Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

I recently celebrated my fifth anniversary of freedom from all things “American.” Ironically, it coincided with the inauguration of Donald J Trump as POTUS. I’ve been a bit distracted by the confirmation hearings and the immediate movement via Executive Orders on some of the less than charming policies that to my mind and heart, are completely un-American. Oddly enough, it reminds me of the beginning of my expat saga, with the all-too-familiar horror of how vicious and unrelenting the US has become. The main thing that becomes apparent, is how important Brock has become, not only to all of you, but also, to me.

Looking back, it is hard to imagine any part of my expat experience that does not include Brock (probably about 6 weeks total). The site has been so much more than we anticipated. We developed our knowledge and outlook through combined research, in order to protect ourselves from the “alternative facts” being promoted at the time by the tax compliance industry, the media and government figures like Levin and Shulman. Secondly, it was the ONLY place expats could go for support; to get reassurance that this was not imagined or exaggerated. Everything about the OMG moment was 100% true. People leaned on people for the support they didn’t get from their spouses, parents, families, friends, employers or representatives. Without Brock, I don’t think there would be ADCS-ADCS or the Canadian lawsuit. There would not have been the network of people to help with and promote the Information Sessions. There would not have been such a massive submission to the Senate Finance Committee. No Brock SWAT team on the endless comment sections of articles. (SWAT=”Special Writers and Thinkers). No expansion into the various FB groups and Twitter accounts. No ADCT. No mini
protests. No “We Are Not a Myth.” No submission to the United Nations. No campaigns to reach out to journalists, mayors, other expats, etc. I am probably missing things but you get the idea.

Perhaps one of the most unexpected directions Brock took was to be the focal point for donations for the ADCS-ADSC lawsuit in Canada. It is probably this that changed Brock more than anything else; Brock is not at all the same as it was in the beginning. This is hard to explain to newer people but it is true all the same. And over time, Brock has developed an international visibility. It is a place where letter writing campaigns and Twitter rallies are organized. It is a place where the more “shocking” ideas are explored (shocking to the Homelander-American exceptionalist viewpoint). It was, I believe, from Brock, that the strongest “screaming” became evident and which helped push certain changes that have occurred in the last five years. The fact we were not “politically correct,” not afraid to speak out against US policy, Shulman, Levin, Obama, et al is what made us different. Things we started with (renunciation, remaining full-ostrich) were so taboo five years ago. I remember being shocked at renounceuscitizenship’s blog -wincing at the very title (even though I had already decided that was what I was going to do)! These developments were what didn’t happen in the other expat forums, groups (or considered by the professionals) and absolutely what needed to happen. There is not one shred of doubt in my mind that Brock is what made the now common renunciation movement, possible. We own that.
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reposted from MapleSandbox

by Lynne Swanson

#FATCA Americans overseas: Do NOT allow US tax pros scare u into entering US tax system. Many have no business entering!

— Keith REDMOND (@kredmond_global) January 19, 2017

Backing up the above tweet, Keith Redmond posted the following on Facebook:

Dear Members: I just had a lengthy, robust call with an individual who spent 25 years in upper management with the Department of Treasury IRS Criminal Investigation. He confirmed what I thought about the IRS. There is more bark than bite. He stated that there are many, many Americans overseas ho have no business in entering the US tax system and that Accidental Americans UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should enter the US tax system. He confirmed that there are MANY US tax pros who prey on Americans overseas and Accidental Americans through fear and falsehoods. (e.g. you will get arrested, etc.). Any US tax professional who pushes and scaremongers these individuals to comply are not professionals and should not be used! He confirmed that the IRS is NOT going to go after you in your country of residence (most especially if you are a citizen of that country) and the IRS is NOT going to arrest you at the US border. The IRS does not have the resources to do this plus they go after those who have committed a crime not the average American overseas. He stated that Americans overseas need to not succumb to the fear. Excellent conversation and I am glad my views have been validated.

This reflects what I have long believed. Unfortunately, there is still the nightmare of FATCA to deal with. In some countries, anyone born in the US cannot even get bank accounts. We are treated as criminals just for banking where we live.

I asked Keith how his contact explains and justifies this.

Keith replied:

He can’t. He finds the whole situation abhorent…

original article in French HERE

reposted from Anmerican Expatriates Facebook Group

ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN’: I LIVE HELL. I HAD TO GIVE UP MY DUAL NATIONALITY (I.E. RENOUNCE MY US CITIZENSHIP)

Keith Redmond says:

Thank you Fabien Lehagre or making sure this injustice stays in the press! The homeland US press refused to report on it. I know Caroline and her story is one of millions where the US government is ruining the lives of people outside the US.

English translation below.

