Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

We are now preparing for the 2016 FATCA IGA Charter trial in Canada Federal Court

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 2,207 Comments

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.

2,207 thoughts on “We are now preparing for the 2016 FATCA IGA Charter trial in Canada Federal Court”

  1. Thank you nervousinvestor and wondering for two great synopses of the ADCS legal action for Corey and others who may be out there.

    Welcome Corey.

  2. Yesterday my feelings changed from frustration to hatred. There is a scam going on in Canada where someone calls and says they are from the CRA and that there are taxes owing. They state that an arrest warrant had been issued. My daughter arrived home and this message was on the phone. She panicked as she is aware of the mess that FATCA has caused and she reacted emotionally without thinking it through. So who do I now hate? Prime Minister Harper and President Obama, I hope you both go to hell. My young, tax compliant, born in Canada should not be feeling this fear for herself, or for her parents. I hate you both.

  3. Truly despicable, Forever Canadian. This is something we should all discuss with our children / other family members — sounds like a variant of what is warned here: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/nwsrm/lrts/2015/l150610-eng.html

    Beware of new telephone scams

    Ottawa, Ontario, June 10, 2015… The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) is noting an increase in telephone scams where the caller claims to be from the CRA but is not, and is asking Canadians to beware—these calls are fraudulent and could result in identity and financial theft.

    Some recent telephone scams involve threatening taxpayers or using aggressive and forceful language to scare them into paying fictitious debt to the CRA. Victims receive a phone call from a person claiming to work for the CRA and saying that taxes are owed. The caller requests immediate payment by credit card or convinces the victims to purchase a prepaid credit card and to call back immediately with the information. The taxpayer is often threatened with court charges, jail or deportation.

    If you get such a call, hang up and report it to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

    These types of communication are not from the CRA. When the CRA calls you, it has established procedures in place to make sure your personal information is protected. If you want to confirm the authenticity of a CRA telephone number, call the CRA by using the numbers on its Telephone numbers page. The number for business-related calls is 1-800-959-5525. The number for calls about individual concerns is 1-800-959-8281.

    To help you identify possible scams, use the following guidelines:

    The CRA:

    – never requests prepaid credit cards;
    – never asks for information about your passport, health card, or driver’s licence;
    – never shares your taxpayer information with another person, unless you have provided the appropriate authorization; and
    – never leaves personal information on your answering machine or asks you to leave a message containing your personal information on an answering machine.

    When in doubt, ask yourself the following:

    – Is there a reason that the CRA may be calling? Do I have a tax balance outstanding?
    – Is the requester asking for information I would not include with my tax return?
    – Is the requester asking for information I know the CRA already has on file for me?
    – How did the requester get my email address or telephone number?
    – Am I confident I know who is asking for the information?

    The CRA has strong practices to protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information. The confidence and trust that individuals and businesses have in the CRA is a cornerstone of Canada’s tax system. For more information about the security of taxpayer information and other examples of fraudulent communications, go to http://www.cra.gc.ca/security.

    Note they do say they have strong practices to protect the confidentiality of taxpayer information — we know that isn’t so as they are ready to turn some Canadian taxpayer information over to a foreign country.

    http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/

  4. I ran into another victim who lives 6 doors down from me here. This is a well to do retired couple who spend time in the US for the winter months. We have never met before. We met at my daughter’s soccer game. He said his wife was born in the USA but is Canadian and will tell the USA to go to hell if they try to get money from her. He heard only vague descriptions of FATCA I told him to NEVER tell the bank where his wife was born and if they ask, it is up to him on how he should answer. I told him I would clearly lie to protect my wife and daughter from our own government. I also told him that he should come here and read up on the issues, and our lawsuit. He said he will. I also told him to donate if he can. This is what I hate the most. PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA how incredibly DIRTY the scoundrels in suits really are in Ottawa. For crying out loud, this message HAS to reach every single Canadian!

  5. I honestly believe there are still tons of people out there who don’t know anything about fatca or about having to file US taxes. Most people just read things that interest them on internet and don’t even come across news about taxes. I am saying this because I was one of them! I used internet to reserve hotels, book flights, find recipes or buy something off of ebay. I think that’s why we have such a small donor pool compared to how many people this is going to affect soon…many OMG moments in the near future.

  6. @2terrified2sleep and all

    RE: “I honestly believe there are still tons of people out there who don’t know anything about fatca or about having to file US taxes.”

    I couldn’t agree more. And then there are those who know and are in hiding but likely some of those are donating. Many are in hiding due to very legitimate reasons.

    We need to get the word out, especially those of us who don’t feel quite so afraid anymore. And yes, I used to be one of those as well who didn’t know and then hid for a while.

  7. @2terrified2sleep

    If Justice Martineau rules in our favour perhaps many will remain blissfully ignorant.

  8. Re: Don says August 14, 2015 at 12:36 pm
    “[T]he world’s banks are using a service called World Check….”
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02z7yf3

    This BBC podcast Don has found is utterly hair raising.

    World Check is a company that gathers customer profiles and provides them to banks. Right now profiles are mostly about terrorism. But with mission creep, FATCA won’t be far behind.

    Listen to this statement from World Check at 14:46
    :”We also provide secondary identifying information ON INDIVIDUALS such as dates AND PLACE OF BIRTH….”

