Strange findings from a recent survey by Rasmussen Reports: when asked “have you ever considered giving up your U.S. citizenship?”, nine percent of 977 U.S. adults responded that they had:

Few Americans have ever thought about giving up their U.S. citizenship … Perhaps in part that’s because 93% consider it at least somewhat important to be a U.S. citizen, including 79% who think it is Very Important … Men are more likely than women to have considered giving up their U.S. citizenship. Democrats are less likely than Republicans and unaffiliateds to have considered it. But sizable majorities across all demographic categories have never given a thought to quitting their U.S. citizenship.

Keep in mind however that this is a so-called “national survey” — by which they mean a survey conducted throughout the territory of the State, not among a representative sample of members of the nation located both on State territory and abroad. But just think: if 9% of Homelanders have toyed with the idea of renouncing U.S. citizenship, how many Americans abroad do you imagine are considering it?

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http://www.investmentexecutive.com/-/your-american-clients-and-the-irs?redirect=%2Fsearch

While canadian financial services institutions scramble to prepare for the new U.S. law that requires them to report on accounts held by their American customers, those clients may need a helping hand now.

The new regime starts next summer. For the estimated one million Americans in Canada, this new law means it will be almost impossible to remain off the radar of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) any longer. As a result, your American clients may be panicking and in need of advice and reassurance.

That’s also partly because many such clients have been in denial for some time. But that denial is now a recipe for trouble. “For people who aren’t filing [their U.S. tax returns and] thinking, ‘I’m a small fish; they’re never going to get me’,” says Christine Perry, a lawyer with Keel Cottrelle LLP in Toronto who specializes in cross-border tax law, “I think that’s just a naive way of looking at it. Their accounts will be reportable accounts, and banks will turn over all that information to the [IRS].”

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The following is a translated portion of a German song. I replaced the word “woman” with “country”. Nothing is complete without a good song to go along with it!

[Intro] This was by far the worst week That I ever had in my entire life I don’t know if I should stand up I have no plan on what I should do Because somehow everything is crappy Never before was I so far down on the ground Because I know that my entire savings are gone And my country has betrayed me! Uuah, Whatever!

[Hook:] Bye (bye), I feel so free (free) I don’t want to go back home And I don’t give a damn shit about tomorrow I lift a glass and scream: Bye (bye), I feel so free (free) I don’t want to go back home And I don’t give a damn shit about tomorrow I lift a glass and scream [Part 1:] Now I am so free (free) And I stand up again I am alone and I scream Go out again Jump in the nikes, fly

FATCA Fact Sheet       Anti-FATCA Slogans    Protest Press Release

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FATCA comments start at 41:39

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp7sjUYsMNI

http://www.bissresearch.com/blog/fatca-the-end-of-the-beginning/105

FATCA is still with us. Looming over financial services like a great big Golden Eagle, it has been gliding on the hot air of dissension for a few years, but make no mistake the FATCA bird is going to swoop down soon.

Like all regulations which cause industry wide change, FATCA has been taking hits from various jurisdictions around the world, which is the normal response from the finance industry when it comes up against the requirement to invest in technology developments that do not have an obvious business benefit. The tactic is always to rebound back to the inflicting authorities with a myriad of reasons why the laws and rules cannot be implemented, in the hope and expectation that the authorities do not know enough about the market mechanisms or technology to know any different. This has certainly been the case with many regulations that the rest of the developed world has been forced to adhere too. Implementing a global regulation is always a tough call, but in the current economic environment one that had very little chance of being waved through unopposed.

However, the issues that the financial world has with FATCA should not dull the appetite for this regulatory requirement not to be enforced by the revenue authorities across all markets. Indeed the UK has been adopting FACTA like positions already and a UK version of FATCA will no doubt emerge sooner or later. Quite right too in my opinion.

In fact all financial markets worldwide should be made to comply with FATCA, as a kind of test model for a similar requirement to be introduced by their own revenue authority. It is in this way that a global net can be created enabling tax avoidance by the rich and criminal to be eradicated. It’s a small price to pay for financial services firms to buy into the FATCA type projects, which should be viewed as an international development not simply by the will of the USA.

I find it hard to understand the resentment that FATCA has engendered, when in truth it’s a vital piece of tax management that only jeopardises the criminal. The financial markets have to ensure that they are seen as strong and resilient by working with government tax authorities for the good of all.

Isn’t this a good PR job for the financial services industry to undertake for the benefit of society?