Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

"Residence should be a “necessary condition” for US taxation for ALL people!"https://t.co/4fCxD7DmiJ Jackie Bugnion on importance of RBT

— Patricia Moon (@nobledreamer16) May 3, 2016

This is the first in what I expect will be a series of posts on an issue we have yet to really focus on. Yes we all know what RBT is and so on but what we may not be so aware of, is how the US, while claiming we are “residents” of the U.S., doesn’t even give us equal (if not better) considerations than aliens/immigrants. And if this information doesn’t make you hopping mad, read it until it does.
 

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cross-posted from citizenshipsolutions dot ca
 
Introduction

Every country in the world with the exceptions of Eritrea and the United States claim tax jurisdiction based on “residence”. Although the tests for “residence” may differ, “residence based taxation” means that it is possible to sever your tax connection to a country by severing residence.

The nations of Eritrea and the United States impose taxation based on citizenship. U.S. citizens (primarily those “Born In The USA”) can NEVER sever their tax connection to the United States as long as they remain citizens. When it comes to U.S. citizenship-based taxation it is possible to NEVER have lived in the United States and still be subject to taxation!
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There is something quintessentially American about chasing the whale. While FATCA harpooners rove the globe, their keen steel promises to take out countless ordinary fool “U.S. persons” as collateral damage. Grotesque governmental pursuit flounders through more dimensions than a bad science fiction novel.

Concepts of “residence” and “taxation” will never be the same again. Impacted individuals may amount to little more than froth on the tsunami. Even if their own wrecked lives inevitably stand front and center in their own perspectives.

The so-called sharing economy could be on the verge of dwarfing clunky old corporate inversions as a threat that zeroes in on plodding and entitled behemoths like the U.S.A. If nothing else, watching techno-payback inflicted on a failing state may offer at least the respite of schadenfreude.
 

In the five years since these businesses [Airbnb, Uber, etc.] began their spiraling growth, some cities and states around the globe have fought hard to make them play by the same rules as traditional hotels or taxis and collect various local taxes — often as not, they’ve lost. As the new breed of companies moves toward profitability, transforming larger chunks of the economy, policy experts say the battle is likely to shift to the national level, where billions of dollars a year in corporate taxes could be at risk. … “These companies are the future,” says Stephen Shay, a former top international tax lawyer at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, now teaching at Harvard. “The nature of their business and the structure of the companies can allow them to essentially keep all of their profits out of the U.S.”

 
You can read the online version of the rest of Bloomberg Businessweek’s article:
Sharing Everything But the Wealth (April 11-24,2016) 29-30.
 

Today, I received a letter from my Member of Parliament (Deputy Finance Critic), Phil McColeman.

I’ve been hounding Mr. McColeman on Twitter (I’m relentless at times) for months about FATCA and it seems he simply doesn’t feel the need/urge to reply there.

So I went old school and sent a letter.

I’ve told him about the accidental Americans I meet at random in his riding…the look of anguish when I make the decision to force feed the the red pill known as FATCA. I’ve also told him about the impacts of FATCA on non-Americans (spouses, children, etc.)

Oddly, he didn’t mention them in his letter.

I’ll be writing him back and adding the PDF from a few weeks about about potential costs of FATCA to the Canadian economy and some new stories of accidental Americans he “represents” in Ottawa.

Anyway, here’s the letter if you’re having trouble falling asleep:

cross-posted from ADCSovereignty blog

Chronology of events …

On July 14, 2015, a post at the Isaac Brock Society, detailed the pleadings in the @FATCALawsuit. In late summer, @FATCALawsuit brought a motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the effects of FATCA on Americans abroad. The Obama administration defended the “injunction application” (in part) on the basis that any harm to Americans abroad was the result of “self-inflicted wounds“. The application was brought before Judge Thomas Rose of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Western Division, at Dayton. On September 30, 2015 Judge Rose denied the plaintiffs application for an injunction. On April 25, 2016, Judge Thomas Rose terminated the @FATCALawsuit brought by Jim Bopp and organized by Republicans Overseas.

