Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

Just a brief note asking if any of IBS participants have seen this site: http://www.fatcareport.com/ I had posted a link on my own blog a few months ago, and “Boston Tea Party” suggested that I share it with the rest of you. I had forgotten about it. Thanks Boston.

A new article by Christopher Sambrano of Nation News in Barbados entitled Barbados ready to ensure FATCA compliance appears at first glance to be just one more depressingly familiar report about yet another country preparing to roll-over for the IRS, but this one adds an intriguing twist at the end:

“Barbados has a strong history of compliance, and with the heavy presence and influence of the Canadian banks and strong trade ties and treaties with Canada, our banking system should be compliant.

These international institutions will certainly ensure their banking network becomes compliant as most of these banks likely already have robust programs in place to ensure FATCA compliance and ultimately the continued stability and security of this vital sector.”

Remarkable conjecture about the FATCA-readiness of Canadian banks aside, let’s consider for a moment the possible reaction in Barbados if Canada were to reject FATCA.  As James Jatras has already argued in his recent FATCA Forum presentation, “If Canada were to say no, a lot of other countries would look at it and say, ‘Well, if the Yanks can’t even get them on board, that means this is not going to fly.’  So, that’s why it is so crucial what happens up here.”

Canada has a longstanding and close relationship with Barbados, especially in the banking sector where Canadian banks comprise 78% of the island’s 50 registered international banks. Our response to FATCA will thus most certainly be very closely watched in Bridgetown. This is a perfect example of how Canadians could make a real difference in the global fight against FATCA tyranny.

Interesting article in the Globe and Mail and Canada, Russia, Adoption, and someone called Sergei Magnititsky.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-urged-to-take-a-stand-in-us-russia-spat-over-corruption-adoptions/article6825685/

A couple of interesting sections:

However, the swiftness of the Russian retaliation to the U.S. legislation has sparked concerns over the application of similar measures against adoptions by Canadians. Jennifer Damiano has already met the 19-month-old child that she and her husband, Bert Lee, are hoping to adopt from Russia. She is worried by the possibility that Canada will follow the U.S. lead and use existing legislation against Russian officials.

“I hope and pray they do not use existing laws to pass something that would negatively affect all prospective parents in the process of adopting from Russia,” she said.

Ms. Damiano said her husband holds U.S. citizenship, which could complicate the planned adoption. Ms. Damiano said she hopes that Mr. Lee’s pending Canadian citizenship will be expedited to allow the couple to adopt as Canadians.

So we actually have some have someone who is a US Citizen in Canada who would appear to be in the process probably with legal assistance of getting expedited approval for Canadian citizenship.

Six Canadians, who took part in a doomed conversation at the Expat Forum, started the Isaac Brock Society on December 12, 2011, in order to create a safe place to have a discussion about US expat tax issues and renunciation of citizenship.  The Expat Forum considered renunciation an extreme measure and began to censor our user-created threads.  Furthermore, they were impervious to arguments that there was a need to allow the discussion.  Seeing this coming, I made contact with our committee members, suggesting that we create a new blog that would cover our issues and where we, not some disinterested party, would be in control of the parameters of the discussion.  Thus, part of the DNA of the Isaac Brock Society is a distaste for censorship.

Over the course of the months, various critics have demanded that I shut down one aspect or another of our conversation .  Always I could make the case that the videos, threads or comments were relevant and useful, even if they were objectionable.  The committee’s five remaining members have always supported me, until now.

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http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-459-16910-a-very-nice-article-for-expats-but-the-author.html

Excerpt below:

Taxing Matters I also met another type of American expatriate,  particularly in London: high rollers who sported American accents but discreetly reminded everyone that they were no longer American. These were the tax expatriates, super-high earners who renounced U.S. nationality in large part to avoid the global reach of U.S. tax law. Facebook’s co-founder, a Brazilian-born U.S. citizen now residing in Singapore, recently denationalized himself in this manner. No doubt, just as legal persons (corporations) often decamp to more favorable tax locations, more and more natural persons will seek to expatriate themselves in the same manner.

As much as I think of myself as a practical individual, I am emotional to the extent that I believe that to take on a nationality, you should identify with and love the country in question. I love both the United States and Greece, and I would never renounce either nationality, regardless of some potential tax benefits.

U.S. citizens must file income tax, no matter where they live. Having said that, the vast majority of your foreign income is exempted,  unless you are a super high earner. As an American abroad, it’s important that you file your taxes and keep the IRS apprised of your income. Many Americans living and working abroad forget to do this, and it’s a potentially costly mistake.

Certain actions can cause you to lose your U.S. nationality, such as taking up arms against the United States, formally renouncing your U.S. nationality or, surprisingly, entering the U.S. on a foreign passport. This is a lesser-known detail passed on to me when I lived in London. We were registering our London-born daughter as a U.S. citizen, and the consular official warned us not to travel with her to America before she got a U.S. passport, “as she could forfeit her nationality.” When I took up Greek nationality, I consulted an immigration attorney with a specialty in dual nationality. The reader should do the same: Always seek legal advice when making such key decisions.

So all of you Brockers do you REALLY think this guy is fully compliant with US tax laws . Yes thats what I thought.

Ueli Maurer, Swiss People’s Party (SVP/UDC), will be President of the Swiss Confederation for 2013. I hope that 2013 will mean bad luck for supporters of FATCA and that Maurer will do something to check US policy, despite that Widmer-Schlumpf will still be finance minister. In my humble opinion expressed here many times before, we have suffered two years of grovelling to US demands by Micheline Calmy-Rey, then Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf. It is about time that somebody have the guts to stand up to the US’s extortion attempts.

Ueli Maurer Will Share his Everyday on Facebook (Article in German)

I wrote Federal Conselor (President Elect) Maurer earlier this morning on Facebook, wishing him a good presidential year, and asking him to have a look at our issues by visiting IBS and the YouTube FATCA Forum videos:
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If the French Constitutional Council rejects a 75% tax on incomes over EUR 1 Million, what should it say about the effects of US double taxation on middle class people, and even people earning welfare and unemployment benefits? How would it see the heinous and excessive FBAR and FATCA non-compliance fines?

I have not yet found the written opinion of the Council, it would be interesting to see what arguments they use and if any of the language and rationales could be applied by analogy to our issues.

The Guardian: France’s constitutional council rejects 75% tax rate

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/uncle-sam-wants-you-if-youre-an-american-in-canada-or-at-least-your-tax/article6799960/?service=mobile

Nothing we didn’t already know. The January 1st deadline has now been blown and supposedly IGA negotiations will continue to a “conclusion” over the next few weeks. Again we need to keep up the fight in the new year. I just wanted to let everyone know in case comments open up on the G&M website. I will be contacting Barrie myself later this evening.