Transfer of Records from CRA to IRS Doubled to 315,000
Elizabeth Thompson of CBC is reporting the number of FATCA records transferred from CRA to IRS doubled from 2016 from 2015.
Banking records of more than 315,000 Canadian residents were turned over to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service last year under a controversial information sharing deal, CBC News has learned.
That is double the number transferred in the deal’s first year.
The Canada Revenue Agency transmitted 315,160 banking records to the IRS on Sept. 28, 2016 — a 104 per cent increase over the 154,667 records the agency sent in September 2015.
The article points out the flip flop of Trudeau, Brison and Goodale.
NDP Revenue Critic Pierre-Luc Dusseault finds the increase in reporting “surprising.” He says:
“I don’t see how there would be 150,000 more accounts reportable to the IRS in one year. It is something I will look into.”
Lynne Swanson has no idea why the number has doubled but finds the number low considering the number of people affected by FATCA.
Swanson hopes the Republican controlled Congress and President Trump will repeal FATCA. She is still waiting for the Federal Court of Canada to intervene to protect Canadians in Canada.
“A foreign government is essentially telling the Canadian government how Canadian citizens and Canadian residents should be treated. It is a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.”
“While on the other hand, we are forcibly stripped of our dominant nationality and then called by the same people that have been protesting, the US Government and by our own Government that we are tax cheats, money launderers, terrorist funders and need to be registered with the Financial Crimes Agency which in my mind equates to having to be registered on a sex conviction list.”
Well of course you’re on a sex conviction list. You get a scarlet letter because one or both of your parents were US citizens when they did the ugly deed.
“A refugee being shipped back to the Middle East is potentially a life-or-death situation.
A dual citizen in Canada might, if unlucky, have some bank account info sent to the US.”
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2016/02/06/perhaps-after-reading-this-you-could-suggest-a-title-for-this-post/
@Norman Diamond
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law
Norman Diamond’s comment is in such poor taste that it demeans the IBS site and opens us up to hate and ridicule. No one will take us seriously. It should be removed and he should be banned. His story is getting very tiresome.
Is DoD complaining about my explanation of the reason why no one cares about one million Canadians? If so, study this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irony
Nonetheless it will remain true that the only people who care about one million Canadians are those one million Canadians. Sauve qui peut.
Norman: You beat me to it re Nononymous comment. Thanks for posting the link.
This tax issue HAS been a life and death matter for some. One FATCA/CBT-related death is one too many (and there has been more than one, plus at least one attempt that I know of) and puts the laws that we are fighting here in exactly the same category as Trump’s edict. It’s heinous, and must not be so lightly dismissed.
Laws that prevent the free movement of people are not the only kind that cause untold human misery. Tax laws have been known to do the same, have they not? I recall that tax laws, with uncanny resemblance to the ones we fight, instigated a world-altering war 250 or so years ago.
@Muzzled @Norman, I know three people that attempted suicide over this in the past year. When I had my OMG moment I was drunk for six months straight and my blood chemistry was all pointing to death. I thank God for allowing me to stumble on this site as I have now been sober for years.
FATCA is NOT an inconvenience and it is a financial death sentence that for many is a real physical death sentence.
I have empathy for those that had their travel interrupted this weekend but there is nothing in comparison.
I do know that when we do have victory the Democrats and Liberal Media in the USA will be calling you me and all our friends every dirty rotten name in the book.
George: Whatever name they call me I’ll be proud to wear it. As I said before, fighting this fight alongside all of you is the best thing I have EVER done and no one can EVER tell me I should be ashamed.
@Muzzled I am sick of having had to teach my children that they can never tell the deep dark secret of their national origin. I am grateful but sick of having to remind them that they always need to use their local accent and not their American accent amongst strangers!
I will never forget early on when I was in a bank managers office and when my place of birth was visible on my ID that I was told “We can not take your business” as if I was a Columbian drug dealer.
I am sick that my fellow American friends only keep $100 in the bank and as soon as money is deposited they take it out in cash and put it in a fire proof box living by cash. They do this because they are afraid they will have their account closed.
@Muzzled….I was gutted in Obama’s final week that he did not have it in him to give us a bone after his own party Democrats Abroad was pleading the case!
I do not care who it is in Office, we need relief NOW, and I will be grateful to whomever gives us that relief.
All roads leading to renunciation is not a joyous path, it is a very dark path.
On a personal note, it remains a pleasure to stand toe to toe with good people like you.
Norman, DoD, George TOR, all,
I concur that FATCA with CBT are life-altering and potentially life threatening. While I have not, thanks in part to IBS, and thanks to a long family tradition of skepticism and prudence vis à vis all things governmental, ended up being financially impacted much by FATCA, it has induced significant stress and wasted time and energy. Chronic stress is bad for one’s health. And if my situation generated quite a bit of such stress, I can only imagine what others, who lost tens of thousands of hard earned dollars, have undergone. The threats, the legal issues, the cost, and having to reconsider fundamental self-perceptions, that is all very taxing (…). Just having to reconsider whether I can/should remain American, whether I have to or should renounce this citizenship… that’s true hardship (not to mention, again, the cost). Knowing that if I do renounce, it may be impossible to go live in the US again, and knowing that I can only go there as a privilege on a visa, not as a right. Knowing that if I don’t my financial life will be more complicated, and that there are things I shouldn’t do in the future, that hurts too.
This is not a contest of who suffers most, and nobody denies the extreme hardship that many refugees go through. Our situation is nevertheless dire, uncertain, unstable, and unfair, with direct and concrete consequences on who we are, our health, our finances, and our relationships. Venting a bit on this site, as well as sharing information and energy, is truly therapeutic in all ways, and I personally always enjoy coming back to see a comment from the various “habitués” including Norman. And I’m happy to disagree often, and be shocked occasionally, because that’s what healthy human interaction is. Overall the comments here strike me as very literate, articulate, witty, thoughtful and informative.
@ Fred (B)
“This is not a contest of who suffers most”
A fine post Fred. We are not in a competition with refugees here. Of course our physical well being is not under threat but mental anguish is its own kind of Hell. Hoping for relief from the new US leadership. The rate that Trump is rolling back Obama’s mischief is encouraging. He can be a lout but he’s our lout now if FATCA can be repealed. Any port in a storm I say.
Lake Superior: indeed, any port in a storm. I never thought I’d suppport full Republican power but here it is, in all 3 branches. And all quite uninhibited and unhinged in their own ways. If they don’t solve this problem, nobody ever will and yours truly may finally decide to renounce or relinquish.
George: Thank You!!! I will copy your impassioned words into my next communication with the UN.
Fred (B): I’d like to copy part of your wonderful comment as well into the same communication.
And the key question remains:
What is the IRS doing, or going to do, with all this account information? Nothing or something?
@calgary411 Excellent response to CCLA.
@Fred (B) Great comment.