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Author Archives: Stephen Kish

The Association des Américains Accidentels (AAA) seeks Canadian Plaintiffs in U.S. Lawsuit Contesting High Cost of Citizenship Renunciation Fee: Please help

Posted on by Posted in Citizenship Issues, Freedom, Law & Morality 23 Comments

The United States engages in a human rights violation by making it difficult/impossible to renounce U.S. citizenship because of the high citizenship renunciation fee it imposes.

The Association des Américains Accidentels (AAA) seeks Canadian plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State that will contest the unreasonably high citizenship renunciation fee.

The lawsuit will be launched in early 2021.

It is expected that some plaintiffs, for example,will have already have paid the fee and have renounced, but others were not able to renounce because they could not afford the high fee.

You will have to provide your name, residence, facts surrounding your U.S. citizenship (e.g., you might have no meaningful relationship with the U.S. but had citizenship imposed) and your renunciation/desire to renounce details.

Assume that your name will be published in a public record and that you might have to sign a written declaration at some point in the future.

If you are interested in being a plaintiff your questions will be answered by emailing contact@americains-accidentals.fr with subject line “Plainte USA”

Canadian Lynne Swanson’s December 18, 2012 “12 reasons why Canada must reject FATCA”

Posted on by Posted in Canadian Government, Freedom 11 Comments

Some will remember strong-minded fiercely Canadian Lynne Swanson, who was there before the beginning helping to make our marathon Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit happen.

Here, published on December 18, 2012 in Maple Sandbox, are Lynne’s pick of her reasons why Canada should not pass the FATCA enabling legislation:

Lynne said:

“There are a multitude of reasons why Canada must reject FATCA.

Here are just 12 of them:

1. FATCA violates Canadian privacy, banking and human rights laws and Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

2. Canadian laws are made in Ottawa, not in Washington

3. FATCA treats Canadian citizens born in US and their Canadian-born children as second class citizens in Canada.

4. FATCA threatens Canadian sovereignty and autonomy.

5. FATCA threatens retirement, education and disability savings of Canadian citizens and residents.

6. FATCA places huge costs on Canadian financial institutions.

7. FATCA takes money out of Canadian economy and tax base.

8. Canada has a 70 year effective tax treaty with US to combat tax evasion.

9. Canada does not negotiate with financial terrorists.

10. Canada is not a tax haven.

11. Canada should show leadership to the world in standing up to IRS bullies.

12. FATCA is just plain wrong.

Canada, Just Say No!”

Lynne Swanson

MARCH 30, 2022 FATCA IGA LEGISLATION TRIAL HAS BEEN HELD AT CANADA’S FEDERAL COURT OF APPEAL: We wait for the decision in 4-6 (?) months — Crown argued that FATCA turnover is minimally intrusive, just like a T5 slip — Our side still disagrees.

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Our FATCA IGA litigation trial DEEGAN ET AL. v. ATTORNEY GENERAL OF CANADA ET AL., Court file number A-370-19, has just been held in Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal on March 30, 2022.

At the trial Canada’s lawyers argued that there was no significant Charter 8 (privacy) breach to the Canadian FATCA IGA legislation, especially since Canadians who the U.S. deems to be US persons, already have to comply with US tax law. We continue to feel differently.

Decision expected to be made in 4-6 (?) months.

Thanks to our Appellants Gwen and Kazia and to all of our supporters, over many years, who made it possible for us to get to the Appeal Court.

CANADIAN FATCA LITIGATION UPDATE —

LITIGATION PROGRESS: This is a lawsuit, begun in 2014, challenging the constitutionality of Canada’s FATCA IGA legislation, which was imposed on us by a foreign country, and which violates the privacy rights of Canadians (see our ADCS website).

The Trial (with three Justices) in Canada’s Federal Court of Appeal was held on March 30, 2022.

Our four ADCS Board members are John Richardson (co-chair and legal counsel), Patricia Moon (Treasurer), Carol Tapanila, and Stephen Kish (Chair).

The Canadian FATCA hunt and turnover are NOT hypothetical.

This year the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) told us that financial data on 901,000 accounts were turned over to the U.S. in 2019 and also discovered that most of the data did not have to be turned over under the so-called FATCA “agreement”:

“According to information released by the CRA in response to an access to information request, the account balances in 615,000 of the 901,000 records the agency transferred to the IRS in 2019 were below $50,000 U.S.

The year before, 610,000 of 900,000 accounts the CRA reported to the IRS fell below that threshold…

[This means that] The Canada Revenue Agency has been reporting hundreds of thousands of Canadian bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service, despite the fact that they fall below the mandatory reporting level set in an agreement between Canada and the United States…

Mathieu Labrèche, spokesperson for the Canadian Bankers Association, said their members are simply following the [FATCA] law.”

