Category Archives: Issues regarding US persons abroad

With great thanks from me to “Mark”: Dear President of America…

https://fbariswrong.wordpress.com/2014/12/16/dear-president-of-america/.

My wish today is that the *President of America* will take the time to answer this letter as he has those of other children!

Janne and her nice grandfather DESERVE some answers! So does the rest of Janne’s family.

Dear President of America,

My name is Janne. I am 9 years old.

I learn English in my school.

That is all of the English I know.

My teacher will translate the rest of my letter from my language.

I was born in America. My father says I am American. But I don’t live in America anymore.

My sister, my mother, and my father were not born in America. My sister, my mother, and my father are not American.

My grandfather is nice. My grandfather puts money in the bank for me and for my brother and for my sister. This is his present for my birthday and for my name day and for Christmas. Sometimes, he just gives me a present on any day. My grandfather is a nice person. My grandfather is not born in America. My grandfather is not American.

My grandfather says that my grandfather and I are in trouble. My brother and my sister and my parents are not in trouble. My grandfather says that we are in trouble because I am American and because my grandfather has been so nice.

My grandfather says that you believe that my grandfather and I are washing your money. My grandfather says that we must now explain to you that we are not bad people. He says that you don’t listen. My grandfather says that he does not like you or your friends anymore.

My grandfather says that my grandfather and I must send reports to you every year. What kind of report do you want? Is it like a school report?

Why do you believe that my grandfather and I are washing your money? Why don’t you believe that my grandfather and I are good people?

Please answer me very soon because my grandfather is very old and he is very worried. He says that this is the biggest problem he has had in a very long time. He says that you don’t listen and that you don’t care about my grandfather or about me.

Sincerely,
Janne

With thanks to badger’s never-ending research, I am cross-posting from MapleSandbox.ca, Lynne Swanson’s FATCA will cost the CRA $15.7-$15.8 Million.

FATCA Will Cost CRA $15.7-$15.8 Million(or $5.7-5.8)
Posted on December 16, 2014 by Lynne Swanson

NDP MP Guy Caron asked how much FATCA will cost CRA.

When the committee was studying the matter, the department wasn’t able to provide us with the costs of the agreement, for either the agency or the financial institutions. Do you now have that information, from the moment when the funding for implementation is released?

Here’s the answer from CRA:

The costs that we are working with for our ability to implement the obligations that we have to administer this agreement is funding of, I believe, $15.7 million or $15.8 million, which has been allocated to the CRA to implement this over these next few years.

Those costs are principally intended to support the costs of implementing a new electronic form for mandatory filing for financial institutions to be able to file their obligations to us, a database in which we would be able to receive and store that information, and the tools to give us the ability to select files from that database for subsequent transmission electronically to the Internal Revenue Service in order to comply with those obligations.

So there you have it folks. Over $15 million of our tax dollars to violate our fundamental rights as Canadians for foreign government demands. (Thanks to Badger for this great find and for sending it to me and the Board of ADCS.)

That, of course, does not include the $750 million that Canadian banks say FATCA is costing them.

Nor does it include the money the government will spend of our tax dollars fighting us in court while we struggle to raise the needed money for our lawsuit.

@Tim alerted us to this “opinion paper” just issued by the Republican staff of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

The December 11, 2014 paper, entitled “Continuing the Conversation on Comprehensive Tax Reform” has a section dealing with the question of citizenship-based taxation.

This is a very brief outline “analysis” only and does NOT equal introduced legislation — which I hope will happen during the next two years — and which may well fail to be passed into law.

Go to page 282/293:

“The United States needs to rethink its taxing rules for nonresident U.S. citizens.

If a U.S. citizen is living and working abroad with some permanence, and the primary nexus the individual has to the United States is citizenship, we think it makes sense to tax the individual, as a general rule, only on income from U.S. sources.

A test would need to be developed to determine at what point a U.S. citizen is considered a nonresident of the United States and then at what point the U.S. citizen is considered to be a resident again.

Some factors that may be considered include the permanence and purpose of the stay abroad, residential ties to the United States, residential ties to the foreign country, and regularity and length of visits to the United States.

The test could be adopted, in some part, from the existing rules that are used to determine residency of alien individuals, i.e., those individuals who are not U.S citizens.

In addition, an exit tax could be applied when the U.S. citizen is considered a nonresident and no longer subject to U.S. worldwide taxing jurisdiction. If the U.S. citizen later becomes a resident and then becomes subject to U.S. worldwide taxing jurisdiction, then the individual’s basis in her assets would be the fair market value of the assets at the time she again becomes a resident.”

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This discussion has come up many times before so am creating a space for those who wish to discuss it. I will tidy the post up but need to put somethig up to move the ccomments. But feel free tp begin!

One indicator of a SSL site is in the URL bar instead of “http:” it shows“https” with an image of a lock by it.

This is a quick overview of Secure Socket Layer (SSL)

Three Years of Isaac Brock! Who would have thought we’d be where we are now?

A Brocker friend and I have been talking about writing down the history of Brock. Said friend believes that someday, Brock will be remembered as a major force in bringing down Citizenship-based-taxation as well as a *model* of grassroots advocacy in the best Canadian tradition.

