Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

Will the next US IRS Commissioner have expertise in US Citizenship-Based Taxation as it affects US Persons Abroad? Will he heed Nina Olson’s suggestions?

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 11 Comments

Bloomberg: Obama Chooses John Koskinen as Next US IRS Commissioner

President Barack Obama said he will nominate John Koskinen, former chairman of Freddie Mac (FMCC), as the next Internal Revenue Service commissioner.

Koskinen will be tasked with revamping the U.S. tax agency, which has come under intense criticism for giving extra scrutiny to small-government advocacy groups as they applied for tax-exempt status.

“John is an expert at turning around institutions in need of reform,” Obama said in a statement today. “With decades of experience, in both the private and public sectors, John knows how to lead in difficult times, whether that means ensuring new management or implementing new checks and balances.” …

Also:

Forbes: Obama Picks John Koskinen To Revamp IRS As Next Commissioner

Related, including documentation from Nina Olson:
Examining the Skyrocketing Problem of Identity Theft Related Tax Fraud at the IRS

The #IRS has become one of America’s leading exports – #FATCA anyone?

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 14 Comments

 

Attention Senator Baucus, Representative Camp and the Ways and Means Committee:

In 1996 James Dale Davidson writing in “The Sovereign Individual” noted on page 287 that:

Continue reading →

What is an American? Forget the state and just be a child of the nation – but what does this mean?

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 82 Comments

 

The posts referenced in the above tweets are interesting and are “food for thought” for those American Abroad considering renouncing U.S. citizenship.

 

Steven J. Mopsick writes:

On Being An American.” I trashed a draft blog of my own “on being an American” which I was struggling with before the Fourth of July. I was searching for words to express the feeling Victoria captured so eloquently below which I am sure has resonated with Americans abroad.

 And Victoria’s  post – On being an American – includes:

Continue reading →

FATCA Supporter Linda McQuaig announces run for NDP MP nomination in Toronto Centre #CDNPOLI

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 22 Comments

One of the Liberal candidates is “US Person” Chrystia Freeland formerly editor of Thomson Reuters news wire. Two of Freeland’s daughters were born in New York City. McQuaig of course strongly believes that Canadians have a moral obligation to help the American poor by strongly supporting imposing FATCA on themselves.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/toronto-star-columnist-seeks-ndp-nomination-for-toronto-riding/article13608805/

 

FBI: nearly twice as many renunciations in first seven months of 2013 as in same period last year

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 24 Comments

The FBI has released its latest report on Active Records in the NICS Index as of 31 July 2013. NICS now contains the records of 22,908 renunciants who have been stripped of the right to purchase firearms in the United States. This is an increase of 298 since last month and 2,254 since December last year; this compares to 1,184 renunciants recorded by the FBI in January–July 2012.

Based on past trends there should be about four or five relinquishers for every six renunciants, implying that somewhere around five hundred people gave up citizenship last month in one way or another, and four thousand so far this year, if the FBI didn’t miss any — though since only registered gun dealers & FBI employees can access the list, it’s rather difficult for ordinary members of the public to verify whether it’s complete or not.

Continue reading →

John Doe is DATCA (#FATCA IGA reciprocity) by another means?

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 14 Comments

From Bloomberg this yesterday

Norway Gets U.S. Help Chasing Citizens Dodging Income Tax Law

The U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as FATCA, may lead to dozens of agreements between countries [IGAs] to exchange information on bank accounts. The law requires foreign banks to turn over information to the International Revenue Service (IRS) about their U.S.-owned accounts or potentially face withholding taxes.

Norway is catching more tax dodgers abroad with fresh help from the U.S. legal system.

Federal courts in six states have allowed the Internal Revenue Service to issue [John Doe] summonses to U.S. banks at the request of the Norwegian government, and the banks may now have to give up information on people who used some kinds of credit and debit cards, Bloomberg BNA reported, citing the Justice Department.

This story has been previously reported at Forbes by Kim Novak, and Jack Townsend also noted it.  This is the latest development, in my opinion, of the domestic FATCA, or DATCA as I call it.  I have updated the history at this link.

