Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

The IRS and its inadequate ‘amnesty’
Sunday, June 22, 2014

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s announcement last week that it is extending its tax amnesty program for American citizens living abroad is more a reminder of the unfairness of U.S. tax laws than it is a welcome relief. As many as a million Canadians – not to mention millions more people around the world with dormant U.S. citizenship – are liable for taxes and penalties that are patently unjust.

The U.S., unlike other countries, demands that its citizens file income taxes and make annual declarations of holdings in foreign banks, regardless of circumstances. Even a Canadian who was born in Florida 50 years ago while his or her parents were on an ill-timed one-week vacation, and who has never since lived or worked in the U.S., is as obliged to report to the IRS every April.

Many millions of people around the globe are U.S. tax delinquents, even if they don’t owe a penny in back taxes, thanks to fair and sensible international tax treaties. They have never paid U.S. income tax, either because they were unaware they should, or because the IRS simply didn’t seem to care.

For more see article here.

Why does the United States claim the right to protect Americans abroad and therefore to tax them, when there is no entity or mechanism by which American citizens abroad may receive protection FROM the United States government? A Federal court has just decided that US citizens have no rights outside of the United States. Therefore US citizens abroad have no right to habeas corpus or from illegal detention of indefinite duration.

Constiutional rights don’t apply overseas

Update

These seminars will include discussion and analysis of the IRS “relaxed opportunities” for people to come into compliance.
 

All Brockers and Sandboxers in the area(s) are encouraged to attend and bring their families and friends!

• Monday,June 23,Halifax NS, 6-8pm,6135 University Ave,Rm 1102, Marian McCain Arts & Social Sciences Building,Main Campus across from Arts Centre MAP

 

• Thursday,June 26,Fredericton NB, 6-8pm, 10 MacKay Drive,UNB, Marshall d’Avary Hall, Rm 322, MAP

 

Friday, June 20, 2014

The New Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures Contain a Trap for Unwary Americans Abroad

http://mopsicktaxlaw.blogspot.ca/2014/06/the-new-streamlined-foreign-offshore.html

It seems a convergence is about to transpire; the IGA will soon pass, FATCA is 10 days away and the IRS’ recent “easing-up” on penalties. I started wondering just how much of that “easing-up” has to do with our efforts, and what a great PR move the IRS just made, etc. Will it really make a difference and so on…..

I think now is a good time for all of us to sit back, take a breath and look at where we were, where we are, and where we would like to be moving towards. I am particularly interested in the less-than-obvious observations Brockers and Sandboxers have about what has contributed to any one of those stages.

Someone at the IRS just made a brilliant move. As if it hasn’t been hard enough to get everyone to listen, i.e., friends, families, media, CDN govt, IRS and the Congress, it will now become a lot harder. Imagine how many times we are going to hear “What are you complaining about, no penalties to be afraid of, etc etc. Not much progress seems to have been made in putting a dent in the misconception that Americans abroad are not the same as Homelanders stashing money in tax havens. In spite of the enormous amount of time Brockers and Sandboxers have put into responding to endless articles and putting up with endless abuse from those who either do not know how to read or cannot think outside the cliché box or else just enjoy being unkind.

What about all the time and energy put into researching, trying to get questions answered without the bias of the compliance industry, govt etc. I was recently cautioned/reminded about the fact that no one should advise anyone to break the law. I still do not see anyone here doing that; we are looking at what options are there and sharing that information. Back to Expat Forum days, Ladyhawk’s amazing post Why I Will Not Renounce”. The “mass” renunciation meeting in October 2011. The horror of seeing OVDP morph into OVDI; Shulman’s refusal to acknowledge Nina Olson’s TAD. Actually renouncing. Watching Mona Lisa do a complete 180 turn as the reality of this miserable mess forced her to do what she absolutely felt was wrong for her to do……..

So much effort and participation…the protests, the Information Sessions, the We Are Not a Myth Campaign, appearances in front of FINA, the list goes on and on. I find this aspect to be truly inspiring and amazing, that we have managed to come together and hopefully, have made a difference.

I guess what I am saying/asking is:

What moments/events are the most memorable for you?
Which ones have made you the most angry?
Which have given you hope?
Do you think we have played a part in the change of IRS’ direction?
Do you think we have been able to help people?
What kind of direction should we be looking at?
and whatever other questions come up………….

Of course we will continue with the Charter Challenge. Of course we will continue to argue that Accidentals should not have to waste money to become compliant so that they can renounce. And that CBT needs to be abolished. I just wonder how all of you may be feeling/thinking before the next wave hits.

The U.S FATCA intergovernmental agreement negotiated and signed behind closed doors by the Canadian government; legislation for implementation buried in omnibus Budget Bill C-31; hearings and debate before the House of Commons and the Canadian Senate without media coverage on any of that process to Canadians, and now omnibus Bill C-31 given Royal Assent by Canada’s Governor General and the FATCA IGA not even mentioned in the Conservative government’s press release.

Still so few know. How is this possible in a country that calls itself a democracy?

Canadians and International Friends! It’s now time to support our legal challenge! [UPDATE June 19, 2014: FATCA IGA enabling legislation is now the law of Canada]

So important that we find donors to join us to support the Challenge at http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/.

