Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 4 of 11 (Year 2017)

You can access all years at this link: Media and Blog Articles – Links for All Years

 If clicking on a comment link brings you to the wrong comment, click here  to get on the most recent page of comments.(alternatively, to reach the most recent comment page, go to  the url in the bar at the top of your browser and delete everything after http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/media-and-blog-articles-open-for-comments-part-4-of-4)

Media and Blog Articles

EmBee suggested that it would be good if there was a thread for new articles, so that people would be aware of where to comment.   So, I created this permanent page.   I’ll make a permanent list of links posted here and keep adding to it,  but not deleting, so we’ll end up having sort of a  “bibliography” of FATCA/CBT articles.  [Note:  Some articles are not open for comments]

For more articles on FATCA, enter FATCA into Google then click on the link “more news for fatca” just below the most recent featured article.

Notes:

From JC:   To see #FATCA on Twitter for latest breaking news.  JC finds that is quite a good source and there even are some international articles that one may read using Google Translate.   Others may help certain tweets and articles remain in elevated position by retweeting them.

From Badger:   On an important archival note, please use the Internet Archive Wayback machine https://archive.org/web/ (see bottom right ‘Save Page Now’ box to enter URLs of webpages you want saved for posterity, and try to save backup copies of articles and other items of interest in some other form – such as a datastick or external drive. Some important and very significant webpages and the fulltexts of articles are no longer available (although some can be retrieved if someone using the Wayback machine saved them).

Be sure to read the comment stream for this thread — there are usually very recent articles mentioned there that aren’t on this list yet.

2017.12.28
It’s time to address the double standard about tax havens, Angela Wrights, Macleans, Canada.
The US Is Becoming the World’s New Tax Haven, The Editors, Bloomberg View, US.
2017.12.21
Rep. Dina Titus Supports Americans Abroad Tax Reform, Democrats Abroad, US. 
Now That The GOP Tax Bill Is Approved, The IRS Gets Busy, Brian Naylor, NPR, US.
2017.12.20
Taxpayers will have to wait to find out how they fare under new legislation , Renae Merle and Aaron Gregg, Denver Post (reprint from Washington Post), US.
U.S. Shareholders –Take Action by December 31, KPMG.
2017.12.18
Have You Ever Felt Sorry for the I.R.S? Now Might Be the Time, Patricia Cohen, New York Times, US.
2017.12.12
EU finance ministers issue warning to Trump over tax reforms, RTÉ, Ireland.
2017.12.11
Banque: les consequences étonnantes de l’accord FATCA, Edouard Lederer, Les Echos, France.
2017.12.10
As Australia ousts MPs with dual citizenship, Canada’s Parliament embraces many in its ranks, Kathleen Harris, Canada. (mentions MP who “assumed his U.S. citizenship was automatically rescinded because he did not meet several requirements for continued citizenship. [But when travelling to Washington] was told he was ineligible to enter the U.S. on a Canadian passport because he was a U.S. citizen. He was . . . allowed in on a one-time basis . . . it cost him $3,000 to later sort out the administrative requirements.”)
2017.12.09
The American Diaspora: Outreach and Organization, Victoria Ferauge, The Franco-American Flophouse, Japan.
2017.12.08
Foreign-owned banks to be hit by US tax rules, Financial Times, UK.
Trump Tax Plan Worries Europe, Christian Reiermann, Der Spiegel, Germany.

For articles earlier in 2017, click here.

1,720 thoughts on “Media and Blog Articles Open for Comments – Part 4 of 11 (Year 2017)”

  1. And then there’s the Senate version of the bill. According to the NY Times, Senate Republicans prefer double-taxation as a pay-for:

    Senate Republicans Will Diverge From House in Sweeping Tax Rewrite

    Senator Mitch McConnell, center, the Republican majority leader, and Senate Republicans, under pressure to pass a sweeping tax rewrite before year’s end, are expected to unveil legislation … that would eliminate the ability of people to deduct state and local taxes but would stop short of fully repealing the estate tax, according to lobbyists and other people familiar with the bill.

    The Senate plan is taking shape as Republicans digest the drubbing they suffered on Tuesday night in affluent suburbs across the country, many of them represented by Republicans in the House. Those areas are stocked with well-off voters who would be disproportionately hit by the elimination of state and local tax deductions.

    But in the Senate, those high-tax areas are often represented by Democrats, which puts less pressure on Republican leaders to keep the state and local deduction, in any form, in their version of the bill.

    Each of the bills reflects delicate political and fiscal calculations as Republican leaders seek to deliver on President Trump’s campaign promises to cut taxes on the middle class and on businesses — but also find the money to pay for them. Eliminating the state and local tax deduction would increase tax receipts and therefore lessen the overall cost of the legislation, which by congressional budget rules cannot exceed $1.5 trillion over the next decade if it is to pass without Democratic support.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/08/us/politics/senate-republicans-will-diverge-from-house-in-sweeping-tax-rewrite.html

    Delicate, they call it.