There is also the step child of FATCA (Corp beneficial ownership) that was noted in this story:

Ranch House Near Reno is a Thriving Tax Haven, and It’s Not Alone

Notice this legislation introduced by Uncle Carl Levin  It too is part and parcel of the DATCA reciprocity that Robert Stack has promised the EU. Wonder what the Senators from Nevada, Delaware and Wyoming think of this blow back onto their states?

If we want to stop inappropriate corporate secrecy offshore, we need to stop it here at home as well!

«U.S. has forced terrorist groups to target Americans overseas»

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 18 Comments

Increased security in the U.S. has forced terrorist groups to target Americans overseas instead.

“The enemy is going to find an easier way. They’re gonna find softer targets, they’re gonna find ways that they can hurt us and it may not be bringing it to America in hijacked airplanes. It may be doing things when we’re not looking, in places that are vulnerable and every embassy is vulnerable if you think about it,” said Smullen.

The government has also issued a global travel warning for all Americans overseas. It will remain active until at least August 31st.

Time Warner Cable Enterprises

Tax Reform Unlikely Before 2015

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 23 Comments

… at the earliest due to the House rules limiting chairmanship of committees to three terms and impending retirement of Sen. Carl Levin.

This means the current chairman of the powerful Ways and Means committee, Dave Camp (Mich-R) is on his way out because he will soon hit the term limit although the battle for that quite coveted appointment has already begun, and because Camp is rumored to be making a run for Levin’s soon to be vacated Senate seat, he likely won’t be focusing on reforming much of anything anyway.

There is a whole lot of politics in play according to this article in The Fiscal Times, but the bottom line is that if American citizens abroad are hoping for an overhaul of the convoluted US tax code, and possibly relief from the tax on earned income worldwide in the form of a residence based tax, they shouldn’t look for that any time in the near future.

Congress hasn’t bothered with a comprehension refit of the US tax code since 1986, and there are more than a few issues that need attending to, but for the time being, they appear to have lost momentum and are allowing themselves to be more concerned with the titles and positions coming up for grabs than they are with Americans in or out of homeland.

Where is the US ambassador to Canada?

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 8 Comments

According to the Vancouver Sun, the US has yet to appoint a new ambassador to Canada and it’s not likely that one will be sent north from the country of exceptionalism anytime soon either.

The most recent ambassador was David Jacobson, a former Obama fundraiser, whose qualifications for the job basically boiled down to having raised a significant amount of cash for Pres. Obama’s war chest.

However, he finished his four-year term in June and has gone on to other deserved rewards for his toadyism (currently he is the vice-chairman of BMO Financial Group), leaving Canada ambassador-less as it heads into the murky waters of trying to maintain sovereignty in the face of a super-power neighbor that views it as a 51st state.

Ambassador positions are appointed and in the US are purchased via one’s fund-raising abilities for the winning POTUS candidate.

In 1975, former POTUS Richard Nixon testified before a grand jury about the practice of “selling” ambassador positions to the highest bidder, aka “fundraiser”, and said that it was a common practice, but that he tried to also appoint those who were qualified for the job as well. He also said that this was what he assumed most presidents did  and went on to cite an example from the Truman era:

“Perle Mesta wasn’t sent to Luxembourg because she had big bosoms,” Nixon said of the Harry S. Truman appointee. “Perle Mesta went to Luxembourg because she made a good contribution. But I may say she was a very good ambassador

It was rumored that the Canadian position was slotted for Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late Pres. John F. Kennedy, but she held out for Japan.

So who will our next ambassador be?

Well, Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue and inspiration for boss from hell in the novel, The Devil Wears Prada, could be heading our way now that London and Paris are off the table. But odds are better that the Ottawa residence of the American ambassador will be sans ambassador for the immediate future.

Does the US State Department feel that Canada doesn’t need any special handling? That we are “sympatico” on all fronts? Or maybe this is just another rap on the knuckles for Ottawa, which has been curiously stubborn about giving into the White House of late and indeed, seems to be thumbing its nose a bit with talk of joint military exercises with China and declining to provide any material support in Syria.

Given that we are currently eight months, and counting, since the FATCA IGA signing was “imminent” with multiple signs from Obama that he is not going to consent to the KeystoneXL and the disinclination of the Canadian government to give in on allowing American police to run amuck within Canadian borders, one can only speculate about this latest development. And whether it is good or bad for Canada really depends on which side of the border the beholder is standing on.