Apparently, Canada’s President of the Treasury Board, Tony Clement is sharing some advice with President Obama on how to run a government. But then the Canadian government doesn’t ‘have the checks and balances purposely enumerated in the U.S. Constitution to inhibit’ it.
Some more possible activism to bring this issue to the attention of Washington
Following Swisspinoy’s inspiration from his letter writing to HUD and VA on inability to get a mortgage, I also looked at a number of ways to creatively complain, get the message across, or otherwise be a pain in the neck to those powers that be in Washington. I too face the dreaded mortgage and banking issues in Switzerland. Thus I would like to share the following, with the hope that as many Brockers as possible also find them useful and start flooding their inboxes and filling out complaint forms.
In addition to the HUD antidiscrimination statutes on mortgage lending per Swisspinoy, there is indeed a number of other Washington agencies concerned with discrimination and fair treatment, etc..
- The Consumer Product Protection Bureau, http://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/, allows you to file a complaint on numerous banking topics, ie. Credit cards, mortgages, bank account, etc.. I would say it is fair game to use this interface to complain about our issues even though it is cleary geared toward the 50 states (no surprise there). Even if everyone just generically complains about the exterritorial reach of FATCA, someone will start to get the message. Continue reading
Need Power of Attorney to Purchase US Property?
A little while back, I wrote about my US home purchase adventure. The latest thing on the topic is that I can’t purchase the home from abroad and would have to fly to the US or get a power of attorney. Thoughts? I’m quite clueless on legal matters.
I was talking to a bank today and they stated that if I have property in the US, then I’m considered to be “taxed by the US”, which could still possibly classify me as being a “US person” even if I don’t have US citizenship and am not taxed on non-US-income, meaning that banks could still deny me banking services. I’ll have to clarify this, but it’s probably to soon in the process to get an answer. Some banks are still unsure if they will provide US persons with banking services and it is not yet established who exactly is a “US persons”.
IRC code 6677 title 26
Hoping Mr. Mopsick will chime in on this, but it seems every time I read something and begin to understand it, it either changes or I cannot find the text for clarification.
My understanding of the Internal Revenue Code 6677, specifically title 26, was that the IRS could not penalize you for more than the account was worth (for failure to file paperwork). In other words, if the gross reportable amount of an account was 1000 dollars, the penalty would be 10k, or 35% of 1000, but in no case would said penalty exceed 1000 ( in this case).
It seems that an individual on one of the tax forms has been penalized 10k for a 1000 dollar account. Now…this individual does go on to mention that, when confirmed he did send a reasonable cause letter for his late filing of a 3520 form, the IRS agent told him on the phone to ignore the fine.
Introducing PATCA, the culinary equivalent of FATCA
Comment of the day, from Virg:
Here is an analogy on FATCA. Let’s say a country (call it country A) prohibits its citizens from eating pork. So the country A says to the other 192 countries of the world: we want to make sure our expat citizens are not eating pork in your country. Therefore all restaurants globally must certify with our country A government that they are not serving pork to any of our expat citizens. For each restaurant that does not certify with our government, we will penalize your country by withholding 1% of any payments on import-export trade to your country. In other words, you must enforce our law in your country.
Let’s call this new law, Pig Aversion Total Compliance Act: PATCA.
See also: Introducing KFOR–solving the US Federal deficit one foreign kitten at a time
Australian Government wants YOU to tell them what to do about FATCA
Submissions accepted until September 28. My impression is anyone can submit but Australian residents/citizens probably have more influence.
Is there anyway ACA will change their policy of we don’t lobby foreign governments just once on this one or are we all going to have to do this on our own.
British want their own version of FATCA
Interviews on Swiss TV: Bank employees upset about their names being disclosed to the US.
Last night the Radio Télévision Suisse program « Toutes taxes comprises » covered the issue, already discussed here at IBS, of Swiss banks sharing information about their employees with US authorities.
53% of Homelanders want to raise taxes to save Social Security. What do U.S. Persons abroad say?
A recent poll conducted jointly by the Associated Press and GfK Custom Research finds that 53% of Homelanders are in favour of raising taxes and raising the retirement age in an attempt to save Social Security, against 35% who would prefer cutting benefits. There was a big split along partisan lines, with 65% of Democrats and 53% of independents agreeing with higher taxes, against 38% of Republicans.
GfK conducted the poll in English and Spanish in an effort to be inclusive, but of course there’s one demographic group they didn’t bother to survey: U.S. Persons abroad — this despite the fact that many are subject to FICA taxes.
Continue reading
HUD complaint on housing discrimination vanished into thin air and VA Home Loans won’t do jack
On the July 23, 2012, I filed a complaint on housing discrimination with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. On housing discrimination, HUD writes:
Housing discrimination based on your race, color, national origin, religion, sex, family status, or disability is illegal by federal law. If you have been trying to buy or rent a home or apartment and you believe your rights have been violated, you can file a fair housing complaint.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
In Switzerland, one has to refinance one’s mortgage every few years. Yet, as a direct result of US policy, the following banks personally told me that they will not refinance my mortgage since I am a “US Person”:
- Raiffeisen
- Bank Coop
- AXA Bank
- Migros Bank
- NAB
- Valiant Bank AG
- SwissLife
- Hypothekarbank Lenzburg
- Swissquote Bank
- FinanzZentrum Jungfrau AG
Concerning my mortgage history, the current lender wrote:
All experiences with [SwissPinoy] and the bank have been very positive. There has never been a problem with any of their business relations. We are very pleased with all of our dealings with [SwissPinoy]. Our experiences would indicate that there is a high degree of integrity and responsibility in the way [SwissPinoy] conducts their financial affairs. Therefore, we consider them to be respectable, honest, trustworthy and of good standing and repute. This data is based on actual data and experience.
The Swiss government informed me that banks have the legal right to deny individuals mortgages based on national origin. However, since this action is the result of US policy, I filed a complaint with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. After several days, I received no response and so I called HUD and was advised to call back in about 3 weeks. Today, I was finally able to reach someone and was informed that my complaint was not on file. It had vanished. I explained that I’m probably the only US person in Switzerland who has a mortgage and was advised to resubmit the complaint.
HUD will only help Americans who are harmed by US policy in the 50 States and US territories. Americans citizens who are harmed by the US government in other nations are ignored by the US government and left on their own.
Well, no worries. I’m a US veteran and the US Home Loan program allows veterans to purchase their primary residence.
The VA Home Loan program allows veterans with qualifying income and credit to purchase a primary residence without putting any money down towards the sale price of the home, as long as that sale price does not exceed the appraised value of the home.
US Department of Veterans Affairs
So, I called VA to inquire if they would help me to refinance my mortgage since banks are refusing to lend me money simply because I’m a US veteran. Well, the US Department of Veterans Affairs informed me that it does not help American veterans who are denied mortgages for being US persons as a result of US policy. This shows that the US government is not only willing to harm innocent American citizens who served the country and are living abroad, but that it will then do nothing for them afterwards.