland which a frequent contributor to the site, Skay, has found. I have reposted this here on the main page to increase the visibility of this article.
Skay says (from a post on the relinquishment thread):
If you can read French, a good article just appeared today in today’s Swiss Hebdo entitled “Hounded Americans are giving up their passports.”
In it, the Director of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce says, “Double nationals who have no real need of their American passport are well advised to give it up, because it has become too onerous to keep it.”
Latest article from our "friend" Barrie McKenna
A new Barrie McKenna piece is up at the G&M website.
Key Quotes:
Conspicuously absent from the statement was Canada.
U.S. Treasury says, "When taxpayers overseas avoid paying what they owe, other Americans have to bear a disproportionate share of the tax burden"
This is the comment of the day, from omghe’sstillanamerican:
Yes the UK talks about collecting foreign account information of residents of their own countries while the Treasury department issued this gem (Bloomberg Businessweek):
“When taxpayers overseas avoid paying what they owe, other Americans have to bear a disproportionate share of the tax burden,” Emily McMahon, the Treasury’s acting assistant secretary for tax policy, said in the press release. “FATCA is an important part of the U.S. government’s effort to address that issue and these regulations implement FATCA in a way that is targeted and efficient.”
OVDI Switcheroo: Canadian RRSP back in the penalty base
News Flash: The United States government is so desperate for cash that the IRS has put the RRSP back into the penalty base for the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative. You can read about here and at the Serbinski Forum (see comments by Tacova and tsanaha).
Imagine that. The United States is now raiding the retirement accounts of Canadians. Way to take the high ground Mr. Shulman. Way!
Letters from IRS starting to come in
Yesterday I received a computer-generated letter from the IRS regarding the first of four 1040 returns I sent in mid-December. I check the mailbox everyday, thinking the notice from hell may arrive, though I really did not expect to hear a word for months. So I wondered before opening it, am I about to lose my sense of calm gained by renouncing and trying to focus, at least occasionally, on something else. I posted a bit about this yesterday but was unable to copy/paste the letter; Petros asked today that I include it in a new post.