http://www.cityweekly.net/utah/article-459-16910-a-very-nice-article-for-expats-but-the-author.html

Excerpt below:

Taxing Matters I also met another type of American expatriate,  particularly in London: high rollers who sported American accents but discreetly reminded everyone that they were no longer American. These were the tax expatriates, super-high earners who renounced U.S. nationality in large part to avoid the global reach of U.S. tax law. Facebook’s co-founder, a Brazilian-born U.S. citizen now residing in Singapore, recently denationalized himself in this manner. No doubt, just as legal persons (corporations) often decamp to more favorable tax locations, more and more natural persons will seek to expatriate themselves in the same manner.

As much as I think of myself as a practical individual, I am emotional to the extent that I believe that to take on a nationality, you should identify with and love the country in question. I love both the United States and Greece, and I would never renounce either nationality, regardless of some potential tax benefits.

U.S. citizens must file income tax, no matter where they live. Having said that, the vast majority of your foreign income is exempted,  unless you are a super high earner. As an American abroad, it’s important that you file your taxes and keep the IRS apprised of your income. Many Americans living and working abroad forget to do this, and it’s a potentially costly mistake.

Certain actions can cause you to lose your U.S. nationality, such as taking up arms against the United States, formally renouncing your U.S. nationality or, surprisingly, entering the U.S. on a foreign passport. This is a lesser-known detail passed on to me when I lived in London. We were registering our London-born daughter as a U.S. citizen, and the consular official warned us not to travel with her to America before she got a U.S. passport, “as she could forfeit her nationality.” When I took up Greek nationality, I consulted an immigration attorney with a specialty in dual nationality. The reader should do the same: Always seek legal advice when making such key decisions.

So all of you Brockers do you REALLY think this guy is fully compliant with US tax laws . Yes thats what I thought.

Ueli Maurer, Swiss People’s Party (SVP/UDC), will be President of the Swiss Confederation for 2013. I hope that 2013 will mean bad luck for supporters of FATCA and that Maurer will do something to check US policy, despite that Widmer-Schlumpf will still be finance minister. In my humble opinion expressed here many times before, we have suffered two years of grovelling to US demands by Micheline Calmy-Rey, then Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf. It is about time that somebody have the guts to stand up to the US’s extortion attempts.

Ueli Maurer Will Share his Everyday on Facebook (Article in German)

I wrote Federal Conselor (President Elect) Maurer earlier this morning on Facebook, wishing him a good presidential year, and asking him to have a look at our issues by visiting IBS and the YouTube FATCA Forum videos:
Continue reading →

If the French Constitutional Council rejects a 75% tax on incomes over EUR 1 Million, what should it say about the effects of US double taxation on middle class people, and even people earning welfare and unemployment benefits? How would it see the heinous and excessive FBAR and FATCA non-compliance fines?

I have not yet found the written opinion of the Council, it would be interesting to see what arguments they use and if any of the language and rationales could be applied by analogy to our issues.

The Guardian: France’s constitutional council rejects 75% tax rate

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/uncle-sam-wants-you-if-youre-an-american-in-canada-or-at-least-your-tax/article6799960/?service=mobile

Nothing we didn’t already know. The January 1st deadline has now been blown and supposedly IGA negotiations will continue to a “conclusion” over the next few weeks. Again we need to keep up the fight in the new year. I just wanted to let everyone know in case comments open up on the G&M website. I will be contacting Barrie myself later this evening.