Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

The following information is important for several reasons. First, this correspondence was in French and is the first on FATCA that I personally have seen in that language. I think it is vital that Canadians understand the FATCA and IGA issues affect ALL Canadians no matter which of our official languages they speak (and no matter their ethnic or national origin). Second, M. Bélanger is a Liberal MP (from Ottawa-Vanier), and his response makes it clear that, even though perhaps Justin Trudeau either doesn’t understand the issues or can’t articulate them accurately and quickly on his feet, some of his caucus clearly do “get it.”

I am posting the following at the request of “Premier Juillet” and in consultation with him. I have met him in person. I am posting the original correspondence in French, followed by a translation of M. Bélanger’s letter as provided to me by “Premier Juillet.”
Premier Juillet wrote to me (Schubert): “I finally got a reply to my multiple reminders since a letter I sent in June to my Liberal deputé. I think it was worth the wait. They have done their research and I guess they had more to say because of the recent questions by Hsu/Brison. I hope they can now educate their Leader, and fast!
“Merci beaucoup Monsieur le député Belangé!
“Premier Juillet”

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This document — US Citizens Living in Canada — Income Tax Considerations dated February 2013 — just floated up out of the surf. This may be old hat. It may be new hat for a newbie. In any case, FWIW. Here’s a link to the 6-page fancy pdf:

http://www.bmo.com/pdf/nesbitt/USCitizensLivingInCanada_Eng%20-%20BMO%20NB.pdf
 

A follow-up article from Patrick Temple-West at Reuters:

http://blogs.wsj.com/riskandcompliance/2014/01/24/republican-party-backs-fatca-repeal-resolution/

Some highlights:

Jan 24 (Reuters) – The Republican National Committee (RNC) on Friday called for the repeal of a U.S. anti-tax-evasion law, siding with big banks, libertarians and American expatriates that have criticized the Obama administration statute.

At its winter meeting in Washington, the RNC approved by voice vote a resolution in favor of abolishing the 2010 Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), set to take effect in July, marking the party’s first explicit attack on the law.

FATCA will require most foreign banks and investment funds to report to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service information about U.S. customers’ accounts worth $50,000 or more. The law was enacted after a scandal involving Americans hiding assets in Swiss bank accounts to dodge U.S. taxes.

Critics have blasted the law as an unfair government overreach and invasion of financial privacy.

“The Republican National Committee … urges the U.S. Congress to repeal FATCA,” said the measure, staking out a campaign position ahead of 2014’s mid-term elections.

On Wednesday, with the RNC vote expected to occur, a senior Treasury Department official said the vote would not hurt the administration’s efforts to implement FATCA via a web of tax information-sharing agreements with other countries.

http://www.ctj.org/taxjusticedigest/archive/2014/01/republican_platform_expected_t.php#.UuIfC_2Cokg

More uninformed nonsense from the useful idiot wing of the FATCA camp:

Those who are directly affected by FATCA are likely to be few in number and they certainly have the means to fill out the disclosure form required with their federal income tax return under its provisions. The $50,000 threshold excludes housing and other non-financial assets. That means that even a relatively well-off American who works for a few years abroad and even someone who owns a house abroad will not be affected unless they hold over $50,000 in cash or financial assets in the other country.

Whatever inconvenience is caused by these requirements is far outweighed by the benefits to the U.S. and its law abiding taxpayers. According to the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), FATCA’s anti-tax evasion measures are estimated to raise $8.7 billion (PDF) over their first decade of implementation. (JCT does have a history of underestimating tax enforcement measures.) Considering that the U.S. loses an estimated $100 billion (PDF) annually due to offshore tax abuses, this seems like a modest reform.

Other opponents of FATCA, like the Wall Street Journal, have claimed that it is causing Americans living abroad to renounce their U.S. citizenship, but as we have pointed out, those renouncing citizenship make up a tiny fraction of one percent of the six million Americans living abroad.

Brian Mahany is  “a bit miffed by a recent story in Canada’s CBC News criticizing FATCA.”

In his latest article at TaxConnections World-wide Tax Blogs titled CBC Distorts FATCA Facts Brian writes:

There is a tremendous amount of misinformation circulating about FATCA and the requirement for US taxpayers to report foreign financial accounts. Some of the media horror stories are so bad that many taxpayers are simply too afraid to come into compliance. Add a few boneheaded mistakes by the IRS and one has a sea of uncertainty. For some folks, that means anxiety and bad decisions.

