Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

August 13, 2020: On the one hand (at least in Toronto) U.S. Citizen Services are opening up …

U.S. DIPLOMATIC MISSION TO CANADA

Message to U.S. Citizens in Canada: U.S. Consulate General Toronto resumes most American citizen services

AUGUST 13, 2020

Location: Toronto

Event: U.S. Consulate General Toronto resumes public appointments for American citizen services

BEGIN Message for U.S. Citizens

The U.S. Consulate General Toronto is now accepting a limited number of appointments for most U.S. citizen services. You can request an appointment for routine and emergency passport services, Consular Report of Birth Abroad (CRBA) services, and adult citizenship claims by emailing us at TorontoPassport@state.gov. Please note that appointment numbers are limited to prevent crowding, and therefore wait times for appointments will be longer than normal. We appreciate your patience and support for our mutual efforts to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

We are not offering routine visa services at this time.  For information on visa appointments, visit https://ais.usvisa-info.com/en-ca/niv.

August 15, 2020: On the other hand renunciation appointments are closed down with no reopening in sight …

The health and safety of those who work at and visit the Embassy and Consulates is our highest priority. In response to the global pandemic COVID-19, and in line with the Canadian government’s call to increase social distancing, the CLN Processing Center has suspended Loss of Nationality services until further notice. We will resume routine services as soon as possible but are unable to provide a specific date at this time.

Please be advised that at this time, appointments through the end of July have already been canceled and we have yet to determine if further cancelations are to be made. Canceled appointments will be rescheduled prior to scheduling new appointments from the current queue when we eventually resume with this service. Please note that we have suspended scheduling and rescheduling for the foreseeable future and will resume when we have returned to normal routine operations. It will take several months to recover from the backlog, however your place in the queue remains unchanged.

We regret any inconvenience caused by the suspension of this service and appreciate your support for our efforts to safeguard U.S. facilities and prevent the further spread of COVID-19 in Canada.

Prologue: From Facebook To FATCA

Circa 2013: From Facebook to #FATCA – How Social Media Has Created A "Lack Of Privacy" Consciousness in America https://t.co/q7bIEFW5rd via @USCitizenAbroad

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 12, 2020

The above tweet references a 2013 post suggesting that the rise of Social Media in the United States resulted in a diminishment in the value of privacy in the United States. At a bare minimum, FATCA is an assault on privacy rights.

Jenny’s UK FATCA Lawsuit Is Based On The FATCA IGAs Violating Privacy Rights
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Factoid 1: Constructively stripping people of citizenship by not issuing them passports or questioning their birth certificates

This cuts both ways. It denies the benefits of citizenship from those who want to be US citizens. But, interestingly there is a group of people who are prevented from renouncing (and getting that CLN) because they can't prove citizenship.

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 11, 2020

The above tweet references a fascinating discussion from Open Society Justice Initiative about the weaponization of citizenship.

From page 9 …

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From @SophieintVeld pic.twitter.com/nsqirKOzIB

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 7, 2020

As per a request from Tim Smyth …

https://t.co/eHTwI1FtOW pic.twitter.com/qTnTOcuka8

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 6, 2020

Kudos to American Citizens Abroad for producing a superb article demonstrating:

1. The harm that citizenship-based taxation does to individual Americans abroad; and

2. Demonstrating that the only way to cease harming Americans abroad is to end citizenship-based taxation.

This is seriously good article that puts much of the harm in the TCJA into historical perspective. Although the article makes it clear that much of the damage can be fixed through Treasury regulations (including the two which have been recently been the topic of discussion), the article “Keeps The Faith”, by reminding us that citizenship-based taxation must end! ACA deserves credit for NOT wavering from that position. Given that the Democratic Party has failed to include ending citizenship-based taxation in their platform and the Republican Party appears to not have recently reconsidered the issue, it appears that proponents of ending US citizenship-based taxation are fewer than ever. From that perspective, ACA deserves a special thanks. (It is also significant and tragic that Representative George Holding who pioneered the ONLY serious attempt to fix CBT is retiring. There is no evidence that his 2018 Bill will be introduced again.)

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How cool is this? Dutch-Americans could be classified as ‘tax evaders’ IN THE NETHERLANDS!! https://t.co/zTCdzfxFaN pic.twitter.com/NwIdeLkwpq

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 4, 2020

It’s hard to know whether the story referenced in the above tweet is true or not. But, assuming it’s true, this really would represent a milestone in the extra-territorial application of US law.

Think of this way …

So far, the United States of America – the great “citadel of freedom of justice” – has managed to:

1. Export FATCA to the rest of the world

2. Gotten the world to agree that, the United States, and the United States alone determines which of the residents of other countries are to be considered to be “US persons” for FATCA purposes.

3. Forced the non-US banks to pay for the witch hunt and general FATCA inquisition

4. Expand the US tax base into other countries (think of the OMG moment – am I really US taxpayer property?)

5. By expanding the US tax base into other countries manage to extract capital from other countries (think Exit Tax, Transition Tax, GILTI, etc.)

6. Solidify the status of the the United States of America as the world’s number one tax haven (remember since the USA hasn’t signed on to the CRS): “What goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas” and “What goes on in Wyoming (and other states) stays in Wyoming.”

But the best has now finally arrived … Truly amazing.

