Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

Thanks to Badger and Hijacked for posting this news. 

This tax information session for Canadians considered to be “US persons” hosted by Alex Atamanenko, MP for British Columbia Southern Interior, will take place Tuesday 11 Feb 7 – 9 pm at the Fireside Conference Centre, 1810, 8^th Avenue, Castlegar.    Speakers include two lawyers, a CPA and a financial advisor.

For more info, see  http://www.castlegarnews.com/news/241985751.html

Also see Hijacked’s comment 

And Badger’s comment, which has some other links regarding Mr. Atamanenko’s opposition to FATCA in it, which dates back to at least 2011.

Northernstar emailed Justin Trudeau in July 2013 regarding her concerns about FATCA. Today she received the following email in response:

Dear XXXXXXX,

Thank you for taking the time to write to me with your concerns regarding the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Despite its good intentions, the unfortunate consequence of FATCA is that Americans who hold dual citizenship still fall under its authority, and it requires access to their financial information through their banks. As a result of FATCA, there has been a surge in US citizenship renunciations over the past few years, and this trend continues to grow.

I share your concerns about personal privacy, an issue that is increasingly important to all Canadians. The Conservative government’s efforts to protect the personal privacy of Canadians have been inadequate. The implications of having Canadian banks report directly to a foreign government agency are troublesome. The Liberal Party of Canada will continue to press the government on this issue, and demand a closer examination of FATCA’s effects.

Thank you once again for writing to me and taking the time to share your concerns with me. It is through such exchanges of ideas and opinions that I can best represent not only my constituents, but all Canadians.

Sincerely,

Justin P. J. Trudeau

Member of Parliament for Papineau

Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

Offline, a friend of Isaac Brock Society says:

It is one thing for the USA to say to individuals across the planet: if you have status under our law you must follow all of our laws no matter where you are. It is another thing entirely for Canada as a nation to voluntarily, with no compensation except the conditional promise of removal of a threat of economic sanctions, assist the United States in globally rounding people up to force them to comply with its patently untenable and unjustifiable position. Such assistance fundamentally conflicts with a universally recognized (and far more just) jurisdictional claim based on actual residence, which Canada practices along with the rest of the world.

January 28, 2014, Elizabeth May, Green Party Leader and Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands: IRS Tax Collection: Evasion of the US or Invasion of Canada?

…
The federal government must refuse to sign the Inter-Governmental Agreement to implement FATCA and instead advise their US counterparts that these policies are an unacceptable intrusion into Canadian sovereignty, and work to develop an arrangement that would mitigate the effects of current US tax laws that unjustly target honest Canadian citizens. These measures should be examined by the appropriate House of Commons committees, in consultation with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

We must not permit Canadian financial institutions to comply with FATCA in violation of our own privacy laws, and if the US attempts to enforce FATCA against them, we must vigorously respond and seek legal remedy as is our right.

If the US feels the existing Canada-United States Convention with Respect to Taxes is not working, they should provide specific details and suggestions on how to improve it through legislative amendment without sacrificing the rights of Canadians to foreign interests.

CBC World at Six January 28, 2014, Starts @ 10:00 James Fitz-Morris: FATCA
NOTE: Looks like the link above refreshes to new date’s broadcast each day. I cannot find an archived link for CBC, The World at Six for January 28, 2014.

Government of Canada seeking RECIPROCITY … one of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations as the U.S. WON’T LET OTHER COUNTRIES’ LAWS TO BE ENFORCED ON ITS TERRITORY!

Patrick Cain has a new article out today at Global news: http://globalnews.ca/news/1110254/are-hints-of-delay-key-to-interpreting-ottawas-silence-on-fatca/

From Maple Sandbox: Finally a response, but few answers to Ted Hsu questions.

Let’s start reading and helping Ted Hsu in quest to get answers for us from the Canadian Parliament!

As bubblebustin points out:

Virginia La Torre Jeker believes that the US-Swiss Programme will serve as a template for banks in other countries:

http://taxconnections.com/taxblog/swiss-continue-to-cave-in/#.UufpvHmtuYU

Finally, the government “responds to Ted Hsu’s questions.

But, Dr. Hsu says:

You can see the response to my Order Paper Question on FATCA. It is a long response (226 pages in both official languages), but it’s surprising how few answers there are to a 55 part question! For instance, on page 75 I asked the Minister of Finance to provide a list of specific individuals and groups he had consulted with regarding FATCA and the response was simply that “The Government of Canada has consulted and has been contacted by individuals and groups to discuss the implications of FATCA and an IGA in Canada.” I also asked which studies and analyses the Department of Finance had undertaken with respect to FATCA, and was told that “The Department of Finance is reviewing the implications of FATCA on an ongoing basis. FATCA has raised a number of concerns in Canada- among both dual Canada-U.S. citizens and Canadian financial institutions.”

As Dr. Hsu also says:

We all deserve better answers from the government.

He’s asking for our help:

I know there is a lot of expertise out there to help analyse and pick through this response. So I invite you to do so on my facebook, and please let me know what you find.

Thank you!

Ted

I haven’t had time to review the “response” yet because I wanted to quickly get this posted. After we have had time to read this, I hope we will all pitch in and share a “lot of expertise ” to analsye this for Dr. Hsu.

Yikes! Lots to do. Help Dr. Hsu, do submission to help friends in New Zealand, write articles, organize information session. Have a life?

I understand from one of Dr. Hsu’s staff that “responses” to Scott Brison’s questions are expected later this week. I think we should be prepared for more weaseling.

I won’t take to heart the accusation that I hate the United States–a refrain from a commenter Adam West at Think Progress.  It is not surprising that those Homelanders who support Obama, see dissension on extra-territorial taxation, FATCA, and citizenship as unpatriotic.  As too often occurs, nationalism and political partisanship become mixed into an idolatrous blend.  Back when George W. Bush was president,  these same people often insisted that their protests against him were not unpatriotic. Who can forget Hillary Clinton’s passionate plea for the right to question the current administration?

Continue reading →

US Senate Finance Committee Submission–Richardson, Yates and Kish

Cross-posted from Maple Sandbox: US Senate Finance Committee Submission — Richardson, Yates and Kish

Here’s an excellent submission (Request for Tax Rule Changes) to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

This was written by *Toronto lawyer John Richardson, ***University of Toronto professor Dr. Stephen Kish and (this is huge!) **U.S. attorney Willard Yates. Mr. Yates’ involvement is significant because he retired from Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International) (ACCI), Internal Revenue Service after 31 years of service.

The 32 page comprehensive submission deals with everything from problems of citizenship based taxation to the financial and psychological costs of renouncing US citizenship. Despite the complexity of issues covered, it is quite easy to understand for most of us who have been around this issue for a while (although newbies may very well find it overwhelming and frightening).

The report is also posted at citizenshipsolutions.ca , John Richardson’s Canadian website designed to counsel US citizens abroad who find themselves having to live in a FATCA and FBAR world.

badger said:
January 26, 2014 at 2:48 pm

This goes a long way to explaining why NZ should not go any further with a FATCA IGA:
US Senate Finance Committee Submission–Richardson, Yates and Kish

Perhaps a submission could include it, preface it, and add any other comments that the submitter felt needed elaboration or was specific re NZ?