According to Brian, CBC’s  “recent article on FATCA has several factual inaccuracies and takes editorial license too far. ”  Brian dispels these so-called inaccuracies with his own version of the facts: Continue reading →

Some Americans disturb me. Yesterday, a commenter told me to eff-off on my timeline on Facebook. I had expressed opinions at Think Progress that he didn’t appreciate so he came over and told me to eff  myself (but he used the real f-word).  Later he took down his comment. Still, we cannot judge an entire country on the basis of isolated trolls on the internet, who may only be interested in writing offensive comments in order to piss you off. However, some months ago, I received  from a former US government employee a private email that mocked me because I am a Christian. Of course, this same man also scorned my views on his own blog (without mentioning me or the Isaac Brock Society by name), but to take it to the level of sending me a taunt to my personal email is somehow barbaric.   This former government employee undoubtedly has a very high opinion of himself. But why do these Americans drop the level of conversation to a child’s game, whereby they get their five-year old jollies? The man that told me to eff-off on Facebook claimed that he represented the majority of Americans, judging by the last two presidential elections.  So alleged US persons, please meet your persecutor: the Obama voter.

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Republican Party to vote for repeal of U.S. anti-tax dodging law

Tue, Jan 21 2014

By Patrick Temple-West

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican Party is expected to approve a resolution this week, calling for repeal of an Obama administration law that is designed to crack down on offshore tax dodging.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/21/us-usa-tax-fatca-idUSBREA0K1VS20140121

An example tweet:

#AskSnowden r u aware of #FATCA chasing all US persons via every bank in the Milky Way? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-EVF7CZt_w

http://www.freesnowden.is/

News
Live Q&A with Edward Snowden: Thursday 23rd January, 8pm GMT, 3pm EST
Questions can be submitted on twitter on the day of the event using the #AskSnowden hashtag.

I’m moving this to the top.

PS: The other person referred to is Brocker ‘disgusted’. It was great to finally meet ‘disgusted’ and would love to meet more from Calgary and area. We talked to lots of FATCA interested people and passed out information at the end of the meeting. We both felt it was a worthwhile trip in the dark of the Alberta winter, although (with me driving) getting a little lost and a little late to the ‘meet and greet’.

From: carol tapanila
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 7:18 AM
To: Jeremy Broadhurst ; alex.lanthier@parl.gc.ca ; justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
Subject: Re: REMINDER: Action required and Justin Trudeau ‘Meet and Greet’ in Okotoks last night

Thank you for your morning email soliciting my membership in the Liberal Party.

A so-called ‘US Person’ in Canada (born “accidentally” in a US hospital to Canadian parents – there for 5 days) and I drove from Calgary to Okotoks last night for the Justin Trudeau’s ‘meet and greet.’ From the back of the room I did ask Mr. Trudeau a very important question during his short Q&A,

“What will you and the Liberals do regarding FATCA when Parliament resumes and gets down to the business of running this country?”

He acknowledged the question and then said something like, “…for you in the audience who don’t know what FATCA is, it is about people who have made income in the United States…” then went into a comparison, talking about something else entirely. He left us with the impression that he doesn’t know what FATCA is or at the least is not well versed of the consequences of FATCA US extra-territorial law entering Canada. This US extra-territorial law coming into Canada will result in loss of dollars from Canada’s treasury and loss of its very sovereignty, entitling our country’s banks and credit unions (what the US refers to as “foreign financial institutions” for those persons in Canada who our Canadian financial institutions discover in search for ‘US Persons’ using US definitions of “indicia”). FATCA will be a cost to every Canadian taxpayer who also pays banking fees to cover the cost of implementing FATCA and has the ability to destroy the lives of those ‘US Persons’ in Canada who pay their taxes to the country in which they live and work and pay taxes and receive their services and benefits. We are Canadian.

I reached Mr. Trudeau as he greeted persons after his Q&A and asked:

“Will you answer if, with FATCA, ALL Canadians will have the same rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms?”

There was an answer from Justin Trudeau, but not a straight and simple ‘Yes’ or ‘NO’.
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