  2. Not sure where to put this but I see an opportunity. There is going to be a federal byelection in South Surrey-White Rock, BC soon. Back in the federal election, I volunteered for the Liberal party candidate here, who listened to and agreed with my views on FATCA. Well she lost and the Conservative candidate won. However, now the Conservative candidate has quit to make a bid for leadership of BC Liberal Party.

    I recently received a “nice to meet you” email from Gordie Hogg who is running as the Liberal candidate here in the byelection, I’ll contact him to investigate his views regarding the ongoing FATCA mess. I wonder if and when anyone in government here is going to stand up for Canadian sovereignty.

  5. Former dual-citizen Boris Johnson has not just done nothing to help dual UK-Iranian citizen locked up in Iranian jail for unwisely entering the land of her birth in order to visit family; Johnson as UK Foreign Secretary has actually stated publicly that she went to Iran to train journalists. Iran has seized on his statement to bring further charges against her, making it likely that her five-year-sentence will be increased.

    The husband of a British woman jailed in Iran says her family is “distraught” after Boris Johnson’s comments about the case were used to discredit her.

    A report on Iranian state television said the Foreign Secretary’s suggestion that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was training journalists when she was arrested last year had “voided” UK efforts to free her.

    It has sparked fears she could now have her five-year prison sentence doubled.

    https://news.sky.com/story/family-of-british-woman-jailed-in-iran-distraught-over-reports-of-boris-johnsons-remarks-11119482

  6. Does the $2,350 renunciation fee also apply to de-naturalization:

    “Four individuals who pretended to be a family and arrived in the United States from Somalia through the controversial diversity visa program are now the subject of civil complaints seeking their denaturalization, the Department of Justice announced Monday.”

    “The four coordinated after Fosia Adan, 51, received a diversity visa in January of 2001. Under fictional identities, Fosia and Ahmed, 54, claimed to be married, with Mustaf, 33, and Faysal, 31, pretending to be their children. Fosia and Ahmed subsequently obtained a divorce in Minnesota, maintaining their fictitious identities in the separation.

    Both Fosia and Ahmed naturalized in 2006; Faysal and Mustaf naturalized in 2010 and 2013, respectively. If, as the Justice Department alleges, their naturalizations were predicated on lies, all four can be denaturalized in compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act.”

    http://freebeacon.com/issues/doj-announces-denaturalization-complaints-somali-diversity-visa-immigrants/

  7. Boris really is an incompetent ass, isn’t he? Pity he’s also such a useful example of how accidentals can be screwed over.

  8. If ever anybody volunteered for getting screwed by the US, it was Boris Johnson.

    Publicly denouncing the US Ambassador over unpaid UK taxes is not a good strategy for a US citizen who doesn’t want to comply with US tax law.

  10. If we have a Polish-USA dual reading today it would be great if you could respond to Siloo Kapadia on this forum:
    https://polishforums.com/usa-canada/poland-dual-citizens-returning-plan-82415/

    So far the only response he/she has had is by someone who thinks, “Renouncing your citizenship because of FATCA is a bit like using a nuclear weapon on a fly.” It would be great if someone could direct Siloo to Brock to get a better understanding of the situation FATCA/CBT has created for US citizens living abroad.

  11. https://www.facebook.com/groups/citizenshiptaxation/permalink/1562173447205731/
    The Ownership and use of the U.S. Person which includes a Citizen as an Instrument of Foreign Policy –
    Prologue – U.S. citizens are “subjects” to U.S. law wherever they may be in the world

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/citizenshiptaxation/permalink/1563133253776417/
    The Ownership and use of the U.S. Person which includes a Citizen as an Instrument of Foreign Policy –
    Part I – The U.S. “Giveth” and the U.S. “Taketh” – How the U.S.uses “citizenship” as a weapon against individuals

  12. https://www.taxconnections.com/taxblog/top-year-end-tax-planning-strategies-for-us-expats-in-2017/#comment-15216
    Keith Redmond would like more comments on this article. Keep in mind that they can take as much as a day to appear at Tax Connections. (It seems to depend on whether a moderator is around at the time you post.) I suppose there’s nothing technically wrong in the article it’s just that there’s only one road visible to those whose incomes depend on the well-honed skills of the IRS to make taxation as complex, burdensome and punitive as possible. Just look at the list of things Hugo Lesser urges overseas filers to collect prior to preparing to commence to thrash out their 2017 tax returns. WOW!

  13. Hmmm … I tried to post a comment at Tax Connection. It resulted in a Failure to Make a Connection Error Message. I reposted and then it appeared twice. Now it has disappeared. Sheesh! Maybe it will reappear later … who knows. Or perhaps it was a tad on the snarky side and got the boot.

  14. Tax Connections comments is pretty broken. If you post and it fails, it probably went through. I’ve had the same comment appear three times after multiple attempts; eventually the moderator comes and cleans it up.

