IRS wants to know how it can improve service to persons living abroad:

See below portions of a letter recently received from a person living outside the U.S. This letter, sent from a division of the IRS, invites persons to fill out a survey on the “unique perspective” of people like us with the aim of improving IRS services.

Apparently there will be 4000 such requests mailed out (out of 7 million or so US people abroad). The IRS survey help desk advised me over the phone that the 4000 names are provided by the IRS to the survey company.

It appears that the invite will be sent to some US persons abroad who have NEVER had an interaction with the IRS.

How does the IRS discover such never-filers? According to a past survey discovered by @MyKitty:

“Nonfilers with a perceived filing obligation were identified through their information on the IRS
nonfiler database and matched to passport data from the U.S. Department of State.”

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/12rescontaxpayexperience.pdf

A never-filer with filing obligation would never ever respond to an IRS online survey. Right?

Not true. 16% of nonfilers with a perceived filing obligation actually responded to the 2011/2012 survey.

The helpdesk will not provide survey questions to me, but I may be able to obtain the questions and if so will add these to this post.

Here is the letter (I have boldened a few sentences):

“Date

Dear [ ]

Help us improve our services!

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is currently conducting the 2014 IRS Survey of Individuals Living Abroad with the help of an independent research company, ICF International.

I invite you to participate in this important study seeking to understand the unique perspectives of individuals living outside the continental United States (U.S.).

Even if you have never had an interaction with the IRS [If you never had an interaction with the IRS, what should be your response to this invitation?], your insights are still extremely valuable in helping us improve our services for individuals living abroad, including those living in U.S. territories.

ICF International will not provide any identifying to the IRS and will keep your identity private to the extent permitted by law.

….Your participation in this study is entirely voluntary; however by completing this survey, you will help the IRS develop a comprehensive portfolio of service improvements. The service should take about 10 minutes to complete.

You do not need to wait for the paper survey if you prefer to take the survey online….entering password…

I am personally committed to improving service to individuals living abroad. Please help me…If you wish to verify the IRS’s sponsorship….

https://www.icfmtvweb1.com/irs_nonfiler/authenticate.asp

IRS Division…”

[Part of fine print at bottom of letter: “The information you provide may be disclosed to an IRS contractor when authorized by law.”]

I’ve said it. Others have said it. We admit in the past supporting the Conservative government with our vote and, in some cases, with our donations. Now? We cannot vote for a party which fails to fulfill what is arguably the number one mandate of any government: to provide protection for the citizens of Canada. This government plans to hand over the financial information of loyal Canadian citizens to the IRS, a criminal branch of the foreign government laying in wait at our Southern border. This treachery will not go unpunished. Consider the following comment:

I know that we can’t expect any help from our Conservative government, but I am feeling a bit better today. I am a Canadian business owner with an accidental American spouse. I have always supported the Conservatives, occasionally with donations. I made a pledge a while back, after a phone solicitation, but did not send it in. A representative from the party called me to ask where my donation was, and I happily told her she wasn’t getting one, not now , or ever for that matter. She asked why and I told her it was because of the government`s position on FATCA. I had to spell it for her, but she assured me she would pass the info on.

Please make more comments like this. Please comment especially if you were voting conservative and now will refuse to do so. My wife is a business owner. But next election night, I am going to take Mrs. Petros out to dinner, buy her flowers, go to a movie, and thus completely distract her.  So for every one former Tory voter who is a so-called US citizen, whose the government plans to commit extraordinary rendition of their bank account information, the Tory government will likely lose at least two votes.

OTTAWA – Former finance minister Jim Flaherty has passed away.

Police and paramedics were gathered Thursday around a downtown Ottawa condominium.

The House of Commons immediately suspended business.

Flaherty, 64, had been battling a rare skin condition, but insisted upon his surprise resignation last month that his health was not a contributing factor in his decision to step down. He had stayed on as the MP for Whitby-Oshawa, but was not planning to seek re-election.

The former minister was discovered with no vital signs.