The complete decision may be read here:

FATCAlawsuitdismissal,

An early response is here:

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Here is the full text of the motion to dismiss:

ENTRY AND ORDER DENYING PLAINTIFFS’ MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE AN
AMENDED VERIFIED COMPLAINT (DOC. 32); GRANTING DEFENDANTS’
MOTION TO DISMISS (DOC. 26) PLAINTIFFS’ COMPLAINT (DOC. 1); AND
TERMINATING CASE.

Here, analyzing each Plaintiff individually, the Court finds that none of the Plaintiffs has standing to sue Defendants. No individual Plaintiff has suffered an invasion of a legally protected interest, which is concrete and particularized, and actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical. Moreover, no alleged injury is fairly traceable to the actions of the Defendants, but rather, the actions of an independent third party. Finally, there are no allegations that it is likely that the alleged injury will be redressed by a favorable decision. See Lujan, 504 U.S. at 560–61. In reaching these holdings, the Court analyzed the proposed Amended Verified Complaint, (doc. 32-1), which could not withstand Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, (doc. 26); therefore, the proposed amendments are futile.
Accordingly, all claims are DISMISSED for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), against all Defendants, without prejudice.

UPDATE: Here is a new article from CGMA Magazine detailing the lawsuit dismissal:

US Court dismisses FATCA challenges

And as reported yesterday in Law360:

Sen. Rand Paul’s FATCA Lawsuit Tossed For Lack Of Standing
By Jack Newsham

Law360, New York (April 26, 2016, 9:15 PM ET) — An Ohio federal judge tossed a lawsuit filed by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and several current and former U.S. citizens living abroad that challenged key elements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, saying the plaintiffs hadn’t shown that the law had harmed them or probably would harm them.

Paul and nine others lack standing, U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose ruled, and they still haven’t done anything to fix the problems Judge Rose identified when he refused to issue an injunction against the law’s provisions in September…

Registration required to read the rest of the article.

Here’s an unsympathetic Forbes story from October 2015 about the same lawsuit and the original motion to dismiss:

Rand Paul Suffers Setback In Foreign Reporting Lawsuit

Duke of Devon says,

Mr. Morneau’s letter deserves its’ own post so it won’t get lost. He seems to get it. It will be interesting to keep on his case about the lack of reciprocity. He is the first Lib. to confirm they won’t help collect anything the IRS claims against a Canadian and I think his distinction that CRA-IRS transfer of information cannot legally be used by the IRS to impose FBAR fines is a new commitment. Not so sure the IRS would respect the distinction.

 

Here is the first reply that any of have gotten from the Finance Minister.  Thanks for sharing it, Cheryl.

April 26, 2016 Reply from The Honourable Bill Morneau, P.C., M.P.

cross-posted from citizenshipsolutions dot ca

So much publicity! So little relevance!

The New York primary was this week. Both Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton extended their leads and moved one step closer to their respective party’s nominations. (Mrs. Clinton with the approval of the Democratic Party and Mr. Trump with the disapproval of the Republican Party.) Interestingly both Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton have higher disapproval ratings than approval ratings. Yet each of them appears likely to represent their respective parties in the upcoming Presidential election. One of them will win the election (this is not the same as having been elected). Will the eventual winner make a positive difference in the life of any individual? Doubtful. Watching the political process contributes to a sense of negativity about human nature.

But, wait! The World Is Full Of Good People!