The origins of Brock though, are at the ExpatForum where many of us found ourselves after the famous Barrie McKenna article (I have yet to find the one I am actually thinking of and will update when I find it). I recently told him this and he thanked me; then quickly thought about it and said, “oh, so sorry!.” LOL! Here are some of the people who came together there and helped Brock become what it is today. I have tried really hard to include everyone I can remember; anyone who is left out, please let me know and I will update:

Accidental, AmTaker, Arrow, baird68, cafreeb12, calgary411, canadianhoosier , Deckard1138, Don Podmorro, 416, Foxyladyhawk, Geeeez, Greyowl, Johnnb, justbrowsing, KalC, Lovecheese, mach7, maz57 MonaLisa1776, Nobledreamer, Nononymous, OAP, Outraged Canadian, pacifica, Peg, Petros, quincy, rivka88, rodgod, saddened123, Schubert1975, somerfugl, The Animal, Vangrrrl, zucchero81

I cannot remember exactly when I joined, I think it was the second week of October. A couple of days later I was pretty sure I recognized the writing of someone who had signed Rami’s petition. Her name was cafreeb12 and we became quick online friends.I was a complete newbie to the whole world of posts, comments and public banter. She encouraged me to write, was very supportive and I remain forever grateful to her for that. She was experienced in the political arena and one of the first things she did was set up a show on Friday nights on Blog Talk Radio. She was the host and encouraged me to be a co-host; we did all of 4 programs and Petros was our first guest.

There were two seminal events that are ingrained from the ExpatForum era. First, the infamous utterings of Ambassador David Jacobson; “not out to get honest grandmas” who don’t owe anything to the Internal Revenue Service,’ “My message on this is to sit tight,” “We are not unreasonable. We are not unsympathetic. We are not irresponsible.” While we hoped something positive would happen, everybody was afraid to believe him. We had already suffered Shulman’s threats,the endless fear mongering of the compliance industry, read of the horrors of OVDP 2009, the bait-and-switch of FAQ 35 and so on. We waited and waited for the relief promised by the Ambassador. It finally came in early December in the form of IRS Fact Sheet 2011-13. At first people were not sure this was “it.” Where was the elimination of the FUBAR penalties and the refunds for those minnows who paid dearly in OVDP? Not to be found anywhere, that was for sure. It seemed like it would be safe for many who fit the Examples but then again, even the condors analyzed every phrase and proclaimed there really wasn’t anything new here. Things definitely did not feel like the situation was improving.
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@Isaac Brock Society @Calgary411

Posting here thanks to the kind email from JC regarding my survey. It is a new survey which went live on 5 December 2014. I anticipate it remaining open until mid-January 2015. I am hoping to have a large number of responses in order to really put some nuance and depth – based on research data – into the discussions of citizenship renunciation. Most articles seem to be based on relatively few targeted interviews. I’m hoping to uncover more of the nuance in the situation. The survey is relatively short and asks for some basic demographic data, reasons for moving out of the US, what countries respondents live in now, and asks about citizenship renunciation intentions. I intend to publish academic articles from this, but can also share key findings, likely in February. You may be familiar with my recent book, Migrants or Expatriates? Americans in Europe. I’d be grateful if you could respond to the survey, and also share widely. I can be contacted at ak248@kent.ac.uk. Thank you!

Take the survey: The United States and You – A Survey for US Citizens and Former US Citizens

The United States and You – A Survey for US Citizens and Former US Citizens

There has been a great deal in the news recently about US citizens giving up their US passports, but these reports are largely based on anecdotal evidence and not on systematic research. This survey seeks to fill that gap, and explore, from a research perspective, what factors are playing a role in US overseas citizens’ thought processes on maintaining or renouncing US citizenship.

This survey explores that question, as well as asking a few questions more broadly about interactions with the US. The survey thus seeks to contribute to a deeper, research-based understanding of the interactions of Americans living abroad and the US, including renunciation.

The survey, which should take about 15 minutes, is completely anonymous – you will not be able to be identified. IP addresses are not being collected. You may skip or refuse to answer any question, and you may stop participating in the survey at any point. I take anonymity and the protection of data very seriously – and I appreciate your willingness to participate in this research!

If you have any questions, either now or later, you may contact me, Dr. Amanda Klekowski von Koppenfels, at ak248@kent.ac.uk . I am myself American, and teach and research at the University of Kent, Brussels (www.kent.ac.uk/brussels) and it is in the context of my employment there that I am coordinating this study.

Thank you so much for your participation!

From OAP, who has just completed this latest survey.

I completed the von Koppenfels survey last night and was very impressed. I’ve started many surveys, completed them 1/2 way through, and stopped because it became apparent there was an ‘agenda’; the survey was superficial; or the survey didn’t really want to know the real issues. That’s not the case with this survey.

As explained in her post above, the survey really does offer the opportunity to delve into the nuances. It’s a much more scholarly approach and gives one the chance to go much deeper into an individuals relationship with America, and if the relationship has broken down, a chance to define the detail (both practical and emotional) as to why that has happened. Don’t look to be ‘led’ by the survey. There aren’t the obvious “it’s because of the tax reporting or FATCA stupid” type questions.

It doesn’t take long, but don’t do it in a rush. Through its opportunities to define your issues, it should be far more incisive than the Democrats Abroad survey could ever be. With the right analysis, (and judging from the composition of the survey, I have faith it will be) a much more in depth and informative result will be reached. It could go well beyond the ‘sound bites’ we employ to try to make others understand the issues, and journey into the real crisis some of us face. I look forward to the summary.

I, too, will take the time for this important survey today. Hope many other Brockers join me.

Thanks for all of your work, Dr. Klekowski von Koppenfels!