The Inter-Governental Agreement between Canada and the United States (IGA), which will implement FATCA regulations in Canada, is sufficiently complex that it will take some time before Canadians come to grips with what rights our government has traded away and what safeguards are in place to protect, hopefully, the majority of us. While I am completely against the CRA trading the private banking account information of Canadian residents and citizens with the hostile government to our south run by President Obama and his band of merry thieves, who steal from the poor to give to the rich, I do believe that the vast majority of Canadian residents can protect themselves. We now have not only to navigate the treacherous waters of IRS threatening to fine us at multiples of our total financial wealth (up to 380%), we must also know how to deal with bank’s inquisition which will begin to question all Canadians: “Are you or have you ever been a US person?”

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I have read with interest the claims that this is a “good deal” because it provides “reciprocity” to the Canadian government.  This is not true, according to my investigations.  Anyone who believes this is true should check out a post by James George Jatras on his RepealFATCA.com website. Check out the links to the two letters at the top of that page.  Following is an excerpt from the article written by Mr Jatras in July 2013:

Without this new authority, on which the Congressman’s letter pronounces what amounts to a veto, Treasury cannot deliver on promises of “equivalent levels of reciprocal automatic exchange.”

And without imposing “equivalent levels of reciprocal automatic exchange” on domestic U.S. banks, credit unions, and other institutions, Treasury cannot pretend that IGAs are anything but a one-sided, extraterritorial diktat that foreign governments enforce FATCA to the detriment of their countries’ institutions, taxpayers, and consumers, and in violation of their sovereignty.

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Cross-posted from Allison Christians Canada-US Agreement Reached on FATCA Data Sharing
(used with permission)

Things have been exciting the past few days as a long-expected agreement on FATCA between Canada and the US was announced and Canada’s Department of Finance released a flurry of accompanying materials. The US Treasury has now added Canada to the list of jurisdictions deemed to have an agreement in effect. I will have more analysis soon but just wanted to provide some of the most useful links to get things up to speed.

First, here is the text of the intergovernmental agreement–it is not a signed copy unfortunately, which leaves a couple of technical questions unanswered for now. Here is the Press Release from the United States. Here is the Press Release from Canada, and here are explanatory notes to the agreement, a backgrounder”, and an FAQ.

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N.B.: This raises some very good points, but note that the IGA, as written, does not require proof of parents’ birthplace or citizenship.

Thanks to TomOn for writing the following post:

Theresa Tedesco writes for the Financial Post. Her column titled “Ottawa Had Little Choice in Signing Controversial Deal with US Taxman” appeared Friday, February 7, 2014 [and in the print edition as “US Tax Deal:  The New Reality” on Saturday, February 8th.]  It begins,

“On Canada Day and thereafter, Canadians or anyone else living in this country who walk into a bank to open up an account, invest in a mutual fund or buy life insurance will be required to prove that they are not American.”

Imagine the new reality.

(1) You show the bank a certificate of loss of nationality (CLN), or you tell them a story explaining why you are not American.

You pass if the bank accepts your CLN or story, but what if the bank doesn’t accept your story? The Canada/U.S. intergovernmental agreement (IGA) fails to say how your conflict with the bank will be resolved. Your financial Continue reading →

Toronto: March 20 and March 21
http://ccla.org/home/pathways2privacy/

March 20, 2014 | 6:00 – 8:30 pm. Public Panel Discussion & Privacy Fair Venue TBA.
March 21, 2014 | 8:30 am – 5:00 pm. Pathways to Privacy Symposium: …

W could meet for dinner prior on March 20 and/or lunch March 21

Reductio ad nauseam:

The Ottawa Sun, February 6, 2014

Here are links provided to me by a source within CRA.  Please read and provide your feedback. This is crucial information about how Canadian financial institutions will provide details about US Persons to the CRA and how Finance intends to introduce overriding legislation to enable it.  This is a must-read:

The CRA has prepared documents in response to the signing of the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) related to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) to help Canadians understand the implications of the agreement from an administrative perspective. This guidance is available on the CRA website at the following URLs:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/nhncdrprtng/menu-eng.html

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/nhncdrprtng/menu-fra.html

In addition, Department of Finance has also now posted on its website the Legislative Proposals and Explanatory Notes Relating to the Canada-United States Enhanced Tax Information Exchange Agreement

http://www.fin.gc.ca/drleg-apl/2014/can-us-eu-0214-eng.asp

http://www.fin.gc.ca/drleg-apl/2014/can-us-eu-0214-fra.asp

The CCLA is widely respected and can get the real story in the media.

See their statements.
http://ccla.org/2012/12/04/ccla-registers-privacy-concerns-over-ongoing-canada-u-s-information-exchange-negotiations/

http://ccla.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-12-04-Letter-to-Dpt-of-Finance.pdf

Contact them. NOW!
http://ccla.org/contact/