“Conservative revenue critic Pat Kelly is calling for parliamentary committee hearings into the transfer of Canadian banking records to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, saying he wants to know why the numbers have risen sharply. “I think that it’s a big number and the trend of ever-increasing transfers is going to be a concern to many Canadians,” Kelly told CBC News. “I think that the Canada Revenue Agency should be able to give a better explanation than they have so far about what’s driving the ever-increasing requests for record transfers.””
Mr. Kelly kindly spoke to me today and provided more clarification of his position:
— He said that he wants an explanation for the increasing turnover numbers, the correction in number of transfers for 2017 tax year, whether some accounts were transferred that should not have been transferred, and the issue of uncertain U.S. reciprocity — but Mr. Kelly confirmed that he does “not advocate repeal of FATCA“.
See John Richardson interview on Canadian FATCA law.
If you are interested in a Canadian Court striking down the entirety of the FATCA IGA legislation, Please donate to our Canadian FATCA lawsuit.
It’s their polite way of saying that they haven’t received a thing.
Another important update on the story from this thread:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2019/11/12/bmo-facta-reporting/
“…and the plot thickens…
We received written responses from the CRA yesterday confirming that BMO had indeed never reported any information for me and my wife but they did report my daughter’s savings account in April of this year for the 2018 tax year, even though their corporate-level legal/tax experts claimed they had not. Also, the maximum balance for this account has never been more than $2K for its entire existence going back many years.
So, BMO reported an account with a trivial balance that had never been previously reported and then was preparing to certify to us writing that none of this had ever occurred. I have been back in touch with them today and they are scrambling to figure it all out…
FATCA and how the Canadian banks are handling it is a shitshow. You should never trust what your local branch tells you about FATCA and, it appears, you can’t even trust the highest levels of the financial institution itself to be able to competently tell you either. Only the CRA really knows for sure. Everyone who cares should definitely flood them all with written requests for the answers or you may unknowingly have your information reported to the Americans in perpetuity, even when you have been assured by them, possibly even in writing, that they have/will not.”
@refugeefromamerica
The CRA is the sole arbiter ,as you said.but if the banks submit everything or too much ,would you trust the CRA to have any reliable discretion in what they finally submit to the IRS ? Do I have any confidence that my pittance SS autodeposit pension account would be reported simply because it a US pension ? I would be pleasantly surprised if it hasn’t already been reported. Would I inquire to find out if it has been, is another question at the risk opening a can of worms? But they are still questions worth contemplating for future reference.
Much thanks for relating your experience.
My sense is that the CRA does nothing to the data, just forwards it to the IRS. If you ask about your own data – which apparently very, very few people have done – they can look for you. I don’t believe they check to see whether the data is “correct” – they have no way of knowing whether the bank correctly identifies a US person.
I personally think it would be safer to ask CRA than to ask a bank. The bank might wonder why you’re curious, and dig deeper (unlikely but possible). CRA can only tell you if something was reported; it doesn’t know where you bank (unless it does some sort of major investigation, which is not free) and what is its incentive to care about someone’s US person status, frankly?