Monthly Archives: April 2013

Sigh. Another corporate overlord will soon be dispatched to supervise the northern colonies:

Obama picks Goldman Sachs exec for ambassador to Canada

If approved, new ambassador would replace David Jacobson

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/04/03/pol-us-ambassador-to-canada-obama.html

I wonder if Mr. Heyman will be invited for a drink at the exclusive Canadian IGA club where Canada’s big banks, the Canadian Bankers Association and the Federal Finance Department have already gotten the FATCA party started.

Here are two of the stranger and more delusional articles to come down the FATCA rail line so far, courtesy of the Bahamas Tribune:

Bahamas Takes ‘Regional Lead’ Over Fatca

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2013/mar/28/bahamas-takes-regional-lead-over-fatca/

June 1 Deadline For Decision On Fatca

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2013/apr/03/june-1-deadline-decision-fatca/

Inexplicably, the Bahamas seems to be trying desperately to convince itself not only that FATCA might actually be a positive thing for their banking sector, but that they will also somehow convince the US government to help pay for its implementation. Does the Bahamian government, or its media, have ANY idea of what an unmitigated disaster FATCA will be for their island paradise, and for the rest of the world?  Astonishing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBcAao4U1xw

Interesting and funny video, however the FATCA and citizenship-based tax starts about a quarter of the way in.

Upon further watching, this is a MUST WATCH.

Interesting. Blame clearly directed at the White House and Obama personally.  I think he gives some pretty good analysis of where things actually stand behind closed doors in Washington right now. Not great but not as totally bad and inevitable as the FATCA Compliance complex might want you to think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcXTMs5Vkbw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bvwU2-fCDo

CCH Group posted this new article on March 28th, 2013:

IRS Planning FATCA Corrections and Clarifications, Looking at “Refinements” to Final Regs, Official Says

The IRS will provide clarifications and technical corrections to the final regulations issued on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), enacted as part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-147 ), an IRS official said on March 27. When asked whether there might be further ”refinements” to the final regulations, John Sweeney, chief, Branch 8, IRS Associate Chief Counsel (ACC) (International), said that the IRS is also looking at what issues might require substantive changes, but he did not promise that the Service would issue amendments to the final regulations. Sweeney spoke during an American Bar Association (ABA) Tax Section webcast.

More

Zhulik, living in Budochka, Belarus, apparently inherited $1 million from his/her US elder, tax-free, with no known US filing obligations and didn’t renounce US citizenship.  No FBAR, no FATCA, no nothing.  Yet, so far, no Americans have accused the dog of not paying his/her “fair share” or of “evading” US taxation.   Must dogs be required to file FBARs too?

MINSK, March 31 (RIA Novosti) – A dog from the small village of Budochka in Belarus inherited almost $1 million from a US citizen of the Belarusian origin, local Respublika daily reported.

The ten-year-old dog by the name of Zhulik (Swindler) inherited the fortune from late John Fyodorov, who was born in Budochka, but migrated to the United States after the World War II.

According to Zhulik’s owner Vasily Potapov, Fyodorov visited the small village in Belarus in 2007 and said the dog reminded him of his dog Valet that died in 1950s.

Valet was ill at that time and deciding between an expensive surgery for the dog and buying a ticket to Sacramento, Fyodorov chose the latter. The dog died and since then Fyodorov could not forgive himself for the death of best friend.

Maria Protasenya, a lawyer from Minsk, confirmed that a special bank account was opened for the dog and it currently boasts $993,700.

More