Arthur Cockfield and Allison Christians in a new article out today at the Globe and Mail write:

For the first time in Canadian history, our federal government is preparing to provide a foreign government with sensitive personal financial information about hundreds of thousands of Canadians. It is doing so to stave off threatened economic sanctions, and is getting nothing in return.

Read the entire article here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/how-the-us-pulled-off-the-great-canadian-privacy-giveaway/article17916327/#dashboard/follows/

The Member of Parliament for Timmins/James Bay reveals some of the unethical aspects of FATCA legislation in the omnibus budget bill.  He misses a number of points regarding native treaty rights, French language rights, Article 8 and 15 Charter violations, and extraordinary rendition of financial information to the United States.  But all in all it is not a bad speech.  The criticism of FATCA begins at 2:00 (mins):

“Citizenship is something which is sacred.”  Indeed.

The bank account was closed yesterday and I made the final entries in the journal yesterday evening. The records were done in Quickbooks.

I will do my best to answer any questions you have. I ask your understanding in knowing that I cannot disclose anything that could in any way, reflect on the identity of any donors, etc.

If you have a question of a confidential nature, kindly contact me privately at nobledreamer16 at gmail dot com.

Thanks,
Tricia

These records will also be posted at MapleSandbox and the CCCF website.

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I would like to post an article in French for all to read from one of the Swiss sponsors of the anti-FATCA referendum in Switzerland: [I do not represent any political party here] http://www.ligue-vaudoise.ch/index.php?nation_id=2750

http://www.admin.ch/opc/fr/classified-compilation/19995395/index.html

My opinion is that: Although the number of required signatures was not met to oppose FATCA in “optional” referendum, the FATCA treaty and the application law are invalid and unenforceable.

See the Swiss Federal Constitution:

Art. 2 But

1 La Confédération suisse protège la liberté et les droits du peuple et elle assure l’indépendance et la sécurité du pays.
….
Read a very long and well written bill of rights.
….

Art. 140 Référendum obligatoire

1 Sont soumises au vote du peuple et des cantons:
a.
les révisions de la Constitution;
b.
l’adhésion à des organisations de sécurité collective ou à des communautés supranationales; [EPHASIS MINE]
c.
les lois fédérales déclarées urgentes qui sont dépourvues de base constitutionnelle et dont la durée de validité dépasse une année; ces lois doivent être soumises au vote dans le délai d’un an à compter de leur adoption par l’Assemblée fédérale.
2 Sont soumis au vote du peuple:
a.
les initiatives populaires tendant à la révision totale de la Constitution;

…

Alex Newman writes:

It broke Ruth Freeborn’s heart to give up her U.S. citizenship that fateful day last year. Unfortunately for the Oklahoma native, though, it was either that, or her family. Ruth’s Canadian husband of 33 years, who earns all of the middle-class family’s income, “simply could not go along with this situation,” she explained. “To find myself suddenly not able to live, bank, save or to keep peace in my marriage while being American at the same time was shocking at first and deeply disturbing to me.”

Read the entire article here: http://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/item/17986-the-dark-road-the-worst-tax-law-you-ve-never-heard-about://

The Washington Post has this article, The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want U.S. to intervene, with the results of survey showing that the further respondents pinpointed Ukraine on a map from its actual location the more certain they were that the USA should intervene militarily in the crisis there.

Does it really matter whether Americans can put Ukraine on a map? Previous research would suggest yes: Information, or the absence thereof, can influence Americans’ attitudes about the kind of policies they want their government to carry out and the ability of elites to shape that agenda.

Ignorance plays a huge role in US citizenship-based, global extraterritorial taxation of alleged expats and its arming mechanism, FATCA. Like the ignorance regarding the geographical location of Ukraine, the typical Homelander believes that so-called US citizens abroad are only trying to cheat on paying their fair share. If they were true patriots, they would live in the USA and would not under any circumstance renounce their citizenship, except to show their true colours as unpatriotic villainous tax evaders for whom money is more important than the country to which they owe their very essence, not to mention their education and fortune.

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