FATCA Hits The Buffers In Russia
von iExpats von Lisa Smith – March 14, 2013…Now Russia has stepped up to say implementing FATCA is illegal in the country as the rules are contrary to Russian and international laws.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has also declared that the country’s financial institutions would break local laws if they enter into any agreement with the IRS.
The Bank of Russia has backed up the Foreign Ministry’s stance and said that FATCA undermines the principle of equality among sovereign states…
Author Archives: swisspinoy
Exclusive: U.S. plans to let spy agencies scour Americans’ finances
(Reuters) – The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters…
Once spy agencies get such data, German said, “it’s in a black hole. Time and again, we have evidence, unfortunately well after the fact, that somebody’s civil rights have been violated, that the intelligence community simply ignores the rules.”
America’s treasured National Origin Discrimination has reached Thailand
National origin discrimination, a federal crime in the United States, is now causing Americans in Thailand to be denied financial services due to US policy.
Federal laws prohibit discrimination based on a person’s national origin, race, color, religion, disability, sex, and familial status. Laws prohibiting national origin discrimination make it illegal to discriminate because of a person’s birthplace, ancestry, culture or language. This means people cannot be denied equal opportunity because they or their family are from another country, because they have a name or accent associated with a national origin group, because they participate in certain customs associated with a national origin group, or because they are married to or associate with people of a certain national origin.
United States Department of Justice
Nobody hates American law greater than the American government, who enjoys being criminal against the American people by causing innocent Americans abroad to be denied financial services simply because of their US national origin.
IT IS STARTING TO HAPPEN IN THAILAND NOW. Financial companies don’t want to do business with Americans, thanks to the tyranny of the IRS.
My wife is a dual citizen, Thai and American. We bank at the local K-Bank, the short name for KasikornBank in Thailand, and the bank has her ID of both citizenships. Yesterday, my wife went to switch a regular savings account into a year long CD with the same bank and was refused. The reason: they will not accept any new CD accounts from Americans, regardless whether they have the legal right to do so or not.
China rejects America’s treasured National Origin Discrimination
US Unlikely To Crack China FATCA Agreement
by Lisa Smith : March 4, 2013 – iExpats.com
No FATCA benefit for China
FATCA has been created to track down the offshore financial assets of US taxpayers and make the institution concerned reveal details so that tax can be collected.
The failure by the institution to register with US tax authorities will see a 30% withholding charge being levied on all financial transactions between it and the USA.
Now China is telling the US that there will be so few US citizens holding Chinese bank accounts that the cost of implementing FATCA outweighs the benefit to the nation’s financial institutions.
The Chinese have also pointed out that even the opportunity of signing an IGA which would allow them to get details of Chinese taxpayers in the US would also serve minimal benefit to the government.
RAKBank is warning US persons and Citibank declined to comment
UAE bank customers caught in crossfire over US sanctions
Gregor Stuart Hunter – Mar 2, 2013 – TheNational
…RAKBank, for example, warned its US customers in a letter in September that it was reviewing all of its compliance procedures.
The letter states that one option under review might require RAKBank “to cease banking for individuals who fall under Fatca regulations”…
…Even US banks are hesitant to reveal where they stand.
“We’re an American bank, so we’re fully compliant with Fatca and are ensuring we are compliant,” said Dinesh Sharma, the managing director and head of consumer banking at Citibank.
“By definition as a US bank, we ensure 100 per cent compliance to any sanctions … without diluting our customer proposition.”
The bank declined to comment on whether any accounts had been closed or transferred as a result of either Fatca or sanctions exposure.
Americans renouncing citizenship to become British thanks to tax rise
The number of people giving up their US citizenship to become British has surged thanks to complex tax rules introduced by the American tax authorities.
11:40AM GMT 02 Mar 2013
London-based American lawyers, who specialise in tax and immigration, report a threefold increase over the last five years in the number of American citizens who are giving up their citizenship – a process known as “renunciation”.
Also in the news today:
Fleeing Abroad May Not Cut Your Taxes
RESHMA KAPADIA – SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2013
As anxiety rises about the increasing tax burden on the world’s richest, some boldface names have taken drastic steps. French actor Gérard Depardieu recently bid adieu to France and accepted Russian citizenship, and Tina Turner is giving up her U.S. citizenship for Switzerland. Golfer Phil Mickelson got an earful after publicly raising the prospects of making “drastic changes” due to California’s rising taxes.
Plenty of other Americans are considering similar moves.
Gold Vaults are now rejecting Americans too!
Where to go as Swiss are Shutting out U.S. Taxpayers
By: Julian D. W. Phillips, Gold/Silver Forecaster – Global Watch – 28 February 2013
…even the leading Swiss Vault in Switzerland, Via Mat, is taking action to take themselves out of the firing line of the IRS, etc., by no longer accepting private customers with a potential U.S. tax liability. The letter sent by Via Mat to customers who fall into this category states:
“We are currently experiencing rapid and substantial changes in the general regulations within this business. The changes mainly relate to the tax structures and taxation systems of various countries. As a consequence of these changes VIA MAT INTERNATIONAL has taken the decision to stop offering this service at its vault [sic] outside of the U.S. to private customers with potential US-tax liability…”
http://news.goldseek.com/GoldForecaster/1362085200.php
FATCA Overreach Sabotages American Global Competitiveness
Heartland Institute – February 19, 2013
If Congress set out right now to craft a law to sabotage the global competitiveness of the US economy, they’d have trouble coming up with one better than what they passed in 2010 in the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
The law is ostensibly aimed at combating tax evasion and requires every foreign financial institution in the world to act at their own tremendous expense as deputy US tax collectors. They must report to the IRS information about financial accounts held by US citizens. FATCA will instead turn the US into an economic pariah and Americans citizens into toxic assets.
Grand Jury Probing Foreign Bank Accounts
By Patricia Hurtado & Christie Smythe – Feb 20, 2013 2:40 AM GMT+0100
A U.S. judge ordered five unidentified taxpayers to turn over information about their foreign bank accounts to a federal grand jury, rejecting arguments that they are shielded by the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act or a constitutional right against self-incrimination.
U.S. District Judge William Pauley in Manhattan said today that a federal grand jury in 2010 began investigating “whether each of the five subjects had a financial interest in foreign bank accounts that they failed to disclose to the Internal Revenue Service.”
In a victory for the government, Pauley said individuals can’t assert a constitutional right against self-incrimination and refuse to disclose bank records to a U.S grand jury.
My comment:
I hope that the Grand Jury recognizes that Americans living abroad have local bank accounts where they live, not “foreign bank accounts”, unless they have a bank account in the US, which would then be a “foreign bank account”. The Grand Jury should understand that an American who does not live in America does not live in America, unlike stateside Americans who may bank in other nations. The difference is great and needs to be considered. Tossing all Americans into the same bucket in regards to local bank accounts can create a lot of confusion and misconduct when seeking a problem that doesn’t exist.
L’Amérique des Prédateurs
LE MONDE ECONOMIE – 18.02.2013