  9. @bubbles. You wrote somewherethat the judge rejected the lawful recognition of dual nationailty

    As you know me you and Kitty get involved inthat philisophical cat fight

    Can you elaborate on whathe saidorthe position he tookas I have always feltthat was the thread and the needleto win in some jurisdictions

  12. @NativeCanadian

    Thank you for the link to that video. The Deloitte “Expert” was very confused so far as I could judge.

  13. A little bit of bad news – the Toronto Star switched Metro News over to their website and all the great comments that went with the summary trial article that Forever Canadian provided appear to be lost. As a matter of fact, it appears you can no longer comment on it.

    Here’s the new link:

    http://www.metronews.ca/news/vancouver/2015/08/04/two-women-challenge-law-allowing-ottawa-to-give-info-to-u-s-tax-collectors.html

    Please RT and share the new link!

  14. @george

    I think you’d agree that we are on the same page about the recognition of dual citizenship. We all agree that it doesn’t exist.

    I can’t elaborate on Justice Martineau’s warning to Mr Taylor any more than I have. We’ll have to wait for the CD recording for that, or maybe someone else who was there might remember – although I noticed a lot of people nodding off when Mt Taylor had his chance to speak.

  15. @Don

    This podcast that you found http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02z7yf3 is terrifying. People are going to be victimized without knowing why they are being victimized and without any form of due process. I predict that this database will in due course contain all the travel records of every person on earth. The story gets worse and worse and worse.

  16. Re my previous post. It matters little in this sort of world whether one is an innocent good citizen … all that matters are a multitude of secretive opinions (biased or otherwise) about you and whether or not you have accidentally tripped some secret switch somewhere at sometime that turns on “surveillance” or “de-risking” activity.

  17. @ Bubblebustin
    I only saved a few comments. Did anyone else save the others? Maybe they could be e-mailed to Neal Hall. Maybe he actually saved them himself. Cripes, does this mean that every time an article appears with our comments we will have to archive them in anticipation of a future disappearance?

  18. So I’m still trying to figure out what’s up with Roy Berg. Besides his appearance with his posse at the summary trial, he also just published a follow-up post at Mondaq and at Moodys linking to the paper that he and Paul Barba wrote last year, entitled “FATCA in Canada: The Restriction on the Class of Entities Subject to FATCA”. This is the infamous tome in which Berg warned about how Canada was playing fast-and-loose with the definition of FI under the IGA, concluding: “Restricting the definition of Financial Institution may invalidate the Canadian IGA”.

    Why bring this up again – and now? Inquiring minds would like to know.

    Meanwhile, the lines remain open at Moody’s FATCA portal for any remaining sheep who haven’t yet wandered into the abattoir. Once inside, a shiny introductory video beckons:

    Roy Berg. Why he’s practically perfect in every way!

  19. Here’s a suggestion …

    If you are a Canadian citizen considering engaging ANY cross-border lawyer or accountant, ask these questions at the initial conversation:

    1) If I do not choose to comply with US extra-jurisdictional tax claims, what is the specific mechanism by which they will collect a tax claim from me using Canadian courts and laws? Can the US or any other foreign state garnishee my Canadian wages? Can they seize my Canadian bank accounts?

    2) I understand that under the Canada–US Tax Treaty, Canada will not assist in collecting US taxes from any Canadian citizen, unless the tax claim proceeded their becoming a Canadian. How does this protection apply to my situation? Am I protected by this Treaty?

    3) Do you know of any specific case where a Canadian court enforced a US personal tax claim or penalty against a Canadian citizen in Canada? When, where and who?

    4) Do you know of any specific case where a Canadian citizen was detained the the US border because they had not filed US tax forms? When, where and who?

    5) Are you prevented by any US law, professional certification, official registration or similar covenant with any US government agency from giving me full and frank advice?

  21. @ Wondering
    And THAT is why Brock is such a valuable resource for all of us. We get brilliant and helpful comments like yours. I’m not tempted to seek the advise of a condor but others might be and they will find that list of questions extremely useful. Thank you!

  22. @Wondering

    Any specific questions regarding your situation should be done with client/attorney confidentiality…. unless the accountant is also a lawyer…. any info shared could/will leave u wide open for them to use the info against u… a good lawyer will refer u to an accountant that extends confidentiality… Not to sound bitter… but other then family… be very careful whom u share the specfics with… that friendly bank employee may just report u if they have the info…

  24. @EmBee

    It seems so, as this seemed to happen once in a while.

    @canoe

    If you hit the link, it goes to the Metro News main page. Also, I don’t believe those comments were the ones posted at the Metro site. EmBee?

  25. @calgary411

    *telephone scam*

    Call me stone age like some of my kids do… I don’t do internet banking or financial anything online…. I don’t do anything on the telephone… I rec’d this type of call last month… very aggressive… these people can scare people into action… just for fun… since the man was so aggressive… I gave the telephone to the toddler… my child speaks toddler-ish…. private language… good luck on getting the toddler off the telephone… I do the same thing for sales calls… I have at least 10 minutes of peace… I can have a coffee & a quick rest… hehehe…. toddler is shy in person… but toddler on a phone…. no shy bone found… lol

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