Caroline, 37, was born in the U.S. of French parents and lived there for two years. Franco-American, her dual nationality was unfavorable to her when she discovered that she had to pay taxes there. The U.S. is one of the only countries in the world to base the taxpayer’s status on nationality and not on place of residence. Stuck in a legal imbroglio, it tries desperately to regularize its situation.

Caroline says:

I was born in 1979 in Los Angeles. My parents were French, but they were expatriates in the United States for professional reasons.

All my life, I had dual French-American nationality. Even though I only lived for the first two years of my life on the other side of the Atlantic, I always found it amusing to have this double status. I was the only one of my siblings to have this peculiarity.

I remember returning to the United States when I was seven, then in 2008 with my husband. Always with my French passport since I never redone my American identity papers.

A legacy blocked because of “my clue of americanity”

Since July 2014, France and Switzerland have undertaken to disclose the tax data of their US residents. For the moment, this device is not reciprocal. As a lawyer, I had heard about the Fatca (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act), a law to combat tax evasion, but I never thought I would be directly involved.

I have always paid my taxes in France, and since I have never really lived on American soil, why should I have had to pay taxes in the United States? I was wrong. In reality, the United States is one of the only countries in the world to base the taxpayer’s status on nationality and not on place of residence.

I understood it in September 2014, a few months after the death of my father. The succession had to be settled. I thought there would be no worry, but I received a letter from my father’s bank, BNP-Paribas, to point out that I had a “clue of americanity” because of my place Of birth. So I was concerned about the famous Fatca law.
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Are you a Canadian citizen and resident and have you renounced U.S. citizenship and have paid or are subject to the U.S. Exit Tax (IRS 877A)? [No, I do not mean the $2350 fee.]

If so, we ask you to consider being a Witness in our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit.

You might have renounced U.S, citizenship but own, for example, a now valuable house (i.e., Canadian-made IRS asset eagerly waiting to be confiscated) in Toronto/Vancouver/London etc. and have (because interest rates are now very low) a very valuable IRS-asset-company pension (IRS wants percentage of cashed out total value of your CANADIAN pension)— and had/have to pay a U.S. exit tax.

From the Toronto Star: “In a sign that Toronto’s real estate market is off to a hot start this year, a home on Palmerston Ave. north of Bloor St. near Bathurst St., has sold for 62 per cent more than the sellers paid two years ago. The three-bedroom semi went for $1.375 million on Tuesday. In December 2014, it sold for a mere $851,750 — $523,250 less.

— The value in U.S. dollars of your CANADIAN house, plus CANADIAN company pension, plus a few CANADIAN investments, might put you into “covered” territory where you, a CANADIAN, will be be punished for your success.

Information on the exit tax and examples of the exit tax can be found at the citizenshipsolutions.ca site.

We are specifically seeking as a possible Witness in our Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit a person who:

— Has renounced and has paid an exit tax (the ideal witness);

— Has renounced and will be subject to exit tax;

— Is intending to renounce and know that they will have to pay exit tax; and

— Cannot afford to renounce because they have no way of paying the exit tax

If interested, and perhaps a little bit feisty like our Plaintiffs and Witnesses, email me at: Stephen.Kish.Chair@adcs-adsc.ca Your name and situation will be made public in a submission to the Federal Court of Canada.

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On behalf of JC and Shadow Raider, I post the following:

Though a link to this is on the recent House Ways & Means feature, it is at the bottom of that post with a single line reference.

JC says…

It is unrelated and deserving of its own post.  I have provided some text below that may be included.

I have communicated with Shadow Raider via Facebook. He says it is o.k. to ask for his recent paper to be a feature on The Isaac Brock Society.

Constitutionality of Citizenship-Based Taxation

This is an important paper outlining how citizenship-based taxation is unconstitutional, especially in the case of U.S. Persons resident outside the U.S.  The paper appears well researched and presented.  However, the paper may be strengthened if it were subject to “peer review” with some probing of potential weaknesses and restatement (in different words) of some key points and strengths to assist others understand the concepts.

This was posted on Facebook, yet that posting only received “likes” and not comments. That leaves The Isaac Brock Society for review.

Shadow Raider reports:

I’ve also been sending my paper to many law professors. A few responded with an opinion, some positive and some negative, but always inconclusive and claiming that they were not experts on the subject. Those focused on taxation referred me to those focused n constitutional law, and vice versa. I’m starting to think that an “expert” on this subject simply doesn’t exist. I’m taking this inconclusive result as an indication that my argument is indeed a valid question for the courts.

Also, please include in comments ideas of how to get authoritative attention to this paper, and or authoritative affirmation/endorsement of the key points.

The paper has been cleverly linked from Google Docs as a “living document” allowing editing and revision by the author, accessible from the same link.

The paper has been “significantly updated” since it first appeared a few weeks ago.

