Author Archives: Deckard1138

File this one under weird FATCA news. Cayman 27 has just issued this in-depth report:

Tourism boost from FATCA?

Minister for Financial Services Hon. Wayne Panton says FATCA may give an unexpected boost to tourism. When initialing the exchange agreement government negotiated a tax write off for those who hold conferences at hotels and business places in the Cayman Islands.
He says this added incentive may help draw people to these shores. “Historically, there has been a big question mark whether that is possible, whether it’s an appropriate deduction. We have had confirmation that this will be a benefit that results from this – so we are happy about that,” said Minister Panton.

So, maybe it’s time for other territories and countries to get creative about their FATCA negotiations. Here are a few ideas:

– Canada offers a tax write-off for every American cop operating within its borders as long as he drops $20 or more at a Tim Hortons within a 24-hour period.

– Yemen and Pakistan both offer tax write-offs for the reconstruction of civilian dwellings as long as the claim is accompanied by a certifiable American drone fragment (a similar deal with Syria is still pending).

– The United Kingdom offers a tax write-off for any proctologist who can successfully extract Prime Minister David Cameron’s head from…well…you know…

From The Ludwig von Mises Institute, a well-researched article entitled FATCA and the End of Bank Secrecy by Cezary Blaszczyk, a graduate of the Faculty of Law at Warsaw University.  In reference to recent news about America’s wide-ranging online surveillance operations, Mr. Blaszcyk notes that:

Few, if any, of those commenting of late on such affairs mentioned that numerous nations across the globe actually acknowledged the U.S. government’s anti-privacy offensive months before by accepting its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Blaszcyk demonstrates how little resistance there has been to FATCA from foreign governments, in particular from those in Europe, whom he implies should really know better:

It seems that there is little understanding that it was banking secrecy that helped to resist twentieth-century dictatorships and that high tax rates — not money havens — are responsible for tax evasion, as Prince Hans-Adam of Lichtenstein has pinpointed. Clearly the amount of information collected for the purpose of future tax investigation is enormous, leaving little place for human privacy and dignity. Most importantly, it raises a question as to who gave participating states a right to gather information on people that are not their citizens.

Welcome to the Homeland, Mexico and Canada!

The Atlantic Wire reports on the head-scratching and ultimately face-palming presentation made by the NSA to a Senate Judiciary Meeting a couple of days ago.

Besides being informed that North America* is now just one, big, happy and trendy turquoise family, we learn of “9 threats involving U.S. Persons or Facilities Overseas” (lower left corner of the picture).  Does “involving” mean that we so-called U.S. Persons are under threat, or that we are a threat or, maybe, both simultaneously?  Perhaps the NSA can explain since they seem to know more about us than we do. Hey, at least we finally got our name on the map.

*and Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala, Panama, Cuba, the West Indies and, um, Greenland.

Rolled Back Deadline of FATCA Gives Critics Hope

Once again James Jatras of RepealFatca.com offers-up another succinct and pithy interview, this time to iExpats.

As Blaze over at Maple Sandbox commented, here’s the article’s takeaway quote about FATCA:

“There’s no way anyone can put enough lipstick on this pig to make it kissable.”

Thanks to Tim for mentioning this news on the Elizabeth May thread:

Rand Paul Blamed for Blocking FATCA

Washington, D.C. (May 2, 2013)

By Michael Cohn

The research and advocacy organization Global Financial Integrity is urging Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., to allow the Senate to vote on agreements negotiated by the Treasury Department with Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hungary and other countries to implement the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, in an effort to ferret out tax evaders.

Senate rules allow any Senator to place a “hold” on legislation removing it from consideration, and Paul has placed holds on bills to implement every tax treaty negotiated since his election in 2010, according to GFI.

Read the rest

Here are links to some other related articles and previous posts:

US senator, lobby group in tax info disclosure pushback

Senator Paul stirs business ire over blocking of U.S. tax treaties (Businesses eager for treaties to win Senate approval)

US eyes FATCA pact for info on Americans’ assets in India

A fairly standard, neutral review of yet another draft IGA, this time with India.  The significance here, of course, is both India’s immense population and its counteracting gravitational pull from its BRICS membership. I have already left a number of comments on the article and the field seems wide open for debate and information sharing. For those tired of the frustrating uphill climb at Huffington Post this may be a refreshing change and a chance to reach out to a very mass audience.

39,000 Tax Cheats Come Forward Under New IRS Programs

So here we are, back to square one again.  A new article by AP hack Stephen Ohlemacher dutifully regurgitates stock IRS tax cheat language in reference to OVDI and FATCA and how “some taxpayers try to avoid penalties through a technique the IRS calls “quiet disclosure”.  I’ve already posted a couple of comments, but it frankly feels like pissing into a Category 5 hurricane of ignorance.  I would urge fellow Brockers to get on there and help out – this one is really bad. It feels like the clock has just been turned back two years or more.

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.

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.

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