Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

AtticusinCanada and WhiteKat were a successful anti-FATCA presence at Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s press conference in Ottawa yesterday.

Besides handing out leaflets, they spoke with people, one of whom was Globe and Mail reporter Bill Curry, who – although the event was held to announce a three year freeze in unemployment insurance premiums – asked Minister Flaherty about FATCA.

WhiteKat’s sign  said:  “FATCA:  Sequel to the War of 1812” on one side and “FATCA = Extortion by USA of All Canadians” on the other.  Atticus’ sign said:  US Bullying violates Canadian Charter:  Stop FATCA” on one sign and “Google isaacbrocksociety.ca” on the other.

Minister’s Flaherty’s reply is on CTV, beginning around 4.25 min.

WhiteKat and Atticus’ conversation with reporter Curry also resulted in a Globe and Mail article.

Thank you, WhiteKat and Atticus!

It all began with WWII.  During the war, my father was assigned the role of a flamethrower and refused to burn living human beings, regardless if they were Nazis, Jews, Americans or anyone.  Being a conscious objector during the war, the Swiss government gave him two choices.  Either he could go to jail or he had to leave the country. So, my father went to Canada and then later to America where he is still living today.  That’s where I come into the picture.

In 2001, I was working in America and wrote an email to my spouse, who was living in Hong Kong and waiting for approval to join me in America, that there were no job openings in America but that Swiss companies were hiring.  Accidently, my employer saw the email and I was fired the next day as well as being kicked out of two financial services (my retirement funds were taxed and cashed without my approval), causing my wife’s immigration application to be resubmitted all over again.  It was during the Dot-Com crisis and my chances of finding a job in the US were non-existant.

Laid-off technology experts, such as computer programmers, found a glutted job market. University degree programs for computer-related careers saw a noticeable drop in new students. Anecdotes of unemployed programmers going back to school to become accountants or lawyers were common.
Wiki

At the time, I was working on getting a college degree and sent my resume to over a hundred companies which mostly didn’t respond.   Nevertheless, I was able to find a new job locally within a few weeks and was invited to Switzerland for an interview.

So, I flew to Switzerland and was hired by two large international firms at the same time within a few weeks, both offering double the pay and with better benefits.  I had to choose.  Months later, my spouse joined me there.

11 years later, I learned that Swiss banks were rejecting little people simply because they had US citizenship and as a result of US policy.  Since I already had experience of getting kicked out of banks and since I had no reason or motive to work in America, it was clear that the US citizenship had to go.

Living in the US, I did various jobs for many companies and didn’t always have a bad experience.  Life in America is not always as grand as it may be believed to be and I often struggled to make a living there.  Once I worked on an onion field, earning about $1/hour.  Then I delivered papers for about $2/per hour with lots of shoulder pain from the heavy load when helping out other routes.  Later, I washed dishes for about $3.5/hour and quit since they refused to give me a 10 cent pay raise, even though I was the fasted and most efficient dish washer they ever had. Prior to that, I was promoted to busboy and then demoted again the same day since my cute Mexican coworker lied about me since I didn’t look Mexican.  The customers absolutely loved me and gave me many tips that day.  Another time, I was fired from a library because I once made a single 10 cents copy.  Ironically, I was hired the next day across the street as a paper copier!  In the Army, I worked hard and was rewarded with a punishment to set an example for others, since my ride was late, I got a traffic ticket and my former Mexican roomate who stole my things lied about me in defense of his crimes.   Afterwards, I was promoted 3 times in only 6 months but my military spirit had died.  Overall, I find that the American job market is often trigger-happy, overreacting to strongly to non-issues.   In Switzerland, on the contrary, I’m trusted, my skills and motivation are respected and appreciated and my minor human errors are forgiven.

My advice to anyone thinking about working in America is to think again.  It is not for everyone.

An impressive new article by Jason van Steenwyk for NerdWallet Investing.  Jason, a freelance writer living in Fort Lauderdale, provides a well-informed and sympathetic portrayal of FATCA’s looming threat to US Persons worldwide.  No comments yet, so I might suggest that we offer our feedback and encouragement.  Nice to see another homelander get it right.

FATCA Hassles: Feds Cracking Down on Overseas Tax Evasion

The following claims were made by Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock – US Swiss Tax Deal Imminent:

• Time is running out.
• A willful failure to file is considered a felony punishable by five years in prison.
• Holders of unreported foreign accounts have more than jail to fear.
• the IRS has proven itself very adept at finding taxpayers that have not filed an FBAR.
• Those that are caught can expect both a tax bill and a penalty assessment of the greater of $100,000 or half the highest balance in the account.
• Making things worse for taxpayers is next year’s looming FATCA law.
• If the IRS thinks you moved or renamed your account to avoid detection, chances of criminal prosecution increase dramatically.
• The Quiet Disclosure strategy not only doesn’t work, it sets up taxpayers for a huge interest and penalty bill.
• The IRS publicly states on their amnesty website that those who try to quietly send any missing FBAR forms to the Service Center may find themselves in hot water.

