Cross-posting from ADCS-ADSC.ca blog congratulations to constitutional lawyer, Joseph Arvay, and his team on today’s unanimous Canadian Supreme Court decision, with the disclaimer as rightly suggested…

This post and the Canadian Supreme Court unanimous ruling  is being cited solely to show the legal skills of Canadian constitutional lawyer, Joseph Arvay, and his team, not to discuss our agreement or disagreement with the ruling itself.

Congratulations to @ADCSovereignty lawyer Joe Arvay – SCC allows doctor assisted suicide

Joseph Arvay and team will use their same skills in working to uphold the rights of approximately one million Canadians, their spouses, their children, their business partners who presently face national origin discrimination (US-defined US citizenship / personhood) after the signing and implementation  by Omnibus Bill C-31, of an intergovernmental agreement to allow US FATCA law to override Canadian laws and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Post authored by Bubblebustin for you…

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This feature article covers what James Jatras told us long ago when he said that the FATCA IGA’s are “dead on arrival”. The US Congress will not pass the legislation to make these IGA’s truly reciprocal, but my question is,

Will our governments choose to ignore this fact when our banks are running scared?

It’s up to each any every one of us to tell our MP’s that the banks should not collect the private banking information on EVEN ONE CANADIAN when the US isn’t holding up it’s end of the deal!

This confirms my worst fear, that our governments may turn a blind eye to the US’s lack of legislative authority on this matter, again sacrificing us just to make things run smoothly for the banks. Is there any reason to think they’d act otherwise?

Continue reading →

WHERE:University of Toronto, St. Michael’s College, Carr Hall Room 405

100 St. Joseph Street – Toronto ON M5S 2C4 MAP

WHEN:SESSION ONE: 9:00 – 11:00 am Info Session

“2015- Solving U.S. Citizenship Problems-Have You Received a FATCA Letter?”

ADMISSION: $20 per individual or $40 for a family of up to 4 people

Payable in cash at the door, please (to cover costs).

WHEN: SESSION TWO: 12:00 – 6:00 pm Open Forum

“Have You and Your Family Been Harmed by U.S. Government Tax Policy?”

ADMISSION: FREE
 
 

WHO: John Richardson, B.A., LL.B, J.D.

Member of the Ontario Bar

citizenshipsolutions.ca
 

SESSION ONE

“Have you received a FATCA letter or been warned of the consequences of being a U.S. person?”
 
Why am I getting letters from my bank all of a sudden?

The “FATCA Hunt” – the hunt for U.S. persons (whatever that is) began on July 1, 2014 which was “Canada Day.” Although both the definition of “U.S. person” and whether one meets the definition is not always clear, the search has begun. The level of FATCA awareness has begun. Some organizations are actively warning people that “U.S. Person-ness” matters. The purpose of the warning is presumably to encourage people to “come clean” and deal with their U.S. tax situations. In some cases, there is no particular warning – just a letter indicating that they are suspected to be a “U.S. person.” Often one must prove to the institution sending the letter that one is not a U.S. person.

What individuals are U.S. taxpayers? Who is a U.S. citizen?
 
There are individuals that the U.S. government would define as “U.S. citizens” who:

• do NOT agree that they are U.S. citizens because they have performed a “relinquishing act” under applicable U.S. laws;
• do NOT even know that they may be U.S. citizens because they have never lived in the United States
• are citizens and residents of countries that do NOT allow multiple citizenships

To put it another way: one’s status as a U.S. citizen is NOT always clear.

I have never heard of these requirements! What determines the income that must be reported to the IRS? What “Information Returns” are required to be reported to the IRS?

• FBAR (Now called FinCen 114)
• FATCA 8938 – Report of Specified Foreign Assets
• 5471 – Information return for Foreign Corporation
• 3520 – Information return for a “Foreign Trust”
• 3520A – related to the 3520
• 8621 – for CDN Mutual Funds
• 8965 – for exemption from ACA insurance

I am only a snowbird! Why does this affect me?

• Substantial Presence Test
• Form 8840 Closer Connection Exception Statement for Aliens
• Caution: Streamlined Programs & 35 day rule – Catch 22

What are the ways I can become compliant?

• Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program – AKA “OVDP” – Not appropriate for the vast majority of people
• Streamlined Compliance – A pre-packaged way to “clean up” past compliance problems
• Obeying the law – filing amended tax returns outside the “IRS Created” programs
• Delinquent FBAR Submission Procedures

What costs are involved in renouncing U.S. citizenship?

• The costs of a total of 6 years (5 years prior to the year of renunciation plus the year of renunciation) of tax compliance and information returns
• The cost of any back taxes and penalties
• A $2350 administrative fee
• possibility of having to pay an “Exit Tax” (which can be the biggest problem)

SESSION TWO
 
We want you to send your stories and videos of harm done to you by CBT to us by February 14, 2015. These will be sent to WASHINGTON DC
Continue reading →

Reposted with permision

IT HURTS MY HEART: On Renouncing American Citizenship

Essay by Christina Warren with Photographs by Lars Deutschlaender

Bern, Switzerland is built on a horseshoe bend of the river Aare. Its old town is in the center of this horseshoe and is designated a UNESCO World-Heritage site. Bridges lead to the ‘younger’ neighborhoods. Mine, the Monbijou, is only a ten-minute walk from the Bundeshaus or Parliament building. My favorite route to the old town is through Flora Park, past the gated compound of the American Embassy

and through the Kleine Schanze, a park

bordering the Bundeshaus and offering

views of the Alps. I have taken this

walk countless times, passing the embassy,

sometimes stopping to light a candle at

the Dreifaltigkeitskirche, a catholic church

located just outside the Kleine Schanze.