  16. After reading “Yes, the political divide may be one reason for people to say that they’re ready to pack it all up and live abroad, but in reality, it could boil down to financials and a pesky thing called tax evasion.” I responded to refinery 29:

    No Sir, the US persons who are renouncing are not people packing it all up and moving abroad, and the reason is not tax evasion. The huge majority of people renouncing are those who have lived outside the US for a long time, in some cases their entire life, most of whom do not owe any tax to the US, but who wish to free themselves and their non-US family from the onerous burdens and restrictions of having to comply with two incompatible tax regimes, one a foreign (i.e. US) tax regime and the other in the country where their home, family, assets, and income are.

    Things like $10,000 IRS penalties imposed not because you evaded tax, but because you missed a reporting form. Losing a promotion because your employer does not want to bring a foreign authority like the IRS into its business. Unable to participate in or penalized for joining retirement plans available to your colleagues, and at the same time having no access to similar US plans. Etc Etc. Future problems selling your house, and estate and gift issues. Disadvantaged when investing or starting a business.

    It’s about being able to live your life outside the US under the same rules as everyone else in your adopted country, not tax evasion.

    You are correct that people are not renouncing because of Trump. But you may well find that some who had intended to renounce but had not got around to it yet were motivated at least partly by Trump to get on with the process.

  17. @ fno
    Your comment must be awaiting moderation. When it pops in I’ll give it a thumbs up like I have all the rest (no log-in required). I just noticed this before the conversation begins — “Start a discussion, not a fire. Post with kindness”. Since that didn’t seem to be applied to the article itself, I think the flaming comments are justified.

  18. Americans on Pace for Record Year in Renouncing Citizenship . Wall Street Journal

    Palazzolo, Joseph
    By Joe Palazzolo
    Nov. 2, 2017 6:22 p.m. ET

    9:13 AM (13 minutes ago)

    to bcc: me
    If you’re on this email, you’re one of the dozens of folks who’ve contacted me in recent days to talk about the impact of FATCA on your lives. I hope you’ll forgive me for the group email. There were too many of you to respond individually, and I didn’t want to ignore anyone.

    I’m still reading through some of your comments and learning, and I hope to be in touch soon.

    Thanks and best,
    Joe

  22. @Mods, could we have a thread on the devere letter that our friend @JC has referenced?

    Guys, its time to take the gloves off and start naming and shaming.

  25. Koskinen quotes from that article cited by Nonymous, which should be thrown in the face of all the FATCAnatic IGA enablers in our home governments;

    JK ; “We still have to worry about information security, battling crime syndicates that are trying to steal information. …..”
    ………….
    “JK: Look, 60 percent of our hardware and 22 percent of our software is out of date…….”………….
    https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/11/15/john-koskinen-taxes-215830

    Yeah, and we should just rest easy when the Canadian Revenue Agency tells us there is no unconstitutional privacy or security impact to their FATCAnization of Canadian taxpayers on Canadian soil https://openparliament.ca/committees/ethics/42-1/8/diane-lebouthillier-1/ with them shipping off the Canadian personal and financial data without the owner’s consent just because of “US indicia” like a US birthplace. No problem at all says Mme Lebouthillier and the Sunny Glibs now, despite what they said to their fellow Canadians BEFORE they were elected
    https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2016/03/17/march-18-2016-canadas-minister-of-national-revenue-who-we-are-suing-defends-fatca-turnover-of-bank-data-reversing-previous-liberal-party-position-and-showing-that-mr-justin-trudeau-misl/ despite the impact to privacy
    https://ipolitics.ca/2016/03/16/revenue-canada-quietly-handed-155000-canadian-banking-records-to-irs/

    For those who haven’t seen it before, here are the results of the ‘ Enhanced Financial Account Information Reporting; Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) summary – Individual Returns Directorate, Assessment, Benefit, and Service Branch and International and Large Business Directorate, Compliance Programs Branch’
    https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/about-canada-revenue-agency-cra/protecting-your-privacy/privacy-impact-assessment/privacy-impact-assessment-summary-enhanced-financial-account-information-reporting-individual-returns-directorate-assessment-benefit-service-branch.html

    Note the high levels 3 and 4. See explanation of PIAs and levels here http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=18308 and value of numerical levels explained starting here at;
    ‘Appendix C—Core privacy impact assessment’ ‘Section II—Risk Area Identification and Categorization’

    “The core PIA must include a completed risk identification and categorization section as outlined below. To have consistent risk categories and risk measurement across government institutions, standardized risk areas (itemized below) and a common risk scale are to be maintained as the basis for risk analysis.

    The numbered risk scale is presented in an ascending order: the first level (1) represents the lowest level of potential risk for the risk area; the fourth level (4) represents the highest level of potential risk for the given risk area…………”……………
    http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/pol/doc-eng.aspx?id=18308#appA

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