John Richardson responded to this CBC article:

“The people impacted by this are your middle class neighbours who you have known for years. They are Canadian citizens living in Canada. They have a lingering/technical US citizenship because of the accident of a US birthplace. But, that’s it.

It’s bizarre that a subgroup of Canadian residents (identified by a US place of origin) could be subject to stricter reporting obligations to a country they don’t live in (USA) than to a country they do live in (Canada).

It’s clear that FATCA serves no public policy objective. It simply imposes costs and regulations on Canadian residents. The Government of Canada needs to end this agreement!”

For more details on our lawsuit see: Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty

U.S. DC District Court Rules Against IRS on December 24, 2019: Monte Silver has standing to continue Transition Tax lawsuit

Posted on by Posted in Citizenship Issues, Ethics, Freedom 17 Comments

Mr. Monte Silver is legally tackling in a U.S. Court the United States Transition Tax by arguing that he has suffered from a “procedural injury”.

The DC Court Judge generally explains the lawsuit: “Plaintiffs do not seek a refund or to impede revenue collection. Instead, they challenge the IRS’s adopting of regulations without conducting statutorily mandated reviews designed to lessen the regulatory burden on small businesses. As relief, they ask the court simply to compel the agencies to do what the law requires—Regulatory Flexibility Act and Paperwork Reduction Act analyses. Tax revenues and their collection are unaffected by such relief.”

From the Court ruling:

‘Plaintiffs complain that the regulations have “imposed significant burdens on Plaintiffs and other small businesses,” including “forc[ing] small businesses to spend enormous amounts of time in futile efforts just to try and understand what [the regulations] mean[],” and “forc[ing] small businesses to expend significant funds to try and comply” with the regulations. Id. ¶¶ 33–34.

Plaintiff Silver declares: “[I]n trying to comply with the statute and regulations . . . I have been forced to spend significant funds.

Worse still, I will be forced to expend money on Transition tax-related compliance for years to come, even though I did not report any Transition tax liability…”

“Plaintiffs allege that the agencies neglected to undertake procedural measures designed to protect small business from the burden of unwieldy and cost-intensive regulations—namely, the publishing of an initial and a final regulatory flexibility analysis, 5 U.S.C. §§ 601, 603(a), and a certification that the regulation has reduced compliance burdens on small businesses, 44 U.S.C. § 3506.”

Defendant IRS moved to dismiss the lawsuit claiming in part that Mr. Silver lacked “standing”.

On Christmas eve, 2019 the U.S. DC District Court disagreed, rejected IRS motion to dismiss —- and the lawsuit continues.

JapanT says: “Yes there is a Santa Claus!”

See the DC Court ruling (some text above) and the article in the press on the ruling.

May 20, 2020 Canadian FATCA Litigation Update — Canadians and International Supporters: Thank you for believing in our cause and paying off the $45,000 legal fees installment for our Canadian FATCA lawsuit appeal — Thank you for your support!

Posted on by Posted in Law & Morality 66 Comments

Our four ADCS Board members are John Richardson (co-chair and legal counsel), Patricia Moon (Treasurer), Carol Tapanila, and Stephen Kish (Chair).

Canadians and International Supporters, we have now received sufficient donations to pay off the $45,000 installment for the legal fees bill for our Canadian FATCA lawsuit appeal. Thank you for your longstanding support.

As Embee says: “This lawsuit may have been overshadowed by these trying times but it’s still important to assert one’s right to justice and plead for common sense to prevail in whatever form US bully boy tactics threaten our well-being”

The FATCA Canada lawsuit began in 2014 and will likely be resolved only in the Supreme Court. Its simple aim is to strike down the FATCA IGA and enabling provisions of Canada’s Income Tax Act in their entirety. Stated differently: We want our nation’s sovereignty back.

A commenter reminded us that we will not receive any support from either Conservative or Liberal Canadian governments: “Harper signed the IGA (Flaherty did clearly point out it’s failings but it went ahead anyway) and Trudeau criticized the agreement and vowed to do something (he did nothing)”. This means that we are on our own.

Please help us to stay the course.

DONATIONS ARE NEEDED TO FUND a lawsuit attacking the constitutionality, regarding autonomy, privacy, and equality rights, of the Canadian FATCA IGA legislation that was imposed by the United States on Canada. We want our sovereignty back.

You can DONATE by cheque and cash in the mail, PayPal and transfers.

CANADIAN FATCA LITIGATION UPDATE May 21, 2020:

LITIGATION STATUS: The Notice of Appeal has been filed. This will be followed by the Appeal Book and the Memorandum of Fact and Law (the arguments). My (SK) personal guess is that the trial itself will take place during the first quarter of 2021.

The Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty and Gwen and Kazia have raised $45,000 in this first installment funding round (Thank you for your support!) for the legal expenses of our FATCA IGA lawsuit, now at the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal.

