It’s been discussed here at Isaac Brock in various comment threads, but last evening as I was listening to the CBC’s Ideas program, it occurred to me again that the US notion of citizenship and national identity is very much in opposition to how a person’s view of who they are, where they are from and where they belong are formed.
Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad
President should not even joke about abusing IRS power
Tax Audits and Threats of Audits Are No Laughing Matter http://t.co/b41XpPqgnk – IRS not the enforcer of the Obama or any administration
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) May 14, 2013
This must read article includes:
Nina Olson, National Tax Advocate, under attack by Democrat Bob Kerrey in IRS / T-party targeting scandal
Here, this should get your blood boiling. Hat tip to @Tim who just drew my attention to this article at Politico.
Kerrey: IRS advocate to blame for scandal
I am just stunned by the chutz·pah of this Democrat to try and deflect political fallout on the Dems.
We need some Brockers to weigh in.
I am beginning to think this IRS scandal which broke Friday has some legs. It was above the fold on the front pages of two local Bellingham papers today. I think we can use this attention to tell a broader story of IRS misdirected energies and persecution of American’s abroad with their OVDPs and FATCA administration! Continue reading
SnowBird Extension In US Immigration Bill
The two month extension for Canadian snowbirds is back in the news. No mention of the cons in the article itself but plenty of commenters made note of the Medicare and IRS tax issues that staying an extra two months in the US every year can cause retirees.
What’s more interesting to me about the so-called “Gang of Eights” stab at fixing US immigration issues are the things they are hiding in the bill that will affect border crossings and the intense lobbying of foreign countries trying to get some preferred status for their people tucked away in the fine print of the bill. Everyone wants to go to Amerika.
Real US persons don’t get to enjoy a “Foreign Earned Income Exclusion”
I might be misunderstanding this somehow, but does it imply that Americans living abroad are not entitled to a Foreign Earned Income Exclusion?
Corporations have used numerous and creative means to avoid their tax responsibilities. They have about a year’s worth of profits stashed untaxed overseas. According to the Wall Street Journal, about 60% of their cash is offshore. Yet these corporate ‘persons’ enjoy a foreign earned income exclusion that real U.S. persons don’t get.
Source:
Ayn Rand USA: In 20 Years Corporate Profits Are Up 4X and Their Taxes Have Fallen by 50% — Meanwhile the Workers’ Payroll Tax Has Doubled
AlterNet
On this, Wiki writes:
Citizens and residents living and working outside the U.S. may be entitled to a foreign earned income exclusion that reduces taxable income.
More bad news: FATCA Details Slowly Emerging
FATCA Details Slowly Emerging
Gary Rogers, Vice President, Financial Policy, Credit Union Central of Canada
This highlights the need to keep pressure on Canadian government.
Story on IRS Voluntary Disclosures #OVDP Results to Air May 14th on @NPRs “All Things Considered”
David Kestenbaum who writes for NRP’s Planet Money will be airing a story tonight on NPR’s “All Things Considered” based upon interviews he has done with people that have joined the IRS OVDP / OVDI starting back in 2009. I was one of several that he interviewed including some others who have posted here at IBS like @NotThatLisa and @Moby. At least that is my understanding.
It will air tonight across the nation starting on the East Coast in the 4:00pm – 6:30pm time slot, and will be available on the May 10th, Friday show online here. Continue reading
Tax Guide for “US Persons” in Canada
At an NDP event last night I met a fellow whose son has written this.
Do not take this as an endorsement as much as potentially useful info for those who wish to “not remain hidden.”
American citizens abroad have always had an obligation to file U.S. income tax returns. In recent years the IRS has stepped up enforcement of this obligation against U.S. citizens who live in Canada. For the first time, many American citizens in Canada who have little or no connection with the U.S., other than their citizenship, have become aware of their U.S. tax responsibilities. Filing dual tax returns can appear daunting, but need not be difficult. Most people’s tax situations are not complicated. But instead of completing their returns themselves, they pay financial professionals hundreds of dollars.
This book provides an alternative solution. This plain language guidebook helps American citizens in Canada complete and file their U.S. tax returns.
Judicially-denaturalised ex-Americans are subject to exit tax but do not have names published in Federal Register
Here’s a small extra piece of the puzzle for those of us trying to figure out exactly who gets listed in the expat honour roll Federal Register “name-and-shame” list of ex-citizens. There are indeed some people who have to pay the exit tax but don’t have to have their names published: naturalised citizens who are stripped of their citizenship by U.S. courts, usually for naturalisation fraud or war crimes committed prior to naturalisation.
This post is not particularly useful to most Isaac Brock Society readers contemplating relinquishment or renunciation — unless you’re in need of some comic relief and would like to read about a mildly amusing drafting error in the exit tax statute.
Bulletin from Shadow Raider – You will want to read this
Shadow Raider says
YES! YES! IT WORKED!!! The Senate Finance Committee had its meeting on international competitiveness today (instead of May 23 as scheduled), and it included notes about individuals! It’s considering the proposal in Bernard Schneider’s paper!
Excerpts from the meeting notes (my comments in bold):
“The United States income tax rules applying to cross-border income are based on two core concepts: the residence of the taxpayer and the source of the taxpayer’s income.” (Are they abandoning the concept of citizenship now?)
“Nonresident citizens: U.S. citizens living abroad are generally taxable as residents of the foreign country where they live. They are also required to file U.S. federal income tax returns annually and pay tax to the U.S. on their worldwide income, subject to the foreign tax credit and an exclusion for a limited amount of foreign-earned income. Other countries generally tax their nonresident citizens only on income their citizens earn in their country of citizenship. Some believe certain employers overseas are reluctant to hire U.S. citizens because of the associated tax burden and compliance costs.”
“NON-RESIDENT U.S. CITIZENS
1. Provide an election to citizens who are long-term nonresident citizens to be taxed as nonresident aliens if they meet certain conditions (Schneider, “The End of Taxation Without End: A New Tax Regime for U.S. Expatriates,” 2013; similar to the law in Canada) (You read it right, they mentioned Canada!)
a. Require a minimum period of residence abroad
b. Impose an exit tax on electing taxpayers where deemed to sell all assets at the time of election
2. Repeal the foreign-earned income exclusion (H.R.2 (108th Congress), Jobs and Growth Tax Relief and Reconciliation Act of 2003, sponsored by Rep. Thomas)”
I can’t believe it! feel like jumping around right now!