UPDATE SEPTEMBER 19, 2015: SEE ALSO DISCLAIMER AND LITIGATION UPDATES.
[This post, which began in May and having over 1000 revisions and 2000 comments, is being retired from service and updates. It lived through the success of reaching a total of $500,000 in donations from our kind, dear supporters who had little money to give, the hope and disappointment with the summary trial decision, and the certainty that we are now finally moving on to the Charter trial.]
CANADIAN CHARTER TRIAL UPDATE:
— We have instructed the Arvay team to prepare for the “Constitutional-Charter” trial. This means that our focus now, as it was in the beginning of our lawsuit, is on the Charter trial.
Unless there is a new expense in the future that we have not anticipated, the monies from your donations will be sufficient to take us through the “constitutional-charter” trial in Federal Court. However, to pay other legal bills we will need additional donations from our supporters, and a request for donations will appear on another post soon.
OUR LITIGATION HISTORY:
One year ago, on August 11, 2014, Litigator Joseph Arvay filed a FATCA IGA lawsuit in Canada Federal Court on behalf of Plaintiffs Ginny and Gwen, the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (en français), and all peoples.
Because of a Government delay we initiated a “summary trial”, using a portion of the arguments, which offered the possibility of preventing private banking information from being turned over to the IRS before September 30, 2015. See Alliance’s Claims, our Alliance blog, and AUGUST 4-5 SUMMARY TRIAL FILINGS in LITIGATION UPDATES.
Hear hear, Hazy. I’m doing my part.
Still waiting to take my citizenship test so I can shake off the chains of US personhood.
@ Wondering
“Bravery trumps cowardice. And fortune favors the brave.”
Spot on! You nailed Harper’s cowardice too.
@ Hazy
Neatly stated! The “trans” meme is very trendy these days.
@ Ann #1
“I have donated by withdrawing cash from the ATM and walking across the street to Shopper’s Drug Mart which has a Canada Post.”
Be careful. In Canada these are known as ABM’s. One slip up like this could expose you as a possible “U.S. Person” and you know the consequences.
“I used my real name to buy the money order.” Do you have to give your name to buy a money order in Canada nowadays? Or do you just have to sign the money order?
@GwEvil RE: http://www.businessgyan.com/b/fatca_boon_or_pain
Looks like FATCA is hurting the US dollar instead of bringing in $ to the IRS. Like many others, I have removed any assets from US and will never invest there now.
Interesting stuff on front page story of today’s Vancouver Sun which states:
“In Canada, the Industrial Commercial Bank of China’s offices in Vancouver and Toronto will complete transactions between any currency in the Americas and the renminbi.”
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/China+appears+ready+allow+more+currency+move+overseas/11142011/story.html#ixzz3dMGHjbdV
@PatCanadian – I too told my investment guy to take all my RRSP investment money out of anything US. In addition, I will not spend any money going to the US for any trips. Once this becomes more well known, I believe that there will be the sound of crickets in all the usual holiday spots that are used to the influx of snowbirds and the travel and holiday industry people in the US will be scratching their heads wondering why. The treasury dept and the IRS along with the ignoramus’ in Congress have really put a nail in their own coffin with this boneheaded move in my opinion.
Sadly, they are going to put a huge drag on the rest of the world until we create a work around to leave them behind. But, once that happens they will be the “has beens” and “used to be’s” and “still think they are’s” of the world screaming and stomping their feet in ineffectual tantrums. Luckily, by then no one will be listening to them anymore and we can all move on our merry way and think of them no more.
Why is it that a small country like the Bahamas hasn’t legally implemented a FATCA IGA, while Canada rushed into legislating and implementing it?
See delay in passing law to iimplement a FATCA IGA in the Bahamas;
http://www.tribune242.com/news/2015/jun/17/opposition-fearing-major-repercussions-fatca-bill-/
‘Opposition Fearing ‘Major Repercussions’ On Fatca Bill Delay’
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
….”Tribune Business revealed earlier this week the Bahamian financial industry’s concerns that it will have to start complying with FATCA’s automatic information exchange provisions without the enabling laws – which will support and facilitate this process – in place.
This is because the Bahamas-US FATCA Agreement Bill, which will codify the agreement struck between the two nations over how this country’s financial institutions will report information on their US clients, has yet to be debated and passed by Parliament.
