Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

Jack Townsend says that civil disobedience is only really justifiable in the case that there is a possibility of jury nullification, but no jury of US citizens would find a tax evader Canadian citizen “not guilty” for shirking the US tax code. Furthermore, he says that Americans don’t admire those who do their disobedience in hiding. I offer here the continuation of our discussion:

Jack wrote: Continue reading →

Patrick Cain, Global News, August 21, 2014: Want to shed U.S. citizenship? Get in line.
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UPDATE: August 27, 2014

State Department to hike renunciation fees to US$2,350; says “no public benefit” in respecting human right to change nationality

UPDATE: August 22, 2014

The Patrick Cain article itself can use some comments, which uses Facebook, Yahoo, AOL or hotmail. There are only four there — the last saying “Being little brother has its benefits. But it also comes with a cost.”

(Correct!: Costs to stay within the new Berlin Wall and cost to get over it.)

One comment (Innocente) reports:

When the US DOS set the renunciation price at $450 in 2010, it stated that it covered less than 25% of the cost. Will the new price be increased to $1,800 ($450/.25) or perhaps $2,250 ($450/.20)?

Also, see the reasoning for the subsidized $450 below:

“Schedule of Fees for Consular Services, Department of State and Overseas Embassies and Consulates

A Rule by the State Department on 06/28/2010

Documentation for Renunciation of Citizenship

The CoSS demonstrated that documenting a U.S. citizen’s renunciation of citizenship is extremely costly, requiring American consular officers overseas to spend substantial amounts of time to accept, process, and adjudicate cases. A new fee of $450 will be established to help defray a portion of the total cost to the U.S. Government of documenting the renunciation of citizenship. While the Department decided to set the fee at $450, this fee represents less than 25 percent of the cost to the U.S. Government. The Department has determined that it must recoup at least a portion of its costs of providing this very costly service but set the fee lower than the cost of service in order to lessen the impact on those who need this service and not discourage the utilization of the service, a development the Department feels would be detrimental to national interests. See 31 U.S.C. 9701(b)(2).”

Another says:

Today I visited the consulate in Vancouver. … Both the clerk and the Consular encouraged me to renounce not relinquish as my relinquishment would be denied and I would have to come back later to renounce and then the fee would be going up to I think they said 2800.00 but it might be 2400.00 I stopped listening after they repeated no relinquishment one too many times. I insisted they forward my file to Washington.

So what will be the new fee that is a guaranteed right to renounce and when will it be implemented?

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As is pointed out, in Patrick Cain’s article:

Pushing the appointment into next year doesn’t just frustrate the impatient, however – it adds an entire year to U.S. tax reporting. Someone making an appointment now to renounce in Toronto in January wouldn’t be able to log out of the U.S. tax system until June 2016.

However, people can work the phones and find a U.S. consulate that can give them an earlier appointment, Nightingale says:

“If Toronto is booked up, you can go somewhere else. You can go to the Montreal consulate; you can go to the embassy in Ottawa.”

The U.S. State Department estimates that about a million people considered American under U.S. law (who may also be Canadian citizens) live here. In theory, all of them, unless their income falls under minimum levels, are supposed to file tax returns with the IRS, and report their bank accounts to an arm of the U.S. Treasury Department called the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, on pain of heavy fines.

In practice, few did until recently.

Got something to say about citizenship, #FBAR, #FATCA and renouncing? @taxgirl has a guest post opportunity for you: http://t.co/FqTBj0bZ3w

— Rachel Millios, EA (@RachelMillios) August 20, 2014

Kelly Phillips Erb, a commentator on Tax issues at Forbes, has put out a call for posts to be submitted for her blog.

“It’s my annual call for guest posts! As I have done for the past few years, I’ll be turning over the blog to my readers for an entire week.

This year, I’m offering readers the chance to answer one of six tax-related questions:

• To combat inversions and other tax planning techniques for corporations, do you think Congress should lower corporate tax rates?
• Do you support repeal of the federal estate tax?
• Would you be willing to give up your citizenship if it meant you would save money in taxes?
• Should our Social Security system be privatized?
• Would you support a commuter tax by the mile if it meant the elimination or reduction of excise taxes on gas?
• If you could make one significant change to the existing Tax Code (change a rate, eliminate a deduction or something else), what would it be and why?”

 
Ms Erb indicates that each question relates to some corresponding pending legislation or active discussion in the Congress. Perhaps a chance to inform them that that is not what is going with renunciation?
 
More info Here

The following conversation that took place at Jack Townsend’s blog. Jack Townsend is of the opinion that Canadians can’t simply choose not to obey the IRS. I am of the opinion that the IRS is a criminal organization that is violating the rights of Canadians and it is only good and proper to disobey what are clearly unjust laws. Jack’s view is that Canadians who choose to disobey US tax laws are not going to get any sympathy from him. What he says about jury nullification is particularly interesting in light of my argument that the US tax laws applied in Canada are a violation of the right to trial by jury in the district in which the alleged crime was committed. It is sad to see the law professor with such little sympathy for the our situation, as it is so very much like the causes of US revolution against British rule.

Peter W. Dunn

I have just become aware of this information via Twitter. As someone asked which Consulate would be closest, I thought it might be helpful to post all of the Consulates and the Embassy in one location. I have no idea whether this is the situation at any of the other Canadian locations.
If anyone is aware of any similar information, please post it.

Embassy:
Ottawa covers the areas of:
Eastern Ontario (Kingston, Lanark, Leeds, Prescott, Renfrew, Russell and Stormont); and those parts of the Québec regions of Outaouais and Abitibi-Témiscamingue near Ottawa.
Info

Consulates:
Continue reading →

Presenter: John Richardson, B.A., L.L.B., J.D., is a Toronto lawyer and a member of the Ontario Bar. Citizenshipsolutions.ca

Where: Atwater Library, 1200 Atwater Ave, (just below St. Catherine – Metro less than a block away), Montréal, Québec, H3Z 1X4 MAP

When: Tuesday, September 23, 2014, 7:00 – 9:00 pm

Admission: $20 individual or $40 for a family of up to four people. Payable in cash at the door, please (to cover costs). Hope to see you and your families on September 23. Spread the word!
Continue reading →

http://www.sitnews.us/RonPaul/081614_ron_paul.html

Ron Paul knows exactly how this movie will end.  Too bad only a relative handful of Americans are listening to him:

At the same time the US expects cooperation from European banks, it is also prosecuting those same banks and fining them billions of dollars for violating existing US sanctions. It is not difficult to imagine that European banks will increasingly become fed up with having to act as the US government’s unpaid policemen, while having to pay billions of dollars in fines every time they engage in business that Washington doesn’t like.

European banks are already cutting ties with American citizens and businesses due to the stringent compliance required by recently-passed laws such as FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). In the IRS’s quest to suck in as much tax dollars as possible from around the world, the agency has made Americans into the pariahs of the international financial system. As the burdens the US government places on European banks grow heavier, it should be expected that more and more European banks will reduce their exposure to the United States and to the dollar, eventually leaving the US isolated. Attempting to isolate Russia, the US actually isolates itself.

Read more

I have just started reading this book but it is giving my insight into American Homelanders and the desire for citizenship based taxation. Many of the claims cited in the book from the late 1800s are quite similar to those Prof. Kirsch and Co. make today.

http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/economic-history/making-modern-american-fiscal-state-law-politics-and-rise-progressive-taxation-18771929

Here is an excerpt.

Click to access 9781107043923_excerpt.pdf