Continue reading →

 
After reading the completely unacceptable response to MP Ted Hsu’s  order paper question  (OPQ 816), WhiteKat decided to reach out, once again (in spite of previous communications being unsatisfying) and this time, write her story from the heart. Her MP, the Hon. John Baird is the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Department that provided this “response.”

I thought it deserved a thread of its own as this letter is a real gem.

WhiteKat:

“Its been awhile since I’ve emailed/mailed any government reps. I was inspired by a comment, written by Stephen Arvay on the Allison Christians post.”
 

If you have two to four hours to watch the “Stupid Bowl” coming up on Sunday, then you have a few hours per week to read, be informed and write your representatives. We must put the pressure on in volumes of letter, emails, faxes, phone calls!

“I hope lots of you do the same! Yes, the lawsuit is important, but we cannot stop our bitching either!”

“Here is my latest to my MP John Baird.”

I am writing to you about the FATCA IGA with the USA, that was signed by the Conservative government in Feb 2014.

I am very, very sad and totally disillusioned. I cannot believe I have lived in such an innocent state of unknowing for nearly 1/2 a century in that I thought Canada would protect ALL her citizens from foreign threats – not just a subset of them.

Apparently, I am a second class Canadian citizen. You really have no idea how horrible this feels unless it happens to you. It is a living nightmare that I stress about every single day. The last two Canada Days, I have found myself in tears. And if it can happen to me, it can happen to any Canadian.

I don’t remember the first 20 months or so of my life, which was spent in the USA while my Canadian parents lived there. I haven’t got an American bone in my body, but had the misfortune to be born on US soil. I’ve lived and worked only in Canada since moving back ‘home’ as a toddler.

Can you imagine the shock I went through just over two years ago, when I heard about FATCA and discovered that not only was I a delinquent US tax-filer, but was also required to report my Canadian accounts to the FINANCIAL CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NETWORK every year? And worse, my own country was going to shine a light on me so that the IRS would have knowledge of my existence, along with the private details of my bank accounts, most of which are held jointly with my 100% pure Canadian husband. He was not too pleased to say the least, and this has caused big rifts in our marriage.

Please help Mr Baird. I have done nothing wrong, unless to be born on US soil is a crime. How was I to know all these years, that USA was unique in the world with its byzantine ‘place of birth’ taxation laws? I have paid all taxes ever owed to the Canadian government and have been a law abiding citizen and productive member of Canadian society for over 50 years.

I am seriously stressing out, and at age 52 this is not good for my health. I have NO IDEA what to do. I cannot afford the financial costs to get into good standing with the IRS. I estimate 15-20K as I have lots of low-value Passive Foreign Income Corporations (i.e. Canadian mutual funds), several RESPS (one for each of my 3 children), several small RRSPS, and a TFSA (all considered foreign trusts).

Although I thought I was being a responsible parent and adult, saving for my children’s education and my retirement, I have in fact caused nothing but huge problems for myself and family.

I am scared to death of the penalties that IRS will assess for my not reporting my and my husband’s so-called ‘foreign accounts’ to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which is what will happen when my financial institution reports me to the CRA under FATCA.

Did you know that the penalties for not filing FBARS (FOREIGN bank account reports) for my CANADIAN accounts are 50% of the value of the account for each of the last 6 years (i.e. 300% of the value of the account)?

Will the Canadian government take care of my husband and me after we hand over our life savings to the US government?

I would love to renounce US citizenship, but this does not relieve me of past compliance requirements for US tax reporting and FBARs, and in fact puts a red X on me for the IRS. Not only that, but renunciation is expensive! In 2008 it was free. In 2010 it was $450, and in 2014 it was raised to an unbelievable $2,350 (US dollars). I believe Canada charges $100 to renounce Canadian citizenship and that it can be done by mail.

So basically, I am damned if I do, and damned if I don’t. There is NO painless way out of the mess I am in, yet I am just a decent person trying to live an average life. Why is this happening to me? Why is my government not protecting me? Why is it handing me over to the USA which will allow it to literally destroy me and my Canadian born spouse and children?

I don’t know which is worse – the threat of financial devastation from the USA simply for spending the first 20 months of my life there, or the horrible feeling that the ground I thought was beneath my feet all these decades was never really there! Sometimes, I think it is the latter – it is that soul destroying.

Please, is there someone in the Conservative party who actually cares about the millions of Canadians who are suffering like I and my family are, or is everyone just concerned about keeping their jobs and their pensions? I have truly lost faith in Canadian government.

Very sad second-class Canadian
Kxxxxxxx Pxxxx (name not withheld from Mr. Baird)
Nepean ON