Ottawa is starting consultations with industry groups and immigrant settlement organizations across the country to develop a new “startup-visa program” to fast track immigration of entrepreneurs.
“Canada cannot afford to lose out in the competition for foreign entrepreneurs among immigrant-receiving countries,” Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said.
Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad
When your customers fear complexity – FBAR, 5471, 8938, 8891, 3520, PFIC and more …
What follows is yet another article motivated by the Atossa Reuters article. Pretty soon that “Peter Dunn” guy (and maybe the other Peter Dunn too) is going to a household name! Here is the last paragraph.
How sad is that? The cons outweighed the pros, of being an American no less.
As a head of any organization, what would you think if you had customers that would pay real money to leave you because you were such a pain in the buttocks to deal with? Hopefully it would give you pause. Perhaps it should.
When Your Customers Flee Complexity
Message to financial planners: The rules are NOT the same for U.S. citizens living abroad
The following comment which recently appeared on this board is (IMHO) deserving of a separate post. Amazing how helpful the Atossa article has been. Seems that all “Peter Dunns” are very helpful too.
Updated. You can follow the responses to this comment:
https://twitter.com/#!/renounceus/status/192975914722795522
CNN Video on Tax-refund fraud
Wouldn’t the IRS be better off pursuing domestic tax-refund fraud such as discussed in this video rather than harrassing people who don’t live in the US?
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2012/04/18/tax-refund-robbery-2.cnn?iref=allsearch
Atossa "Tax time pushes Americans" article generates more than 6000 comments on Yahoo Finance
Amazing. Finally, “mainlanders” are being exposed to this issue. Interestingly, a large number seem to be sympathetic. Very interesting to see the comments of “mainstream America”. This article motivated 6000 people to say something. It’s clear that the U.S. government is not popular even in the U.S. This is a good opportunity to get some comments into the stream.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/tax-time-pushes-americans-hike-204320491.html
Knocked flat by "horizontal equity"
One of the most common justifications among DC tax professors and policy wonks for taxing US homelanders and US Persons abroad in the exact same way is “horizontal equity”: the idea that “similarly-situated” taxpayers should pay similar amounts to the US government. Naturally, these people see the current situation, in which U.S. Persons Abroad get all these “great tax breaks”, as horribly unfair. So here’s a handy table comparing the paperwork which U.S. homelanders and U.S. Persons Abroad must complete in order to conduct similarly-situated kinds of financial activities. All estimates are courtesy of the Paperwork Reduction Act.
Two Border Tales
Here are two just-heard stories that deserve a repeat. One first-hand, one second-hand, both from a credible source known personally for decades.
A Canadian-only university professor who has travelled widely (Asia, South America, Africa, Europe) felt disinclined to enter the Bush-era United States, and never did. After Obama, a 2010 flight south of the border. At the destination airport, treated like everyone else on the plane, the Canadian prof got fingerprinted. To round off the indignities, singled out for a full-body scan. No intention ever to enter that land again.
A neighbor of the above reporter, a provincial government employee, crossed the border about five years ago on a day trip, a previously common practice. The US border guard stood by the trunk of the car. When it was opened, the guard accused the driver of striking him with the trunk lid. Four hours of interrogation and harassment followed. Then one guard said to the other, “That should be enough for now.” That Canadian has not crossed the US border since that day.
Read also: Welcome to the United States: Lesson I. Watch what you tweet
More FATCA awareness, this time in Jamaica
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/The-high-cost-of-Fatca_11273476
Who is the other Peter Dunn: Survey
Peter Dunn, blogger, Canadian citizen, Petros, former US citizen
or
Peter Dunn, Pete the Planner
You decide.
A Very Sad Case
I noticed a news feature on CNN this morning, concerning a man named Joe Stack who committed suicide in 2010 by flying his plane into an IRS building in Austin. I vaguely remembered the incident though doubt I noticed at the time that it involved the IRS because my own issues with FUBAR, etc, had yet to happen. Apparently they will air a show (“The Faith and the Fury”), about this on Sunday night; it seems to also be available on the CNN website and there is also a version on YouTube.
Among other things, Mr. Stack felt destroyed by the fact he could not work independently as a software engineer. This was due to a law which affected the 1986 Tax Reform Act. According to the NYT: