Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

Cross-posted from ADCSovereignty blog

First published on November 19, 2014. Updated on October 24, 2015 to include the discussion of the Supreme Court of Canada ruling in  Canada (Attorney General) v. Federation of Law Societies of Canada  and the advisory of the BC Law Society to its lawyers (page 13 of Fall 2015 Benchers Bulletin) with respect to how B.C. lawyers should comply with FBAR requirements.

Why Canada's #FATCA IGA is not "only an information sharing agreement" http://t.co/yhoqrAKyNI and how FATCA violates international law

— John Richardson – Counsellor for US persons abroad (@ExpatriationLaw) November 19, 2014

Thanks to Isaac Brock contributor Anne Frank for this detailed comment – plenty of “food for thought”.  This includes the suggestion that “U.S. citizenship” may act as a deterrent to “U.S. citizen lawyers” having  signing authority on law firm trust accounts. Interestingly this was also suggested today on another Isaac Brock thread.  That thread discussed the situation where a U.S. citizen law firm employee has signing authority over a Canadian law firm’s’ accounts. The person expressed her concern in a letter written  to Robert Wood which was posted on Mr. Wood’s blog at Forbes. This Canadian resident (and law firm employee) described her concerns as follows:

Even so, my biggest issue with becoming compliant is disclosing my employer’s accounts on FBARs. I work for a Canadian employer and have signing authority on general, pooled and trust accounts. FBARs require all accounts to be disclosed, financial institutions, addresses, account numbers, business address, business number assigned by the Canada Revenue Agency, my employer’s social insurance number and the highest balance in each account for the year.

My employer wonders why the IRS wants information about his accounts. He is a Canadian without U.S. ties. He has grave concerns about security, yet I cannot become compliant without disclosing his accounts. Can he fire me because America still claims I am American?

Even if I were to quit, I would still have to disclose his accounts. If I am audited, will the IRS or FinCEN audit his accounts? The IRS says I must retain records in the event they have questions about the accounts.

Continue reading →

This has been cross-posted by Tricia Moon from our ADCS blog.

[This post links to a letter from ADCS-ADSC to Canadian Prime Minister Designate Justin Trudeau and also to a press release to be sent out widely. In addition, we are sending letters to selected individual members of the Liberal Government.

There will be separate communications between our legal team and the Justice Department lawyers representing the new Minister of National Revenue and the Attorney General (the defendants) regarding the status of the lawsuit and intentions of the Government.

You might also wish to send your comments to Mr. Trudeau and to the members of his Government.]

Now that the Harper Government is history, the questions as to how to purge the effects of it’s anti-constitutional policies and laws begin. Certainly the laws that have already been challenged in the courts (C-23 C-24 C-31 & C-51 and COMER ) pose a dilemma for the new Liberal Majority Government.

The litigation regarding the FATCA IGA began in August 2014 and is currently at a standstill. The original Charter component of the case was delayed after the Government claimed some 100,000 documents needed evalution in the discovery phase. Due to the (then) impending turnover of Canadian information to the IRS on September 30, 2015, a Summary Trial took place August 4-5, 2015. As we all know, the judge ruled that the IGA was not inconsistent with the US-Canadian Treaty. A stay was requested; as we nervously awaited the result the IRS announced an extension until September 2016. ADCS requested Canada ask for the extension ; the stay/injunction was denied and the Canadian government claimed the extension was not available to Canada. The first wave of personal financial information made its way south with as-of-yet, unknown results.

With a new government soon to be at the helm, ADCS has
sent a letter to Prime Minister elect Justin Trudeau urging him:

To repair the harm already done, we ask that you stand up for all Canadians by:

1) taking immediate steps to seek a just resolution of the costly lawsuit forced upon innocent Canadian citizens;
2) repealing the enabling legislation for the IGA entered into under threat of economic sanctions;
3) advising the IRS to destroy immediately all private banking information sent on or after September 30, 2015 and refrain from
using such data in any legal proceedings against Canadians.

Reminding Mr. Trudeau of past Liberal statements regarding the effect of the FATCA IGA, the following were included:

Ralph Goodale, Liberal MP, Former Liberal Finance Minister, Ralph Goodale website, October 11, 2011.

“After all, Canada is not some illicit tax haven…The Americans are going way too far when they start harassing Canadians….”

“Our government must stand shoulder-to-shoulder with innocent citizens and taxpayers to inform and assist them in fending off abusive
American tax proceedings.”

Scott Brison, Liberal Finance and Revenue Critic, May 14, 2014
Standing Committee on Finance

“Look, this IGA gets Canadian banks off the hook from reporting. It does not get Canadian citizens who happen to be considered American persons off the hook. That’s very important…”

“What about the million Canadians who are affected? That’s the concern. None of us disagree with the idea of negotiating an IGA, but the reality is that you can negotiate a better IGA, given our relationship with the Americans.”

Mr. Trudeau immeditately begins an inclusionary approach

Mr. Trudeau will be sworn in as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada on November 4 and has promised a smaller cabinet with equal numbers of men and women. He has also invited the head of the Green Party, Elizabeth May, to join the Canadian delegtion attending the environmental summit in Paris at the end of next month (as well as the provincial premiers nd other experts in the field).There’s even a petition to ask Mr. Trudeau to appoint Ms. May as Minister of Environment when he selects his cabinet. A record 10 aboriginal members were elected; hopefully we will see some of them in cabinet in order to deal directly with issues such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (#TRC); an inquiry into over 1200 missing/murdered Aboriginal women (#MMIW and #VAW) and dealing with the horrors of communities such as Shoal Lake, no clean running water for 17 years and the refusal of past government to build a road . Shoal Lake became an island when an aquaduct was built to provide drinking water for the residents of Winnepeg; the result was isolation, impure water and outrageous food costs for Shoal Lake Nation.The Minister of Natural Resources in the cabinet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Hon. Mr. Greg Rickford (representing the elecral district of Kenora), refused comment in the article and was defeated by Liberal candidate Bob Nault in the 2015 election. Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt was also defeated in the election last week.

While these examples are not directly related to ADCS, they offer hope that Mr. Trudeau does stand for Canadian values and the plight of Canadian people, something for which the Harper government didn’t give a damn about.

As Canada regroups and rebuilds, it is not difficult to imagine some sort of change regarding the US overreach into Canada!

For more on the issue of Stephen Harper’s court battles that the Liberal government has inherited please see Will Justin Trudeau Keep Fighting Stephen Harper’s Court Battles

Hat tip to Lynne Swanson

https://darrellsamson.liberal.ca/liberal-party-position-on-u-s-foreign-account-tax-compliance-act-fatca/

Their position is kind of incoherent.  As least they will not use Not Withstanding clause, if the case is won…  maybe.

We live in a sociopathic society. Of course one could argue that governments and other human institutions have displayed signs of sociopathy throughout history. You get no argument from me. Nevertheless, I would argue that we must always be diligent in pointing out and decrying sociopathic behaviour.

One characteristic of a sociopath is the inability to empathize. “The most incredible trait of a sociopath, is their complete lack of conscience, lack of empathy, remorse, guilt or shame.”

So-called American citizens abroad have complained to their political leaders, who sometimes pretend to empathize, but most often will turn around and sponsor or vote for laws that make the situation worse for expats. This is evidence of sociopathic government, unwilling to bend despite causing real harm to people.

The State Department faces rising numbers of people renouncing their US citizenship, many of whom have complained in the media that they are forced to give up their US citizenship to protect themselves and their family from the US government’s encroachment into their financial privacy. So what does the State Department do in response to their suffering? It increased the fee to renounce from zero to $450 and then to $2350–and not only so, they are now forcing people who have already lost their US citizenship via relinquishment to pay $2350 to purchase a Certificate of Loss of Nationality–which will permit them, sine qua non, to travel to the USA on their home country’s passport and to prove to their domestic banks that they are not tainted with the stench of US nationality. So the US government chooses to make the lives of expats even more difficult despite their complaints. This is proof that these political leaders are sociopaths.

This sociopathic fee of $2350 is particularly distressing if one has produced children with “property of the USA” stamped on their rear ends. This genetic disease that we call USA citizenship will cost $2350 per person to eradicate, and the more little Americans that one has had the more likely that this will become a serious financial burden–imagine a US expat couple with three children (not that uncommon). In order to buy their manumission, they would have to pay $11,750 US at the current rate, but there is no reason to think that “reporting for duty” John Kerry (the sociopath who runs the United States State Department) will keep the fee at only $2350. So by the time their children are old enough to renounce, the price of freedom will be even higher–but still worth it; that is if you can afford it.

U.S. Has World’s Highest Fee To Renounce Citizenship: Robert Woods

I received the following by email — it is from Keith Redmond’s Facebook page (I still do not do Facebook so could not otherwise access). This story deserves its own post here. How many other Canadians who were border babies will one day sooner or later have their own OMG moments? There was a push to inform them in correspondence to mayors and a CBC broadcast. We wanted them to know of this site but that effort seems to not have connected with too many born across the border as long ago that is where the nearest hospitals were.

A truly heartbreaking story of a Canadian Accidental American…..

‎XXXXX to Accidental Americans

I just received the following heartbreaking story from a Canadian accidental. I wish there was something I could do or say to make her pain go away. I can’t. The only thing I can do is speak up and fight back on her behalf.

To all Accidentals. We need your stories and more stories. If we can collect more stories like this one out open letter to Obama will become extremely powerful. Please help us by 1) sharing your stories with us 2) writing to your domestic politicians asking them to act and also help you connect with other Accidentals 3) contact the press in your home country and 4) spread the word. Our strength is in numbers and nationalities.

*****************

https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/10/19/interview-opportunity-abc-news-nightline-would-like-to-interview-an-american-living-abroad-who-is-in-the-process-of-renouncing-his-or-her-us-citizenship/comment-page-2/#comment-6740570

Dear President Obama,

I am Canadian, married to an Accidental American, but we only found this out this summer, and it has turned our world upside down.

My husband was born in xxx just because it was the closest hospital to the small border town his parents lived in, and medicare had not yet come to Canada, so the cost was the same here or across the border. He was taken home within a day of his birth, and lived his entire life up to now right in this same area. He grew up on a farm, and always dreamed of one day owning his own farm. We worked day and night to make that dream come true, went without to pay for the necessities, raised our children on our farm. Up until a few months ago, we were in the process of semi-retiring and our son taking over the farm, but now that seems impossible. We are faced with huge accounting fees, because there is so much work involved to comply when you own a business, and we will also face huge capital gains if we sell. All this just because of where he was born, it seems like we don’t have the right to live here in Canada. Our tax-free savings will be taxed, our investments will be taxed because they are “foreign” investments?? How are they foreign, we are Canadians!! Because we own a farm, we have over 2 million dollars in assets, so he can’t renounce without paying the exit tax. We are trapped, and for what? Because the US owns him? Because you need our money more than we do? We get nothing in return! I really don’t think you fully understand what this is doing to so many Accidentals who knew nothing about this until now. The amount of money you will get from us will make little difference to you, but will most likely bankrupt us and ruin our lives, lives we have struggled to make a success. You also know about the TPP and what that is doing to dairy farmers in Canada, because you are the county who wants to dump milk into Canada, so we are also losing there. Our future looks bleak. I have had to start taking anti-depressants and sleeping pills just to carry on. My husband is angry and moody, very hard to get along with. I fear that if this goes bad and he has to pay huge taxes, that I will lose him, he will kill himself before he will watch his farm fail and our son’s future be ruined. This is my biggest fear.

Another problem here is that it is impossible to know where to turn, we have accountants everywhere who don’t know a thing about doing this and they just scare people into dropping it and “taking the chance” that they won’t get caught. The first accountant we paid to talk to told us so many things we later found out to be false, like the spouse has to file, the children have to file, he will have to pay taxes on my income, so many other things that were not true. We paid 3 account firms before we settled down and hired one to do it. The work involved in this was astronomical! My entire summer was swallowed up between farm work and US tax work!!

So please, Mr. President, think long and hard about the people this is hurting. We are human beings trying to survive. You are a human being who holds in your hands the power to let us go, let us live our lives as we were before we learned of US citizenship taxation. Please, I beg of you, for thousands of Accidentals, give us our lives back, let us renounce without losing our businesses, our life savings, our hope for the future of our children and grandchildren. Do what you know is right, your proposal in the 2016 Green Book shows that you know about Accidentals and that is just isn’t right, please help us, let us go. We are not saying we want nothing to do with the US, that just isn’t the case, we respect the US for the most part, but knowing what citizenship taxation is doing to Accidentals and expats is disturbing to say the least.

Should these letters to President Obama not also be copied, as a minimum, to US Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders AND, ESPECIALLY, our new Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau?

In a February 6, 2015 TedTalk, Sharyl Attkisson explains what astroturfing is and how it affects information on the internet:

Astroturf and manipulation of media messages | Sharyl Attkisson | TEDxUniversityofNevada

Attkisson a few days earlier testified about how the Obama uses astroturfing and other intimidation methods to stifle freedom of the press and to suppress information:

Sharyl Attkisson: If You Cross Obama Admin They Will Treat You Like “Enemies Of The State”

As victims of propaganda and media of control, we should understand the obstacles that we face when trying to spread our message.

Corruption American Style:

Bill Clinton scored paid speeches while Hillary made official State Dept. visits

Kent Cooper, a former federal election regulator and respected political ethics analyst, said the blurred lines between State and the foundation in the Clinton world validated the axiom that “there are many pockets in a politician’s coat to line.”

“There are the official pockets, the political pockets, in this case the foundation’s pockets and then their own private pocketbooks, and you can see how special interests subtly work all of them with invitations, pressure and money to try to get what they want,” he said.

“There seem to have been no ethical boundaries or double checks on conflicts of interest between the activities of the secretary of state as a government official, the fundraising of a private foundation, the fees of a private consultant, and the personal income of a former government official, that being the former president.”

It is axiomatic that if government is run by criminals then law enforcement hunts down innocent people to make it look like they are doing something. Government officials cannot go after real criminals or they would have to put themselves in jail first.

I’ve noticed that some of the people on Facebook really like Bernie Sanders. But let’s make one thing clear: this senator is a demagogue:

“a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary., Eleventh ed. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003).

I have myself given up US citizenship. I know lots of people personally who have given up US citizenship. I do not know a single billionaire. I am not a billionaire. I did not leave the United States to avoid paying taxes. For crying out loud, I live in Canada where taxes are much higher than they are in the United States. This man has vilified me and others like me who have become targets of the Obama administration of exorbitant fines, destroying our rights of due process and presumption of innocence.

LM has posed the following query to readers. It is another true life scenario in which the Canadian government and Canadian banks have put certain Canadian citizens at risk by promising to expose them to the US Federal government.

OK Brocker folks, I have a situation and need support /answers / information.

I invest with a Canadian FFI (for example, RBC-Dominion) and just got a W-8BEN from them that “has to be” filled out and signed; otherwise, they will no longer allow me to trade/invest with them. I spoke with my investment counselors associate (who knows my situation totally and has discussed much about FATCA with me) and told her I found it outrageous that I should be required to sign a US IRS form to say to my Cdn investment firm that I am not a US citizen. They (the FFI) got this exact same information from me back in 2013 via a “Substitute W-8BEN” when I transferred all my accounts there and I would be happy to sign an additional “Substitute W-8BEN” from them now. I’d even be willing to provide a copy of my CLN.
My recollection is that the IGA includes wording that allows Canadian FFIs to use their own equivalent of a W-8BEN (in this case, the “Substitute W-8BEN” with a page heading of XYZ Wealth Mgmt, ABCD Securities”) rather than the actual US form (which has, at the top “Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service”, so that any signature is “under penalty of perjury” to the US).

I don’t intend to perjure myself or in any way lie, but is it required, under Cdn law now, that I must sign a US legal document to prove that I am not a US citizen to my Canadian financial institution? I would hate to lose my investment advisor of many years but this has really angered me and I’m sure I am not the only one who will be getting this document to sign now that the FFIs are beginning to look more thoroughly at “established” accounts.

Any advice / information / links to the part of the IGA stating that FFIs are not required to use the US form / etc would be very greatly appreciated.