http://www.barackobama.com/nv/entry/nv-100-in-100-accomplishment-no-6-071712/
Feel free to comment but I suspect any negative comments will be taken down.
Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad
Changes to the IRS site
Came across the following article today:
Note the new policy of collecting the IP addresses of visitors.
A Minnow (ij) ‘Opts Out’ of the IRS’s OVDI, and gets the correct result. A simple warning letter.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the travails of IJ, on Jack Townsend’s blog, you have missed a remarkable story.
IJ is a Chinese immigrant to America who came to our shores via Canada. He got caught up in the OVDI, and after a long struggle decided to “Opt Out”. He was prepared to fight in the Court of Appeals, if necessary! But, thankfully, reason at the IRS’s Opt Out management review committee did prevail, and he was finally released from this lengthy OVDI torture with just a FBAR warning letter. Frankly, that was all that was ever necessary to obtain a compliance objective. It was the correct decision. You can read more of IJ’s story, at this post.
A Great Opt Out Result!
Russian banks may soon be subject to U.S. monitoring regulations
Article originally published in Isvestia:
Russia’s presidential executive office has been reviewing the U.S. anti-money laundering act known as FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). Presidential economic advisor Elvira Nabiullina spearheaded a meeting with Finance Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Central Bank, Federal Financial Markets Service, Tax Service and National Payment Council officials, issuing instructions to prepare final proposals within the next two weeks on Russia’s negotiating position regarding accession to FATCA, which is expected to come into effect on January 1, 2013.
Speech by Jim Flaherty last fall to US SIFMA conference in NYC
While this is fairly old it is the first time I have come across it so it wanted to link and post some relevant remarks.
Now, talking about the creation of a good environment to do business, there are a couple of issues that Canada and the United States need to address. Secretary Geithner and I have discussed these issues.
First of all, the requirement for dual U.S.-Canadian citizens living in Canada to file Foreign Bank Account Reports. Most of them didn’t even know that they had to file U.S. tax returns, even though they weren’t earning income in the United States, and there are substantial potential penalties. So this is something that we’re talking about to try to be effective and efficient in what is sought to be accomplished. What is sought to be accomplished, of course, is to avoid tax evasion and the use of tax havens.
Miscellany: QE infinity will destroy Form Nation
Now that “the Bernank” has announced QE III, a.k.a. Unlimited QE (I prefer “QE Infinity”), Marc Faber says that it will destroy world. Zero Hedge estimates that the Federal Reserve’s new money base will increase to 4 trillion from 2.8 trillion (=43%) by the end of 2013–that’s because Bernanke is going to add at least 40 billion to the money base every month, with no limit, no specified target. If you are lucky enough to be in a jurisdiction that doesn’t debase its currency at the same rate, then you better renounce your US citizenship quickly: pretty soon the average home in Vancouver, Calgary or Toronto will be worth two million US dollars, while the Loonie threatens to rise to unforeseeable levels against the Greenback, unless of course Mark Carney debases Canadian currency in this race to the bottom.
Moving without Moving, Legal but Illegal
Some rules make more sense than others while some make no sense at all, like rules on voting for Americans living abroad. The rule for Americans living abroad is that they may only vote where they last lived, or where their parents last lived, or where their parent’s parents last lived, or something odd like that, assuming that they once lived in the States or know where their parents, grand parents or great grand parents lived. Never mind their possible plans of returning, the place where they may feel attached or the area where they actually have a voting interest. Americans abroad must vote where they may have no interest in voting, they are told. Boy, that sure encourages one to vote!
You must vote in the state/county where you last established residence (domicile) in the U.S., and typically, where you developed a real connection.
Under traditional rules and state law, a person living overseas is permitted to register and vote only in the place that constitutes his/her previous residence/domicile. This is the last real home you had in the US and is referred to by election officials as your voting residence address. That defines the state and the jurisdiction.
Overseas Vote Foundation
UK signs Agreement with the US on FATCA
There are different legal remedies that can be taken under UK law to attempt to block this agreement. However, there are not really any commentators here from the UK so I have not really spent much time explaining them. If anyone is interested in the UK I can provide more detailed advice if necessary.
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/press_82_12.htm
The two individuals pictured are Emily McMahon of the US Treasury and Deputy Exchequer David Guake. One piece of news is that UK Credit Unions will be exempt from FATCA even if they have UK Resident US Person account holders. Again if their are individuals willing to fight FATCA in the UK I can provide assistance and advice however, no one appears to want to do so.
Update: Senator Tom Coburn of OK trying to make Passport revocation law stricter
I don’t have a lot of details yet but apparently Tom Coburn of Oklahoma(a Republican for those of you who care about that type of thing) is proposing an amendment to make the existing passport revocation provisions of S.3457 even more onerous. Link to the amendment text below:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2012-09-13/html/CREC-2012-09-13-pt1-PgS6346-3.htm
BC Business Magazine looks at FATCA, credit unions
@all
I’ve been away for a couple of weeks backpacking in the Rockies — no wireless, no newspapers, no email, no cell phones — heaven.
Many of you are asking about credit unions. I have written a 2000-wd magazine piece on how credit unions in BC (and nationally) are dealing with FATCA. I can’t share details with you now, but the piece will be published in BC Business magazine on Oct. 1. The magazine is hoping this will spark significant reader comment, and everyone at IBS is welcome to go online and submit a letter to the editor. Here’s what the BCB Editor said in a note I got this morning:
“You can just let them know to look for your story in our October issue, which will be out first week of October. It should be online by Monday, Oct. 8. If they want to send a letter to the editor, they can address it to:
bcb@canadawide.com
and put “letter to the editor” in the subject line.
Thanks — Here’s hoping for a lively discussion!”
So — go for it Brockers. And don’t hesitate to take a shot at the piece if it doesn’t meet your expectations. After 40 years of doing this, I’ve got a very thick hide. My one almost-daily panic is that magazine deadlines are such that the story must be submitted at least two months before publication — and a lot can change on a file like this in a couple of months. I’m praying the whole thing isn’t irrelevant by the time it sees the light of day.
BTW — on our backpacking trip, met a couple from Virginia. They were astounded when we filled them in on FATCA, FBARS, citizenship-based taxation etc. — they knew NOTHING about this issue and were horrified that their government is inflicting this kind of pain on expats.