Justice Mactavish said that it is “important” to avoid consequences threatened by the U.S. But we say not at the expense of our Charter rights.Please help end one of the FATCA compliance laws that impact on all of our countries.

CBC says that, for 2018 tax year, information on 900,000 financial records of Canadian residents was turned over by Canada to U.S. IRS because of the Canadian FATCA law. Gwen and Kazia, two Canadian citizens having no meaningful relationship with the U.S., are appealing on your behalf two Federal Court decisions to the Canadian Court of Appeal.

The grounds for appeal will include violations against their autonomy (Charter section 7), privacy (8) and equality (15) as well as arguments that the ruling was improperly based on the finding that the Income Tax Act is primarily regulatory in nature, and that factors such as the relationship between Canada and United States were not properly dealt with. Fleshed out details of appeal grounds will be provided in the Factum, likely mid-year.

Continue reading →

Canadian Conservative Revenue Critic Pat Kelly Calls for Parliamentary Committee Hearings into FATCA Transfer of Canadian Banking Records to U.S. IRS — But does not advocate repeal of Canadian FATCA law

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“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.

Canada Revenue Sent Info on 900,000 Financial Records From Canadian Residents to IRS for 2018 Tax Year

Posted on by Posted in Law & Morality 22 Comments

— Listen to interview between Canada’s Global TV and John Richardson (legal advisor for the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty) about the 900,000 turnovers.

The CBC said:

“The Canada Revenue Agency sent 900,000 financial records belonging to Canadian residents to the Internal Revenue Service in September — nearly a third more than it sent the previous year. The records were for the 2018 tax year.

If you are interested in ending the Canadian legislation that enacted the Canadian FATCA “agreement”, Please DONATE to our Canadian FATCA lawsuit.

THANKS for Saturday donations from first- and long-time supporters — $24,612 donated so far in this funding round, more donations needed to pay legal costs of Canadian FATCA lawsuit: With your help this lawsuit will be moving to trial

Posted on by Posted in FATCA, Freedom, Law & Morality, Tax Treaties 106 Comments

CANADIAN FATCA LITIGATION UPDATE December 7, 2019:

You are contributing to raising the money needed to pay the legal costs to litigate with the Government of Canada — to prevent Canada from imposing the U.S. FATCA law directly on Canada and Canadians.

The Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty and Gwen and Kazia have raised $24,612 in this funding round. We ask you for $20,388 in EIGHT DAYS to make $45,000 December 15 payment for appeal of FATCA Federal Court decisions.

You can DONATE by cheque, cash, PayPal (easiest) and transfers.

CBC says that, for 2018 tax year, information on 900,000 financial records of Canadian residents was turned over by Canada to U.S. IRS because of the Canadian FATCA law.

Gwen and Kazia, two brave Canadian citizens having no meaningful relationship with the U.S., are appealing on your behalf two Federal Court decisions to the Canadian Court of Appeal.

The grounds for appeal will include violations against their autonomy (Charter section 7), privacy (8) and equality (15) as well as arguments that the ruling was improperly based on the finding that the Income Tax Act is primarily regulatory in nature, and that factors such as the relationship between Canada and United States were not properly dealt with. Fleshed out details of appeal grounds will be provided in the Factum, likely early next year.

Gwen and Kazia ask for your help in paying for the legal costs of the appeal. If you feel that FATCA IGA laws harm you or someone that you know, PLEASE DONATE.

Continue reading →

Appellants Gwen and Kazia Today (September 30, 2019) Filed Notice of Appeal of Mactavish Canadian Federal Court FATCA IGA Decision: Donations will be needed to pay for appeal

Posted on by Posted in Canadian Government, FATCA, Freedom, Law & Morality, Tax Treaties 8 Comments

CANADIAN FATCA LITIGATION UPDATE September 30, 2019: Gwen and Kazia file Notice of Appeal

Appellants Gwen and Kazia have instructed Vancouver lawyer Mr. Greg Delbigio to appeal the Martineau and Mactavish Canadian Federal Court FATCA IGA legislation decisions.

A brief Notice of Appeal was just filed today (September 30, 2019) with the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal. The grounds for appeal will evolve and be broadened with detail at later stages. For the appeal process to continue we will need to raise monies quickly to pay for the legal costs.

Continue reading →

July 22, 2019 Canadian Federal Court Justice MacTavish rules that American law and threats trump privacy of Canadian citizens

Posted on by Posted in Canadian Government, Law & Morality 123 Comments

On July 22, 2019 Canadian Federal Court Justice MacTavish ruled against Plaintiffs Kazia and Gwen in our FATCA IGA legislation lawsuit.

Here is the link to the decision.

— Our Vancouver lawyers, ADCS Board, and Plaintiffs are now considering the text of the decision and will get back to you, as soon as we can, on next steps.

Some excerpts:

Continue reading →