There was a request for posting of this Financial Post article of a few days ago. I, too, thought it an excellent piece and made a few comments.
An unnecessary overreaching of U.S. tax law into Canada by Prof. Vern Krishna, CM, QC, LSM, tax counsel with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP and executive director of the CGA Tax Research Centre at the University of Ottawa.
Cross-posted from RenounceUScitizenship.
This is a response to the email from Professor Green. Note to members of the Isaac Brock Society: This post is in part, an attempt to consolidate a number of the comments to Professor Green’s email.
Dear Professor Green:
U.S. citizens abroad – Democrats, Republicans and Independents – thank you for the “FBAR/FATCA Task Force” and we note with gratitude that:
Your FBAR/FATCA Task Force has been working steadily to seek relief for overseas Americans facing onerous tax reporting burdens.
Furthermore, your six proposals would be welcomed by U.S. citizens abroad – to be specific:
- 1. Define a foreign or offshore account as an account in a country other than one’s country of residence or the US, thereby recognizing the legitimate need for local banking services;
- 2. Raise the FATCA reporting threshold to $1 million to put the focus on taxpayers with wealth sizeable enough to justify the costly and complex investment structures normally used to conceal assessable earnings;
- 3. Index the reporting threshold to inflation so that it goes up every year just as the Section 911 income exclusion does;
- 4. Add a provision that excuses anyone who does not owe taxes (because of the Section 911 exclusion or any other exemption or a tax treaty) from the obligation to file form 8938, regardless of the threshold reporting;
- 5. Merge the FBAR reporting requirement with the developing FATCA legislation to eliminate duplication in filings; and
- 6. Offer amnesty to overseas Americans who are delinquent taxpayers, inviting them to pay what they may owe and restore their status as tax-compliant citizens. (See our opening remarks for our success in this area.)
That said, your proposals are merely an attempt to improve the conditions of the prison of citizenship-based taxation. You are essentially just accepting the ideas of citizenship-based taxation, FATCA, FBAR and the rest. Gotta be in prison anyway. Why not put the effort into getting along better with the guards!
Continue reading
This story has been all over the news this morning in Canada and there is even a Facebook page now up.
Here is the Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/CondemnTDoniranians
This might be an opportunity for Brockers make allies among “other” groups of Canadians.
Dear Democrats Abroad member,
Your FBAR/FATCA Task Force has been working steadily to seek relief for overseas Americans facing onerous tax reporting burdens. This is an update on developments related to taxation of overseas Americans and on our advocacy work.
A New IRS Program for those who have not filed
The Internal Revenue Service has made a significant concession to overseas voters who present little or no risk to tax avoidance. On Tuesday June 26, 2012, the IRS announced it will provide a new option to help some U.S. citizens and others residing abroad who haven’t been filing tax returns and provide them a chance to catch up with their tax filing obligations if they owe little or no back taxes. The new procedure will go into effect on Sept. 1, 2012. See these postings on the IRS website for the details of the new program:
www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=256772,00.html and
www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=258431,00.html
[Auther’s Note: the above urls are correct, but if you cannot open them directly when you lick the hyperlink, simply copy and paste the addresses in your browser window.]
After waiting for 3 long years, a story about FATCA was finally heard on some NPR stations around the Nation. This was created by PRI (Public Radio International). They have a daily radio show which they do in conjunction with the BBC, and it comes out of WGBH in Boston. It is appropriately called, The World. You can listen to the story here: What FATCA Did to American Bank Customers in Switzerland Coming on the heels of the CBC interview on Canada Day, it is good these stories are finally being heard by a wider audience.
More good media news
Thanks to ACA member, Dorothy, who brought Expats Radio to ACA’s attention, ACA now have relationship with them. The first ACA interview is NOW on their website. This will be the first of many and they will be working with them to help ACA reach a wider audience. You can listen to an interview with MaryLouise Serrato here.
Expats Radio informs ACA they have over 250,0000 visitors each month, plus they have a catalogue sharing agreement with NPR radio. This means ACA will be available to be heard on NPR and hopefully reach a deeper audience in the US.
EVERYONE is Eligible to Free File!
http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html
Everyone? Including Americans abroad? Even those with foreign addresses, senior citizens, the working middle class or the wealthy?
if you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, the rules for filing income… are generally the same whether you are living in the U.S. or abroad.
http://www.irs.gov/businesses/article/0,,id=180946,00.html
The rules for filing income are generally the same for those living abroad? Really? Seems hard to believe. Let’s put it to the test.
Here is the link to the CBC Radio (New Brunswick) of the interview with Profs. Russ Hunt and Marie Cashion:
They have asked for feedback:
infoam [at] fredericton [dot] cbc [dot] ca ; or talk back at 1-800-561-4222 (I don’t know if this number works outside of NB).
Former Pennsylvania police officer officer, Larry Hohol, has produced a video which exposes corruption in State of Pennsylvania regarding the case of New Yorker Robert Leone.
My plea with those who are planning to visit the United State that you realize that there are far greater risks with that country than just simply your fear of the IRS. The corruption is becoming systemic. At the end of the video, Mr. Hohol compares Pennsylvania to a Third World country. I laughed with bitter chagrin when he said that. Does anyone here believe that the United States isn’t already a police state?
[As a concession to Just Me’s being startled by the graphic photo of Robert Leone, I’ve moved the embed of the youtube video to after the “read more” click; Warning the video is somewhat graphic and violent, and the material may shock your pro-American sensibilities]
Those of you who are not on the USTAX [at] stu [dot] ca listsrv that Russ Hunt is operating will not have received the following message:
I’ve added some information to my US Tax Web site about the recent announcement from the IRS announcement that it intends “to help dual citizens residing in Canada deal with their US tax filing obligations” and to “offer assistance to those with Canadian retirement plans.”
I was prompted to do a bit of research and add it to the site by the news that the IRS initiative had been “welcomed” by Jim Flaherty, and by a request to do an interview with the local CBC Information Morning show. Marie Cashion and I will be on at 7:15 tomorrow morning. If you’ve up at that hour on a holiday weekend, congratulations; you can hear it on line at http://cbc.ca/nb ; if not, sometimes interviews are posted on the Web site. In any case, my expectation is that it will be much more useful to have a look at my site:
http://people.stu.ca/~hunt/ustaxinfo/
— Russ
Steven J. Mopsick, 30 year IRS vet, commented on the procedures announced by the IRS 26 June 2012:
NEW FILING PROCEDURE
FOR AMERICANS ABROAD: TOO LITTLE BUT NOT TOO LATE
On June 26, 2012, the IRS announced a new filing compliance procedure for non-resident U.S taxpayers. The procedure provides that current non-residents including dual citizens, who have not filed U.S. income tax and information returns, may file three years of delinquent tax returns and six years of delinquent FBAR’s without fear of IRS punishment. Provided the delinquent returns are (a)“simple returns,” (b) the IRS determines that the taxpayer’s package presents a “low level of compliance risk” (c) and the returns show less than $1,500 of tax due for each year, the taxpayer can expect an expedited review process possibly resulting in no assertion of penalties or further follow up procedures. The notice makes it clear that this new procedure is not a substitute for a voluntary disclosure nor the more formal OVDI 27.5% tribute program and that if a taxpayer has a well-founded worry about the risk of criminal prosecution he better consult a lawyer.
