Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

Some of you may wonder whether your private banking information was sent by your bank to Canada CRA, for subsequent turnover to the United States Internal Revenue Service — because you have some U.S. indicia.

For the few who are willing to do this, I ask that you make the above very specific request to your bank officer (see draft letter below). If your bank refuses to provide you with this information, or makes it difficult, get the name of the individual you spoke to and write down what was said and when. Best would be a refusal in writing.

I am looking for a single brave soul willing do this, which would find its way into an affidavit for our litigation.

I personally think that it is outrageous that “our” banks do not automatically notify a person if they have been reported to the CRA arm of IRS — but that is another issue.

Here is a draft letter that you could send to your bank customer service representative or simply provide this message by phone to the rep. Do NOT spend any time going to another official at the bank. A draft:

“Local Bank officer,

I am a customer at your bank and have [ ] bank accounts.

I understand that on September 30, 2015 Canada CRA turned over private banking information on 155,000 accounts to the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Some of this bank account information was provided by your bank to CRA.

Please tell me whether your bank passed on any of my banking information to CRA for the subsequent transfer of the data to the IRS.

I need this information in writing by [date].

If you are unable to comply with my request, kindly provide your reasons.

Thank you,”

Makes no difference whether you have one dollar (below so-called threshold of today) in your account or $100,000, or whether you have or do not have any U.S. indicia. A refusal is a refusal. I personally have no account greater than $50k but did ask my own bank for this information.

Refusals from the banks might be helpful in the litigation. You can reach me through the ADCS website.

Assume that your name will be made public should this be part of our litigation.

See below December 1 2015 letter I sent to Canadian Bankers Association and their (not surprising) December 2 response:

Continue reading →

A Series of Posts to Explain the Anger and Vehemence Fueling the anti-FATCA, anti-IGA & anti-CBT Movement
 

Streamlined, as inadequate as it is, would not have come to be were it not for the blood spilled by these in OVDI. https://t.co/lgEJ1RQYnS

— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) November 23, 2015

Perspective:

This post was written approximately 3 months after the mass hysteria (there simply is no other word for it) of late Fall 2011. Brock was less than a month old. We had only just started to gather information, starting at the ExpatForum. Renunciation was a very scary topic only slightly less than the terror of imagining losing everything due to FBAR penalties. IMHO, FBAR will prove to be the number one issue that fueled the expat movement, hands-down.
 

An excerpt from January 5, 2012 post from the renounceuscitizenship WordPress Blog
 
PART I: The Players
 
UPDATED Thursday November 26
 
The Taxpayers Part 2 – Those who ventured into OVDP/OVDI
 
First Part of Post (from yesterday) is HERE
 

Do the drudgery……do your own research
LCU’s……Life Credit Units
minnows…..little guys
whales…big guys
CCW……… Complain Comply & Warn
OVDP……..Overseas Voluntary Disclosure Program
DATCA… Domestic Account Tax compliance Act
GATCA….Global Account Tax Compliance Act

As usxcanada recently said, anyone who cannot guess right away who the above terms come from, needs to learn some Brock History!

After a much-earned vacation from years of FUBAR expat life, “Just_Me” (Marvin van Horn) may not be posting and tweeting much anymore but those of us who were lucky enough to have “known” him cannot help but smile. He was nothing short of a human dynamo, completely wound up in communicating our plight to everyone and anyone.I remember wondering if he ever slept; he would be online when I first got up in the morning and seemingly still there when I would get to bed in the wee hours of the next morning. He was omnipresent! It didn’t seem to matter whether he was in the U.S., sailing on his boat or at home in New Zealand. Marvin was the reason I learned Twitter. Marvin was the reason I joined LinkedIn groups. He taught me how to make a link. He was the reason many of us knew about the Taxpayer Advocate. He educated us about how horrible it was, to enter OVDP. Above all, he was a true example of what a real person is; he was not bitter in spite of an absolutely miserable experience; “took responsibility” for not being aware of filing; tried to do the “right thing” putting himself at great peril. He devoted himself to the “cause” and refused to let it ruin his life. I cannot recall ever hearing anyone having a bad thing to say about him.

To the best of my recollection, Marvin had been posting on Jack Townsend’s blog and when Peter read his comments, he invited him to become an author at Brock. For Marvin, the 2009 OVDP program was an 851- day process. I have taken excerpts from a couple of his posts to try and capture his story: OVDI drudgery for minnows and Letters to Shulman or a case sudy of OVDP communication attempts with the IRS
 

Just_Me writes:

Rightfully or wrongly, I came to the conclusion that joining the OVDP was my only option. My logic was probably flawed, but it went like this…

Prior to the moment I heard about the IRS program on NPR during the family visit back to the Seattle area, I didn’t know that a FBAR existed or understand foreign income reporting requirements. Those considerations never enter your mind when you are sailing the Pacific in a small yacht, or gardening in NZ. Maybe that represented some due diligence failure on my part for not staying fully aware of all the complex tax rules and reporting requirements even for my simple existence. I had never visited the IRS.gov web site in my life.

