Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

For those waiting for further analysis on the new IRS Instructions [Published on Friday, 07 September 2012 15:59 Written by Roy A. Berg  JD, LL.M. (US Tax)]

If you are a US person residing in Canada and are one of the unfortunate few who does not have a graduate degree in US tax and who is not related to a cross-border US tax professional you may have missed filing one of the myriad of tax forms that are required every year (the failure to file of which can carry dire penalties). If this is the case, the IRS may have a new streamlined procedure just for you. The bad news is that few will likely qualify and those who do not qualify face serious consequences just for applying.

The new streamlined procedure went into effect on September 1, 2012. Click here to see the full text of the streamlined procedure. The program is designed for expats with simple returns and little or no tax due. But whether by design or defect, it threatens to entrap most of its likely applicants. For those who qualify, the new program may be a breeze. But for those who do not, and we suspect most expats will not, the streamlined procedure is a lot like a lobster pot – easy to get into, hard to live in, and harder to escape

Moodys Further Analysis: Completing the Questionnaire, or Entering the Lobster Pot.

Unfortunately the IRS has not given guidance as to which of the above-listed risk factors or combination thereof, will increase the taxpayer’s compliance risk, and therefore disqualify him from the streamlined procedure. Further, the questionnaire raises a number of extremely serious issues of which every taxpayer considering this procedure should be aware.

Government is always the single greatest threat to society & the economy. It was the greed of the Democrats that caused them to raise taxes when there was a real estate boom in the late 1980s.They reduced the amortization benefits in real estate and caused investors to bail out. That resulted in a one-way market – no bid! All sellers! They had regulated the S&Ls directing them to lend in primarily the real estate market. They caused that financial crisis, locked up some high profile owners of S&Ls and blamed their “greed” for the whole crisis they instigated.

Then they created the 1987 Crash by forming the G5 in 1985 and publicly stated they wanted the dollar down by 40%. Foreigners panicked and began to sell everything from stocks to bonds and real estate.

This time it is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). If a foreign entity (bank) had an account from an American in Switzerland, they had to report whatever that American was doing there or else all their assets would be confiscated in America. Even if an American is just a major beneficial owner.

This one act is destroying the world the economy in a single bound. Americans can no longer have an account in Switzerland or anywhere else. That even includes a safe deposit box. A rare collection of ancient coins was held by an American for decades in a safe deposit box in Switzerland. The bank gave the American 3 days to get out. The American had no choice but to call a coin dealer and auction it off.

FATCA presumes any American having an account overseas is for illegal tax purposes…

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I came across this article because I was searching for an English variation of the following article, titled “The Mafia as the Crisis Winner”:

August 31, 2012
Die Mafia als Krisengewinner
Source

I found this article while looking for more recent information on”Organized crime is booming – Mafia is the largest bank in Italy”

January 11, 2012
Organisierte Kriminalität boomt
Mafia ist größte “Bank” Italiens
Source

Is FATCA promoting and strengthening the very thing that it was designed to oppose?  While FATCA is working hard to push innocent US persons out of Swiss banks, the Mafia bank is booming, bringing large sums of illegal money into the legal economy.

Die Einnahmen des organisierten Verbrechens würden somit immer häufiger nicht nur in Steueroasen in der Karibik, sondern auch in Banken in London und in New York gewaschen.
Source

Translation: The income of organized crime is being increasingly washed more often in banks in London and New York  as well as in the Caribbean.

WhatamI commented:

I was born in the US to Canadian parents in 1954. We moved back to Canada in 1966 when I was 12. I have a Canadian certificate of “Canadian Citizen Born Abroad”. I’m now 58. I’ve never worked in the US, never filed any US tax form, never had a US passport. My Canadian passport of course says I was born in the US. As a kid, I remember my mother saying I was a dual citizen up to a certain age. I remember going to the US consulate here in Calgary in the early 70′s. I was somewhere between 18 and 22 or so. I went to ask if I was a dual citizen and what advantage there was to it. As I recall, I was told dual citizenship didn’t really exist and that I wasn’t an American citizen.

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According to G&M writer Adam Radwanski’s Twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/aradwanski

As a follow up to the interviews of Swiss bank employees who feel betrayed by the banks (https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/08/28/interviews-on-swiss-tv-bank-employees-upset-about-their-names-being-disclosed-to-the-us/)  Swiss Francophone RTS’ TTC (“Toutes taxes comprises”)  has come out yesterday with a broadcast tracking the diminishing confidence that the Swiss have in the banks.  The situation has been going on for at least a decade, probably starting with the SwissAir crisis:  http://www.rts.ch/video/#/video/emissions/ttc/4243403-les-banques-dans-la-tourmente.html

There will be another Infrarouge debate tomorrow (Wednesday) on RTS, entitled “Special Program- Bank Employees: Has Switzerland Capitulated?   http://www.infrarouge.ch/ir/1930-emission-speciale-employes-banque-suisse-elle-capitule

There is a FORUM at the bottom of the page, I would encourage everyone to sign up and post their comments, in French if possible, but if you can only write in English the post should also be accepted.  It is important to constantly remind the viewers and readership of journalists like RTS Info that the bank-related issues are not only about FatCats and money laundering but also about lowly bank employees just trying to do their job and make a living, and people living in Switzerland, paying Swiss taxes, and being nonetheless chased by the IRS for double taxes, FBAR and FATCA, and being shunned out of even the most basic and neccesary banking services by many banks in Switzerland.