I came across this today over at the ACA web-site.
[Editor’s note] In this post, ACA cites a law article:
Professor Allison Christians, of McGill University Montreal, has published in the July 9, 2012 issue of International Tax Notes an excellent article on FBAR and FATCA filing entitled “Could a Same-Country Exception Help Focus FATCA and FBAR?”
The case is the government’s most far-reaching effort so far to crack down on foreigners suspected of breaking American laws. It is unusual because it goes after a middleman, who the authorities say made a fair amount of money by pointing people to pirated content. Mr. O’Dwyer’s backers say the prosecution goes too far, squelching his free-speech right to publish links to other Web sites.
The relevant facts are as follows:
The U.S. government has brought criminal charges against a U.K. resident and are attempting to extradite him to face these charges in a U.S. court. The U.S. alleges that he ran a site that did NOT contain “pirated U.S. movies”, but rather linked to sites that DID contain pirated U.S. movies. According to the article in the Herald Tribune”, the U.S; initially asserted jurisdiction over a person in the U.K. because the domain name, TVShack.net, was registered in the U.S.
This strikes me as one more example of the U.S. (and the Obama administration in particular), infringing the sovereignty of other nations. I would be interested in your comments on this. I am also aware of the U.S., asserting jurisdiction over a citizen and resident of another country based on the use of one the many free U.S. email providers.
Here is the article that appeared in the New York Times (note that I am linking to it).
Here is some British commentary. This clearly questions the right of the U.S. to assert jurisdiction.
You may recall that the Isaac Brock Society has considered these issues related to this in relation to SOPA.
From a recent post on Duncan’s website. Transcript and commentary after the jump.
Cross-posted from better formatting at USxCanada InfoShop
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenhip
The following video is of particular interest.
__________________________________________________________
Where it came from – 2009 – Obama describes his justification for what is to become FATCA
Obama Goes After Overseas Tax Cheats AKA U.S. Citizens Abroad – See the following video which was uploaded in May 2009. Obama says taxes are an obligation of “citizenship“. Obama lauds the work of Levin and Rangel (at this point they are the future architects of FATCA). The whole video (where “First Tax Cheat Geithner” introduces Obama) is interesting. Note in particular the video starting at 7:30 where Obama provides his justification for what is to become FATCA.
Hale Sheppard, who Renounce calls the FBAR Scholar, has published an article in the most recent issue of the International Tax Journal, which focuses on Form 8938. It is called “The New Duty to Report Foreign Financial Assets on Form 8938: Demystifying the Complex Rules and Severe Consequences for Noncompliance.”
He has distributed it to members of American Citizens Abroad (“ACA”) as he thought we would find it interesting, because (i) it contains a thorough analysis of the Form 8938 filing requirements and rules, incorporating guidance from various sources, (ii) it discusses the overlap between Form 8938 and the FBAR, and (iii) it explains the largely unappreciated consequences for taxpayers who fall into non-compliance. Continue reading
My wife was listening to the NPR Now channel on XM radio during her drive to work this morning. She called to alert me to this short discussion that was on the Brian Lehrer show which is an WNYC program out of New York. This is primarily a discussion with Matt Welch, editor in chief of Reason magazine, who follows up on the Vanity Fair revelations regarding Romney’s Offshore accounts. Here he explains why he thinks Swiss bank accounts are just fine, and also gets into a discussion of FATCA impacts on average middle class Expats. I am not sure how many NPR stations around the nation carry this program, but good to hear such coverage on the U.S. airwaves. It is short, only about 10 minutes, and you can listen here.
Many of Isaac Brock readers will be familiar with William McGurn from the WSJ who has written on U.S. Expat issues. This one back in January really caught my attention, as it was one of the few from a journalist who understood the Expat plight. He has also written What is the U.S. Citzenship Worth and there was an associated video here.
Bill is now seeking testimonials on real life FATCA impacts that can be part of a story he is working on to help educate Americans. His email is: WMcGurn@newscorp.com Read more on what he is specifically looking for below before you email him. Thank you. Continue reading
While only tangentially related CBC Power and Politics did a feature yesterday on the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa that ended up discussing the current situation with TD Bank and Iranian Canadians. I can’t link directly to the video here but I linked to the story on CBC’s website.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/07/13/pol-iran-nazanin-afshin-jam.html
What is real interesting is that the wife Canada’s Defense Minister Peter McKay Nazanin Afshin Jam who is Iranian and strongly opposed to the Iranian Regime(she actually started the whole constroversy becoming out and calling for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa to be closed) later came out and condemed TD Bank and called on the government(whom her husband is a minister of)to provide more detailed guidance to Canadian banks in terms of dealing with Iran.
I point this segment on Power and Politics because this EXACTLY the type of high level press coverage US Persons in Canada need.
For those of you who I been dying to know, the IRS has release Technical guidance on it’s e-News for Tax professions, Issue Number: 2012-28. I thought I would publish it for you, as I think it is illustrative the the core problem we have in our tax complexity. Just occasionally it is good for us novices to look behind the 1040 curtain. This is just guidance, so you get it right. All you need do is hire a team of Tax professionals to be sure you are legally applying the provisions covered by this guidance. That is what Romney did, and so can you! 🙂 BTW, the word “Foreign” is mentioned 29 times, and “U.S. Person” is mentioned 12 times, so something is happening here that could apply to you, your Corporation, your Entity or your Trust, or not! It is for you to figure out! Enjoy. Continue reading