Assuming that this article is true, apparently now, the Netherlands may be willing to deem Accidental Americans (the one’s who accidentally escaped from America) as tax evaders in the Netherlands!!!! This is amazing. Think of it, now the United States doesn’t even have to charge these criminal “accidental Americans”. All they need do is:

A. Decree that a violation of US law in the Netherlands is actually a violation of the law of the Netherlands; and

B. Get the Netherlands to deal with them under the Dutch justice system.

Fantastic! One more expense that the United States need not pay. In the event that the “accidentals” are incarcerated (for disobeying the Homeland), the Netherlands can pay that cost too.

Russia, China and all other totalitarian regimes should really take note. Nobody does this better than America!

Good article (which has potential to challenge the basic assumptions of Homelander tax and compliance industry + @elisejosanbean) @TAPInternation: 1. explains the "Criminalization Of American #Emigrants 2. Explains that #expats are not really criminals https://t.co/dnAfl0Cv6a pic.twitter.com/WWBi748Or4

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) August 2, 2020

The above tweet references an article published on June 29, 2020 in Tax Notes. In the article Laura Snyder describes many of the injustices inflicted on those who have the courage to leave the United States. The included list of injustices is well known. In addition the article includes a discussion of Professor Elise Bean’s claim that somehow offshore tax evasion is (or was) costing the United States 100 billion dollars annually. Ms. Snyder analyzes and ultimately explains the dubious validity of that claim. (That dubious claim did NOT stop Professor Bean from repeating the same malarky at the April 2017 Meadows hearing into FATCA.)

Ms. Snyder’s article includes:

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Update July 27, 2020 …

July 26, 2020 Those seeking #Justice4Harry will be interested to see @RaddSeiger on the @GeorgeGalloway show …https://t.co/XP8LWNCGj3

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) July 28, 2020

and now back to the post as it was originally written …

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#HarryDunn’s mother Charlotte speaking to the American nation last night with a very clear simple message. Do the right thing. https://t.co/hAuprCaVPP

— Radd Seiger (@RaddSeiger) July 25, 2020

The last year has featured a number of posts about the role that extradition treaties play in the modern world. Interestingly most (if not all) of the posts have discussed how the United States is using extradition treaties to assert jurisdiction over individuals, who did not commit crimes while present in the United States. The United States is using extradition treaties to “capture” individuals under the following circumstances:

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Update – August 21, 2020:

The Government of Canada is appealing this decision to the Federal Court of Appeal. Ultimately (like the ADCS FATCA lawsuit which is also in Canada’s Federal Court) this case is likely to find it’s way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-federal-government-to-appeal-court-ruling-that-struck-down-canada-us/

In her decision, Federal Court Justice Ann Marie McDonald concluded that the Safe Third Country Agreement results in ineligible claimants being imprisoned by U.S. authorities.

Detention and the consequences flowing from it are “inconsistent with the spirit and objective” of the refugee agreement and amount to a violation of the rights guaranteed by Section 7 of the charter, she wrote.

“The evidence clearly demonstrates that those returned to the U.S. by Canadian officials are detained as a penalty.”

The public interest parties who took part in the case immediately called on the federal government to stop sending people back to the U.S. under the agreement, and to not appeal the court decision.

In his statement, Blair said the agreement with the U.S. “remains a comprehensive vehicle” to uphold a compassionate, fair and orderly refugee protection system, based on the principle that people should claim asylum in the first safe country in which they arrive.

Introduction: So, what’s an agreement between Canada and the United States have to do with the FATCA IGAs?

Judicial recognition that the USA – a country where incarceration is almost a certainty – is simply not a safe country to return a refugee to. "Canada's asylum agreement with the U.S. infringes on Charter, says Federal Court | CBC News" https://t.co/xPkBrir87X

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) July 22, 2020

Well, both the Canada US Safe Third Party Agreement and the Canada US FATCA IGA are agreements entered into between the governments of Canada and the United States. In both cases, the Federal Court of Canada has been asked to rule on whether the agreements violate Canada’s Charter of Rights. On July 22, 2019, Madam Justice MacTavish of the Federal Court Of Canada (as she then was) ruled that the FATCA IGA (and conforming legislation) did NOT violate Canada’s Charter Of Rights (discussion on Brock here). On July 22, 2020 (exactly one year later), Madam Justice McDonald of the Federal Court Of Appeal ruled that the Canada US Safe Third Party Agreement did violate Canada’s Charter Of Rights.

It is important to understand in what respect these two cases are the same in what respects they are different. This post will focus on the challenge to the Canada US Safe Third Party Agreement.

I would appreciate any thoughts/comments you might have the similarities and differences.

Understanding the Canada US Safe Third Party Agreement

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The FATCA/AEOI Papers: Mishcon publishes research trove, unearthed as part of crowd-funded UK FATCA case https://t.co/NQRwGz1QDc

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) July 13, 2020

Jenny’s UK based anti-FATCA lawsuit has been discussed on Brock here and here.

Americans abroad, Accidental Americans and American emigrants (collectively referred to as “US Persons”) are the targets of FATCA and US citizenship-based taxation. They did NOT create the laws. But, they are now the single biggest obstacle to achieving success in the courts, US Congress, US Treasury and engaging the interest of other governments. To put it simply: the very group that Jenny is trying to help is working (sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously) against her.

Here are the reasons why:

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