Yearly Archives: 2012

 
This FATCA word just in from the Channel Islands on

Why in Jersey and Guernsey an FFI cannot lawfully transfer information to the US without that person’s permission …

Principle 8 provides that transfers are only permitted to countries that are deemed to have adequate protection of confidential information. US data protection law is much weaker than that of Jersey and the United States is not a country which is listed as one having adequate data protection – the de facto position in Jersey and Guernsey is therefore that an FFI can’t lawfully transfer information to the US without that person’s permission. Again, whilst client consent is an exception to this principle, compliance with another country’s laws is not. On the face of it, it will therefore be unlawful for a Jersey or Guernsey institution to transfer information pursuant to, or indeed register for, FATCA.

Rosie Stott – Jersey: The United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCA”) – Implications For Financial Services Businesses In The Channel Islands – 4 April 2012

link to above full article
 

TAS is looking to use video conferencing in order to better facilitate examiners and taxpayers during the examination process and to reach “underserved” taxpayers.  Highlights Tampa as an area where underserved taxpayers are concentrated, but no mention of the lonely expat. Get audited in the comfort of your own home, just make sure they can’t see your Lear jet through the window.

http://www.taxpayeradvocate.irs.gov/Blog/virtual-face-to-face-audits

Under a simplified “territorial” system, governments would see gains that would offset most, if not all, short-term reductions to tax revenue. Moreover, the long-term gains caused by increased economic activity and decreased compliance costs would dwarf any immediate losses.

World’s Highest Corporate Tax Rate Hurts U.S. Economically

I just listened to this great podcast on This American Life which ran on NPR stations this weekend.

It is called Take the Money and Run for Office.

I highly recommend it to you. Continue reading →

I know this is off topic but it was too much fun to pass up.  Canadian politics are never this exciting.

Judges order Justice Department to clarify following Obama remarks on health law case

A federal appeals court is striking back after President Obama cautioned the Supreme Court against overturning the health care overhaul and warned that such an act would be “unprecedented.”

Guilty by association, even when the association is allegedly created by the government itself:

Someone You Love: Coming to a Gulag Near You

Merryn Somerset Webb has just posted a big-picture piece at Money Week – Why every bank will soon be a tax collector for every government everywhere. Bottom line? Financial repression is a government tool to force a broad population to hold debt that loses them money in real terms. This is outlined as the context for FATCA.

US regulators sue RBC. “You’re constantly doing things that in hindsight someone can come along and conclude differently,” says one bank analyst.

Royal Bank denies accusations made by U.S. regulator