Nor have the FATCA ‘guidance notes’, which give Bahamas-based institutions compliance advice on how to deal with the reporting regime’s details, been finalised…”…
“…The Bahamas-US FATCA Agreement Bill is thus intended to convert the IGA into statute. If it is not passed into law, the IGA will have no legal effect, thus placing the Bahamas in potential danger of failing to fulfill its obligations to the US tax authorities.
Such a scenario is unlikely to happen, given the Bahamian financial industry’s dependence on US markets and correspondent relationships with US institutions.
The draft Bahamas-US FATCA Agreement Bill and accompanying guidance notes were released in early May 2015 for industry consultation and feedback.
The Bill’s ‘objects and reasons’ states, precisely and bluntly, why the Bahamas must comply with FATCA to ensure the survival of its financial services industry.
“The United States has one of the largest securities and investment markets, and a large network of correspondent banks,” the Bill says.
“It is well nigh impossible today to do business without coming into contact with its financial system.”..”…
So, what was Canada’s hurry to sign then?
Really, Tom ! Are you trying to scare people into not donating to an important cause?
Another reason Harper should be executed….http://voices-voix.ca/sites/voices-voix.ca/files/dismantlingdemocracy_voicesvoix.pdf Treason is not the only reason. I donated through Paypal and have no fear of my government. It is because of people like us doing the right thing, that Canada will fight the dictator and make Canada what it once was again…. together for everyone!
It’s a sad day in Parliament that somebody had to shut the computer system down in order to protest bill C51. The Cons are notorious for not listening anyway. They will have start listening on Aug 4 when our lawsuit makes the headlines. Our thermometer has stalled a bit. I hope by the end of this month to see it heat up again. We are all in this together! We’ve come so far and are so close and for that I am grateful not to be fighting this alone. Many thanks to all the hard working people in the background and to all those who continue to donate.
@badger, good to hear about the Bahamas! It’s a happy thought to know that there is one Parliament in our hemisphere with the good sense not to pass an IGA.
There is no way to know for certain, but I truly think if the matter had been left strictly up to Jim Flaherty and he was still the Minister of Finance, alive and well, he would have continued to resist it, just as he had initially. Probably if it was Harper that had been a cabinet minister who died and it was Jim Flaherty who became the P.M., a lot of decisions would have been made quite differently!
Unfortunately, the Conservative party leadership and the big bank leadership intervened and got this legislation slammed through. After all, why not? The Con leadership insisted that the IGA was simply enforcing America’s long-existing CBT laws. The US “already” had defined its citizens abroad accordingly, and the citizenry was “already” supposed to be reporting regularly to the IRS. (And if those citizens weren’t, why shouldn’t the U.S. implement FATCA to make sure that U.S. citizens were compliant with their CBT laws?) Also, the IRS was only taxing “citizens” making over $92,000–not the working class. As for IRS dinging any account over $10 K, such as retirement funds, our gov’t simply promised not to divulge details of RRSPs, etc. to the CRA. Presto! The problem APPEARS to be solved.
They didn’t care that the I.R.S. would NOT exempt such accounts once they forced “US persons” to divulge ALL accounts by means of compliance vultures. What is sickening is not only didn’t the Cons care what would happen to all the accidental Americans of Canadian families, people married to American-borns like our plaintiffs’ spouses who suddenly become “US persons”, and the retirees who would find all their savings quickly gobbled up by either the IRS or the compliance vultures, they didn’t even care about Calgary 411’s son or anyone similarly trapped into these obligations forever with NO POSSIBLE WAY OUT! Honestly, the word sickening isn’t strong enough!
You describe the audacity very well, Jan.
@Badger @Jan Maybe the conservatives were hoping it would be something that would “settle down” after implementation, and best to implement quick rather than draw lots of attention to objectionable aspects of it they would pass anyway. NOT! OPPOSITE! Also, sooner meant further from their election. Onward 4 August court date.
Ann: I sure hope our lawsuit *does* make the headlines! It will be about time!
JC: For all the lack of substantive press coverage of this issue the Conservatives probably *do* think things have “settled down”. The Con MPs probably think we’ve all slunk away with our tails between our legs. In fact, we’re just not bothering to waste our breath on them any longer.