UPDATE, compliments of “Hazy”:

Royal Assent happened on June 19th. Here’s the June 20th press release from Finance:

http://www.fin.gc.ca/n14/14-085-eng.asp

No mention of FATCA in the press release. They must have forgot!

This is a post from my comment at another post here. (Some may not have seen that comment since there have been technical problems of some sort for several seeing comments on that thread).

Hansard Transcript, Canadian Senate Debates, June 18, 2014 brought interesting statements on the audacity of having to vote on so much that is in this (and other) omnibus bills, but Third Reading occurred.

And, now Bill C-31 will go to has been given Royal Assent by Canada’s Governor General. for Royal Assent. We may not know when until we read it in the Canadian media.

Too bad our media has essentially skipped the process before Royal Assent of another Canadian omnibus bill, that includes (among other things that other items therein should be separate bills on their own merit) implementation of the US FATCA intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that Canada signed with the US.

Update: The Canadian government forgot to mention implementation of the FATCA IGA in their press release. So, I guess we cannot blame the Canadian media for not reporting it — or can we?

Hon. Pierrette Ringuette expressed what most of us feel. Listen to her and her colleague, Hon. Céline Hervieux-Payette, who seconded her motion. Start at 4:27:30 (Pull the “indicator” to this point to listen.)

Also Senator Day stated earlier in this Senate Debate:

There’s another piece of legislation, still in Bill C-31, still under the rubric of privacy versus disclosure between agencies, and that relates to the Canada-U.S. agreement in Part 5 of this bill. Part 5 is what we talked about earlier on. Part 5, the Canada-United States Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement, was an attempt by the government to avoid, to a degree, the oppression of earlier legislation that the United States had. We have all received many emails about having to make available — the banks have to go through a due process, and for any potential U.S. taxpayer, the information of all the accounts they have must be sent to the U.S.

Canada has entered into an agreement with the United States, and Part 5 deals exclusively with that, but this is one of those acts within an act. What really bothered me is that they want us to pass the act, at clause 99, that includes the words “as amended from time to time.” So we adopt a piece of legislation that adopts an agreement between Canada and the United States, and that agreement between Canada and the United States may, from time to time, be amended by the executive branch. We will not see that as legislators. We will not say, “That is far too oppressive on the people of Canada and Canadian citizens who might be doing business in the U.S. and therefore might become subject to U.S. tax payment requirements.”

Patricia Moon mentions a potential $455,000 FBAR fine on her financial accounts in the recent article in the Wall Street Journal. Now it doesn’t take very much FBAR math to figure out what her financial assets are. She lives in Toronto, so on paper she is likely what I would call a middle-class millionaire; but she is house rich but not cash rich. A million dollars doesn’t make a person rich, since most houses in major Canadian cities are now worth over a million. But the alarming thing is that in the United States the average wage earner makes less than $27,000 and 46 million people are on food stamps. These are indications that the majority of people in the United States have dropped out of the middle class. On this, Charles Hugh Smith has written a definitive essay, “What does it take to be Middle Class?” His conclusion is that one needs a minimum of 100K income per year to even be considered middle class, and that greatly exceeds the median household income. In this light, even a large number of the so-called “one percent” are not rich but only middle class. Still the majority of American homelanders have little sympathy for the Patricia Moons of the world who renounce their US citizenship in order to save themselves from financial ruin. Obama also won the last election by over 50% of participating voters. Is that a coincidence?  Hardly.

Continue reading →

Instead of – or along with, outrage – let me propose another reaction for French companies: Compliance. Specifically, I propose that French business leaders equip their companies to succeed in the international economy.  French companies involved in cross-border transactions know, and have now seen, that they will have to play by rules set by parties outside of l’Hexagone. The U.S. sanctions regime, overreaching or not, is a reality. Sophisticated sanctions such as prohibiting U.S. Dollar clearing on sanctioned country transfers, are a reality. French companies, like all others reaching into the global marketplace, can greatly benefit by understanding and preparing for such foreign regulations. By looking outward, understanding the terrain, and planning to navigate within the applicable legal framework, companies can continue to grow and prosper without risking violations – particularly violations that are so enormously costly to company and country

TORONTO — A year after Ottawa expelled the consul-general of Eritrea to put a stop to a money-making scheme his regime had set up in Canada, the dubious “diaspora tax” program appears to be continuing undeterred. Under the system, the Eritrean consulate in Toronto tells expatriates they must hand 2% of their wages to the repressive African regime. The setup is part of a strategy that “routinely involves threats, harassment and intimidation,” according to a United Nations report.Foreign Affairs officials have repeatedly warned Eritrea to end the practice. Last month, as a condition for maintaining a diplomatic post in Toronto, Eritrea agreed the consulate would not have any role in the solicitation and collection of taxes.

Expect to hear a lot of criticism of Rand Paul. Mr. Stack is speaking once again.

http://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/treaties-06-19-14

http://www.foreign.senate.gov/hearings/watch?hearingid=754236b6-5056-a032-5290-2ff36c720941 Starts at about 18:40.