Starting at the age of 7 or 8, I participated in four seasons of organized sports. To be truly effective, organized sports are highly dependent on adult volunteers. I well remember a guy named “Bob D.” Although I thought of him as old, he was probably somewhere between the age of 20 and 25. Anyway, “Bob D” was helping with baseball. “Bob D.” was helping with basketball. “Bob D.” was helping with football. “Bob D.” was always volunteering his time and coaching. I have a memory of my father noticing “Bob D.” and commenting “There are a lot of good people in this world”. So true. I don’t believe that “Bob D.” received a lot of recognition or a lot of gratitude. Yet year after year, season after season, week after week, day after day. “Bob D.” showed up. He clearly made a positive difference in the lives of others.

The Unsung Heroes of Life

You will find people like “Bob D.” in every facet of life. They do things for people, just because they want to. They contribute to their communities, just because they want to. They provide mentorship for people, just because they want to. They put their kids through university because they want to. They are the true “Unsung Heroes of Life”. I once thought of writing a little book about these “Unsung Heroes of Life”.

Although, I can’t do a book. I can offer this “Bedtime Story” …

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DRAFT 2016 DEMOCRATS ABROAD PLATFORM

Democrats Abroad has released its draft 2016 platform and readers of this new election year manifesto are invited to “JOIN OR LOGIN to leave a comment” until April 27th, by completing an online survey.

As usual, there are plenty of widely divergent, even contradictory, statements and goals contained within the platform’s pages. For example, DA favours

…restoring U.S. citizenship to persons born abroad who lost it by failing to meet residency requirements in a section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act that was repealed in 1978…

while calling for

…an amnesty program for foreign nationals who are citizens of the United States in name only, with no nexus to the United States other than their birth on U.S. soil or birth abroad to a U.S. parent, to allow them to shed their unwanted U.S. citizenship on a no fees, no penalty and no tax filing or reporting basis.

This thread is intended for those who would like to comment on this latest DA dispatch without potentially outing themselves in the process. We would encourage Democrats Abroad to carefully read and consider the thoughts and opinions of our commenters here, as well as those who choose to take the survey and comment on DA’s web site.

VIDEO: April 14, 2016 — Minister of National Revenue Diane Lebouthillier at Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy & Ethics re Transfer of Information to the United States IRS

MINUTES of Proceedings: Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) 42nd Parliament, 1st Session Meeting No. 8, Thursday, April 14, 2016, 8:45 a.m. to 10:49 a.m.

TRANSCRIPT: House of Commons, Canada – Standing Committee ETHI 8 Meeting on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, Thursday, April 14, 2016

and

Appearance before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on the Transfer of Information to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) April 14, 2016 Opening Statement by Daniel Therrien, Privacy Commissioner of Canada

There has been comment on the Revenue Minister’s qualifications for her post.  Here, as well,  is some discussion (brought forward by EmBee) on Daniel Therrien’s qualifications for Privacy Commissioner:
From *The Privacy Advisor* – May 29, 2014 *Harper Pick for Privacy Commissioner “May Not Be the Best Fit*

News that the Harper government has nominated a new federal privacy commissioner is sending shock waves through the Canadian privacy community. But the buzz isn’t over the fact that former Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart’s replacement has been found; rather, it’s over the fact that no one in the privacy world has ever heard of the newly nominated-for-appointment Daniel Therrien—and what they have heard doesn’t sound good if the end-goal is the protection of Canadians’ privacy rights.

What is known about Therrien is that he’s been a lawyer at the Department of Justice (DOJ) for more than 20 years. His current title is assistant deputy attorney general, public safety, defence and immigration portfolio. And in the midst of an increasing push by the government for surveillance powers and law enforcement access to Canadians’ data—a la bills like thehighly controversial C-13 and now-dead-in-the-water C-30—a lawyer who’s worked on helping the DOJ achieve those aims isn’t exactly who privacy advocates had in mind as the chief defender of privacy rights.

In fact, NDP Leader Thomas Mulclair has outright told the Harper government that Therrien has “neither the neutrality nor the necessary detachment to hold this position,” CBCreports, and has asked Prime Minister Stephen Harper to reconsider the nomination, which, by mandate of the Privacy Act, the House of Commons and the Senate must approve.