I will be donating again in support of ALL Canadians and for the sake of my country. The judicial process seems to be clearly in favor of the government. Lets compare to the public laws vs the law enforcement officers of our police. If I were speeding down the highway and was pulled over, I would be issued a ticket and told I broke the law. I would clearly NOT be allowed to continue speeding as I am told I broke the law and must stop breaking the law or be thrown in jail if I continue. Now, the government clearly broke the law and is allowed to continue breaking the law without being told to stop immediately or be thrown in jail. How does it make sense that they can break clear laws and continue to do so when the public cannot continue? Further more, a speeding ticket will be dealt with in court within 15 days of issue, why do we wait months, maybe years to get to court? The law is the law isn’t it? All of my donations are made with clear anger towards the complete idiot running this country and allowing innocent lives to be ruined. I trust everyone involved in this court challenge all the way. I do not trust the current government in any way shape or form!
@ Native Canadian
Thank goodness ADCS has steadfast donors like yourself (plus your wonderful family) and many others too.
@ All
We are at about the midway point to the August 1st deadline and our stalwart Stephen Kish (by my records) has peeked into an empty mail box 20 days out of the past 45. Thankfully on one glorious day (June 2nd) there was a huge surge of $10K. Simply amazing! Instead of having half of what we need we have slightly more than one quarter but even though it looks like quite a challenge to get the final $100K, ADCS donors have come through before and I’m sure they will again. Surgite! BTW I can’t think of a better day for another surge in donations from Canadians than July 1st — a day which will live in infamy now because of FATCA. I’d like to think of a future where Canada Day is once again a celebration for us and not a sad reminder of a great betrayal.
For me it’s just a matter of cash flow. I will mail my next contribution soon. July 1 sounds like a good date to shoot for. I think we all realize this is very important to continue.
A contribution to ADCS is a great way to celebrate Canada Day. I’ll be sending in another donation before July 1, 2015. Our lawsuit is a means to restore Canadian sovereignty. On July 1, 2014 a large threat to Canadian Sovereignty was put in place by the Con government by allowing US FATCA legislation to overreach into Canada.
@ AnonAnon
Same with me. I have to wait for CPP/OAS cheques to arrive. It felt quite strange when I started getting those cheques a few years ago. I was getting something for doing nothing but I have no qualms about using them to help ADCS do something. I feel like FATCA stole much of the pleasure of my husband’s first Canada Day as a Canadian citizen but we still have the date of his beautiful Canadian citizenship ceremony to celebrate. They can’t take that away from us.
Has anyone posted about this survey yet? American Citizens Abroad Global Foundation seeks views on tax laws. Questions are about FATCA and FBAR. I found the link on the AARO facebook page:
https://americansabroad.org/issues/taxation/american-citizens-abroad-global-foundation-seeks-views-tax-l/
Thanks for this, heartsick. I just took the time to express my views. It was therapeutic.
Interesting that it is the ACA Global Foundation. I hope we will one day see the results of this survey from that arm of ACA.
Survey by University of Nevada on FATCA. I did the survey. Same Country Exception questions, LOL. Comments and survey link here:
https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments-part-2-of-2/comment-page-9/#comment-6218037
@heartsick, I took the survey, too. I made lots of comments! My favourite part was telling them why I think FATCA was implemented, which like John Richardson, I believe has nothing to do with taxes.
@ Jan I used the comments section a lot as well. As someone who left the US as a child with my Canadian parents, I had lots to say about the US claim on me. I encourage others to take the survery as well. Someone described the experience as “cathartic“
JC found a better spot for the survey link and comments in the Media thread.
@PatCanadian Interesting articles if not 100% accurate … what journalist ever gets is 100% accurate ……
Interesting anecdote about the steel importers. This will become the norm. In some things the norm may become 1) pay 100% in renimbi or 2) pay 143% in US$ (so that the exporter is left with 100% net).
@GeorgeIII
Either I am VERY slow on the uptake today or I have to wonder if Steven Hayward is an idiot.
“Powerline’s Steven Hayward (coincidentally also a former contributor to Reason) wonders aloud whether the Justice Department attorneys are just stupid or possibly working in league with Rand Paul.””
How on earth could this behaviour by Justice Dept Attorneys suit Rand Paul ? It is the opposite of everything he stands for.