From that moment in late September, 2009, until I submitted my letter in October 12th there was a very stressed and compressed journey. First I had to convince my wife this was something that we could not ignore and had to do. There was the scramble for knowledge. I had to search out attorneys, and CPAs for a cram course of discovery of what my obligations were. There were returns to amend, and the almost unfathomable foreign tax credit form 1116 to complete that the CPA couldn’t even do correctly. There was a long distance bank record compilation effort that was extremely difficult to do in the time frame I had. There was the embarrassment of your predicament which meant you didn’t want family and friends to know. Then came the very hard, emotional and lonely decision which ended with you walking into the Seattle IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) division offices feeling like a criminal. I did all that, because I had reluctantly came to the conclusion, that once I was aware of my failures and aware of the IRS program, I had knowledge and could not escape it.

I KNEW! Therefore, now, I had to do the right thing.

So, what was the choice given my knowledge? To me, None! I had to enter the OVDP. My big mistake was assuming that the IRS would realize that I was a Minnow and not subject me to the harsh 20% penalties. I naively thought my appeals to Shulman would result in logic and reason prevailing. They would do the right thing, and not treat me as a Whale. How wrong I was!!
Continue reading →

Also note: USA imposes excise tax on ‘foreign’ insurance of US Persons, w/ joint & sev liab https://t.co/Iw3qkwUoaR https://t.co/ulwxT9clAL

— Allison Christians (@taxpolblog) November 19, 2015

This is a superb interview of Allison Christians With Robert Goulder of Tax Analysts/Tax Notes

Published on Nov 20, 2015

Update – November 22, 2015

This interview has also been archived at the IBS YouTube channel.

UPDATE: Saturday, November 21, 2015
Please see the following post from John Richardson which explains how the FATCA IGA and the CBT lawsuits have different donor bases as well as a specific request regarding donations to ADCS.

As posted today by John Richardson at citizenshiptaxation.wordpress.com:

The #CBTLawsuit rollout is beginning – we need YOUR support

This post is to:

– announce the “roll out” of a lawsuit filed in the United States
– against the Government of the United States
– to strike down the most egregious aspects of U.S. “place of birth taxation”
– and provide relief for those who reside outside the United States and are unjustly, unfairly and unlawfully burdened by the attempt of the United States to impose its laws on the residents and/or citizens of other nations.

The lawsuit will require a large amount of funding including an immediate injection of $25,000.

For those who only want to contribute the funding are invited to go here. Those who want to understand what we are doing read on.

Here at the Isaac Brock Society some of us were able to avail ourselves of a Tardis in our research for posts. Here is a quote of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from a post (January 30, 2014) about China’s version of FATCA, CHATCA:

Despite its good intentions, the unfortunate consequence of CHATCA is that people of Chinese ancestry hold dual citizenship with China and still fall under its authority, and CHATCA requires access to their financial information through their banks. As a result of CHATCA, there has been a surge in DNA tests to prove lack of Han ancestry, and this trend continues to grow.

The purpose of this group is to bring Accidental Americans together from around the world in order to fight (cont) http://t.co/xPP9nnTY56

— Accidental Americans (@USAccidental) September 29, 2015

Some of you may be familiar with a group of expats who have come together to address the specific problems and issues of Accidental Americans. They are looking for stories to demonstrate the situations Accidentals find themselves in and do not require name, other identifying information, etc.
 
If you would like to contribute please send to:

americains.accidentaux@gmail.com
 

You can follow what they are doing at their Facebook page :

 
and on Twitter

A couple of descriptions of what is happening:

Jude Ryan

September 9

Today I started a ‘virtual hunger strike‘ on behalf of all accidentals. How does this work? Well every day Isend an email to the White House’s webpage highlighting an injustice we suffer, an interesting development, etc. not sure when I will run out of ideas but I reckon I’ve got enough ammo for at least a month, if not longer. Please do share any items you would like me to use. Some day the White House will have to respond, all I need is one contact. Once I have a foothold I will continue the campaign until I get through to someone senior enough to provide sensible answers. I know some people don’t believe this will work however I am an optimist, plus there is no harm in trying.
 

Jude Ryan

November 11 at 9:01am · Singapore, Singapore

Hi everybody. I have a handful more stories to share and also some other ideas for posts but am always looking for more. If you would like to share you personal story as an Accidental with me so I can use this (anonymously) that would be great. Ideas for future posts also very welcome. Thanks!

***

As the moderators of the group are French,  I am sure all here would want to offer concern and support for the people of Paris after the horrible attacks that occurred  last night.   #JeSuisParis

TORONTO STANDS with PARIS
 

Kanye West Is Leaving The United States Because It’s ‘Too Racist’

Perhaps Kanye West could use some advice from US persons abroad about his pending expatriation to help keep his millions from the compliance condors. No word yet on whether he will renounce his US citizenship, though that’s unlikely since he also plans to run for president in 2020.

His statement comes after Kim Kardashian was insulted and called an “n-word lover” by a teenager outside a California medical building. When Kanye West confronted him, he allegedly threatened to take Kim Kardashian’s life. Kanye responded by punching the young teenager in the face. There were no charges pressed as of now. When interviewed about the incident, Kanye said he rather leave the United States than stay here. Kanye replied to several questions by saying “We’ve got enough money to buy our own island or some s**t. I’ll be damned if I raise my daughter around ignorance and flat-out blatant racism.”

Already I am seeing the Homelanders say to Kanye, “Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out!” Homelanders and the IRS however say that to you if you are white or Asian too. I know. They said it to me and I am both white and Asian.

Nice little story told by the grandfather of Jack Bauer (thanks Ginny!):