Yes, we all know that the U.S. House Ways & Means Committee is focused on tax reforms for “businesses”, but the (Republican) Tax Reform Task Force does say:

— “In addition to these important reforms that will create a modern international tax system for businesses, the Committee on Ways and Means will consider the appropriate treatment of individuals living and working abroad in today’s globally integrated economy.”

Republicans Overseas (RO) has now released (see link) its “White Paper” summarizing key details of its proposal on “Territorial Taxation” for individuals.

Would the readers of this post who care about U.S. tax legislation be better off — or not — if the RO White paper were enacted?

You can send your point of view to the Members of the House W & M. RO says: “We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please email them to Mr. Keith Redmond at FATCA_Testimonials@outlook.com for our consideration and addition.”

From The Republicans Overseas FB site:

[Go to the RO FB page for details: https://www.facebook.com/republicansoverseas]

The gist of the White Paper is:

“Details of Territorial Taxation Proposal for Individuals:

What would be Taxed:
— Any wage, salary, pension, dividend, interest, commission, service or other income paid
by a bank, corporation or other entity organized within the U.S.
— Capital gains on sales of any assets, tangible or otherwise, located in the U.S. and
securities of corporations or other entities organized within the U.S. or listed or traded on
a securities exchange with the U.S.
— Any wage, salary, pension, commission, service or other similar income paid to an
individual resident in the U.S. by any corporation or other entity organized outside the
U.S.
— Any dividends paid to an individual resident in the U.S. by any corporation or other
entity organized outside the U.S. that is actively managed and/or controlled, individually
or jointly, by such individual to the extent such dividends are derived from earnings of a
business engaged within the U.S.
— Any dividends or interest of a passive nature (not from a company actively managed
and/or controlled, individually or jointly by the resident) paid to an individual resident in
the U.S. by any bank, corporation or other entity organized outside the U.S.1
— Any profit on any unincorporated (flow through) business engaged in within the U.S.
would be taxed in the same manner as for corporations, regardless of the residency or
citizenship of the owner(s).

What would not be Taxed:
— Capital gains on sales of any assets, tangible or otherwise, not located in the U.S. and
securities of corporations or other entities organized not in the U.S. and not listed or
traded on a securities exchange within the U.S.
— Any wage, salary, pension, dividend, interest, commission, service or other income paid
by a bank, corporation or other entity organized outside the U.S. to a person not resident
in the U.S.
— Any dividends paid to an individual resident in the U.S. from a corporation or other entity
organized outside the U.S. that is actively managed and/or controlled, individually or
jointly, by such individual to the extent such dividends are not derived from earnings of a
business engaged within the U.S.
— Any profit on any unincorporated (flow through) business engaged in outside the U.S.
would be taxed in the same manner as for corporations, regardless of the residency or
citizenship of the owner(s)….”

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“Republicans Overseas Action releases White Paper on Territorial Tax Reform for Individuals.

Consistent with the proposals being considered for corporate tax reform, worldwide taxation for individuals should be replaced with a territorial system. A territorial system for individuals would:

· Promote the exports of U. S. goods and services;

· Increase the soft power and reach of the U.S.

· Encourage skilled immigration to the U.S.

· Discourage expatriation of U.S. Citizens and encourage repatriation of wealth from overseas

· Eliminate unfair double taxation of U.S. Citizens

· Enhance U.S. national security by removing the sharing of sensitive personal information with unfriendly countries

· Substantially reduce the size and cost of the IRS

We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please email them to Ms. XXX at xxxx for our consideration and addition. We will ask Congress to consider our Territorial Tax Reform proposal for individuals. Happy New Year to all 9 million overseas Americans.”

// // // //

https://www.facebook.com/republicansoverseas/posts/606042006246265
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Barbara posted the following, which she found posted by Heitor David Pinto on the American Expats FB site, as a comment on the general Lobby the New US Government thread.   I’m creating a new post for this as it’s particularly important to contact the House Ways and Means Committee right away!

“Congressman George Holding (R-NC13), member of the Ways and Means Committee, supports residence-based taxation and is trying to include it within the upcoming tax reform. Other members of the committee also agree with the idea in general, but are just not motivated to spend the time to study the subject and write a bill. I received this information from the congressman’s assistant.

It would be helpful if many people contacted the other members of the committee to show them the importance of the subject. I suggest giving personal examples of the problems and mentioning the solution (residence-based taxation). I know that many of you have already done this multiple times, but now there is someone supportive within the committee, apparently for the first time ever. For efficiency, I recommend contacting directly the assistants specifically assigned to taxes. The link below is a list with their names and email addresses (it will change slightly later this month). Thank you for your help

Contact list here as Google spreadsheet:
Current Finance Committee and Ways & Means Committee contact list “

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