Eritreans can feel themselves lucky.  Their government is far less criminal against its diaspora.

L’accord fiscal avec les Etats-Unis passe le cap du National

The taxation agreement on FATCA between Switzerland and the US that would prevent American taxpayers from avoiding the [IRS] was accepted Monday by the National Council [lower house of Parliament] by 112 to 51.

Accounts held in Switzerland by American taxpayers should no longer escape the IRS. By 112 votes to 51 and 21 abstentions, the National Council passed the FATCA agreement Monday. The bill returns to the Council of States [Senate] for a minor divergence regarding the [date?] of entry into force.

The American law called FATCA was to be in effect from next January. The agreement [IGA] and its [Swiss] enforcement law… was prepared in view of this [date]. In the meantime, Washington made it known that the new rules would be applicable only from July 2014.

Past not yet dealt with.

With this treaty, Switzerland should be able to put an end to the taxation conflict with the United States. But only for future taxation of American accounts.

In order to draw a line through the past, certain banks must await the verdict of the American court system, and others must resort to a program concocted by [Washington] which would essentially put them at risk for significant fines and [require] transmission of data to [the IRS].

My assumption here is that the Swiss enforcement law is being returned to the Senate in order to change the effective date to July 2014, but I am not certain. Please see text of the enforcement law and previous discussions here at IBS: Discussions on Swiss Senate Approval of FATCA and SIF page

Here are some direct links cited on aforesaid IBS post, dating back to the June approval of FATCA and Swiss enforcement law by the Senate:

Proposed Federal Law (French): Proposed Enforcement Law

Text of the IGA (English): IGA

Text of the IGA (French): IGA-French

Report (French): Report

What really upsets me is that we had heard in the news that the debate on FATCA would go to the lower house in November. Also, I am wondering if anyone in either house of the Swiss Parliament knows that a drive for repeal is under way. The RTS article does not mention bone fide residents of Switzerland or neighboring countries. Again, our plight is ignored by the press.

Please everyone, write to RTS and other Swiss news agencies to remind them of who this will affect.

——

Here is another article from Le Matin that goes into more detail, sorry no time to translate this morning: http://www.lematin.ch/suisse/L-accord-FATCA-passe-le-cap-du-Conseil-national/story/29090313

Nothing against the United States, until now

http://www.ctj.org/taxjusticedigest/archive/2013/08/surge_in_tax-wary_us_expats_re.php

In its latest attack on the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), the Wall Street Journal describes in ominous tones the “record” number of individuals who renounced their U.S. citizenship in the last quarter, supposedly driven by FATCA’s reporting requirements, which are designed to prevent tax evasion.

What scary headlines about a “surge” in expatriations leave out, however, is what a miniscule number it really is. Even the six-fold increase this quarter compared to the second quarter of last year meant that only 1,130 people renounced their citizenship in the second quarter of this year. To give some context, this number represents less than 0.02 percent of the estimated six million Americans that live abroad.

“Surge in Expatriations to Avoid Taxes!” “US expatriates renounce citizenships at record rate!” Pretty alarming headlines. News coverage of what complying with FATCA actually entails has been misleading and would make you think that the rise in renunciations is driven by the “overly burdensome” rules that are financially crippling US citizens living abroad. The fact is, the primary component of FATCA affecting individuals is the requirement that U.S. citizens with $50,000 or more in foreign financial assets (which does not include housing or other basic non-financial assets) simply have to attach a disclosure statement about their accounts in their yearly tax return.
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 (and JCT has a history of  underestimating such tax enforcement measures, too.) Considering that the U.S. loses an estimated $100 billion (PDF) annually due to offshore tax abuses, rather than seeking to curtail FATCA, Congress should expand on these efforts through legislation like the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act in the House or the CUT Unjustified Loopholes Act (PDF) in the Senate.
While the emigration of every single wealthy person abroad is makes big news (see, for example, coverage of Facebook billionaire Eduardo Saverin or singer Tina Turner), the reality is that the number of renunciations is negligible – especially compared to the number of new citizen naturalizations each year. In fact, 503,104 people have been naturalized in the US since the start of Fiscal Year 2013, which means well over 250 people embracing US citizenship for every one person renouncing it over the past several months.

Asking the few and largely wealthy Americans with substantial offshore financial assets to do a little extra paperwork is not unreasonable when we know that cracking down on offshore tax evaders will bring in revenues to invest in things like roads, schools, healthcare and a quality of life that make the US so attractive to aspiring U.S. citizens.