Today I got curious about who actually designed this horrific albatross around our necks called FATCA. I found out that one responsible person is J. Richard (Dick) Harvey, who proudly says he was one of the architects of FATCA. He has published an article that discusses his perception of FATCA, how it came to be, issues with it and what he sees as recommendations needed to make FATCA successful. His article consistently refers to “tax cheats” (29 times), and there is no discussion of how this would affect regular, normally law-abiding people. He argues extensively for GATCA. His paper, Offshore Accounts: Insider’s Summary of FATCA and Its Potential Future’ can be found at:
2011, not 1997, had the largest number of reported expatriates
Over on the International Tax Blog, it was reported that 1997 had more Americans renouncing their citizenship than in 2011 (1,812 versus 1,781). I was very skeptical of this number and it was Tim who finally gave me the information needed to solve this riddle. He linked to a GOA report that mentioned in passing what happened. First, the IRS keeps a CLN (Certificate of Loss of Nationality) database. (that would be an interesting FOI request). 1994 was the last year the IRS was tracking CLNs by year. By the time they were required to track this again (the 1996 HIPAA law), they couldn’t distinguish the data from 1995, 1996 and 1997. The GAO report states that they reported these renunciations in a group.
Thus, each of those three years had, on average, 604 renunciations, making 2011 the largest number of American renunciations in history. As you can see from the graph below, the numbers now look “correct” and there is, indeed, a sharp upswing in the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship.
I have expanded a bit on this explanation at the Overseas Exile blog.
Thank you from a Fellow Brocker — We’re all in this together!
Greetings to All from Julian (especially Just Me, FromtheWilderness, Blaze and Em after their recent speculation on whether or not Julian was a “Brocker” and their invitation for Julian to join Isaac Brock if not).
I have just noticed all the comments about me at Isaac Brock and want to thank all of you for your kind words. I can’t do so without giving up my identity, either under my Brock pseudonym or by opening another account under my real name, so I am asking calgary411 to be my go-between.
I (calgary411) have the pleasure of knowing Julian and count him as a special friend through all of this. I, too respect the many literate comments (virtually well thought-out essays) Julian has tirelessly posted on countless media news stories (and here), to the benefit of us all. I’m glad to do this for Julian.
I count myself amongst the number here – and am especially indebted to all of you for your insights, hard research and personal thoughts so willingly shared. We are all in this together, working for one goal! Isaac Brock has been one of the few bright spots in this whole mess.
I (calgary411) second that, Julian. Don’t we all know that!
Words to Avoid in Posting?
The Daily Mail in the UK has published a list of words monitored by department of Homeland Security. Many of them are used on this site quite regularly (and innocently). People have often wondered if the IRS is monitoring the site, perhaps it’s not just the IRS but the DHS, as well.
“The Department of Homeland Security has been forced to release a list of keywords and phrases it uses to monitor social networking sites and online media for signs of terrorist or other threats against the U.S.”
Words include Mexico, disaster, jihad, law enforcement, collapse, plot, closure.
The conscience of a lawyer and “The FBAR Fundraiser”
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship.
Having a license to practise law (bar admission) does not a lawyer make.
Admission to the Bar, gives an individual the legal right to conduct oneself as a lawyer. A lawyer operates within a specific construct of ethics and morality. The American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct make it clear that
A lawyer has an obligation to the client that is more important than loyalty to any other person or entity. This principle is made clear in Rule 1.7 of The American Bar Association Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Rule 1.7 clarifies that a lawyer should not act for a client if there exists any conflict of interest. It reads as follows:
Continue reading
Roger Conklin asks, “Is Romney an accidental Mexican Citizen as reported?”
Since Arrow has been having fun at the Vancouver Sun, with his “What if” scenario of Kenya adopting the U.S. citizenship taxation regime, why stop there? Roger Conklin suggests that maybe we could get Romney’s campaign attention on a similar issue that may relate to him. Continue reading
Compliance counseling is like a box of chocolates – “You never know what your gonna get” – Circular 230 vs. the fiduciary duty to the client
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship.
The Isaac Brock Society is becoming a interest place to “hang out”. At least this is true for many U.S. citizens living abroad who are desperately attempting to ensure that they are in U.S. tax compliance Many people are grappling with how to be compliant on a “going forward” basis. Others are trying to figure out to deal with “past compliance issues”. There are of course a number of ways to come into compliance. What all these people have in common is a desire to be U.S. tax compliant. Yet, the IRS seems hell bent on continuing on treating U.S. citizens living abroad as though they are tax cheats. For many U.S. citizens living abroad the emotional strain is such that they are driven to renounce U.S. citizenship. This is the price of a good nights sleep.
So, what’s a poor U.S. citizen living abroad to do? Well, they consult a “cross border professional” where they get advice that comes in all shapes, sizes and perspectives. The advice is so varied that it reminds me of the line in Forrest Gump:
“Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”
When it comes to “compliance counseling” – You never know what you’re gonna get.” Continue reading
Renunciation rates in Europe: five Swedes renounced citizenship in 2010
Following up on my last post about renunciation rates in Asia, here’s some extracts from EuroStat’s loss of citizenship table, which I ran across recently. (Like last time, all diaspora population figures are taken from the Global Migrant Origins Database, and don’t include ethnic descendants with other citizenships). The EuroStat data is not very good for longitudinal comparisons, since it only shows one or two years, but there’s still some interesting things to be learned from it. One of many instructive cross-sectional comparisons:
United States
- Diaspora population: 2.2 million
- Homeland population: 310 million
- Latest renunciation figure: 1,781 (2011; including former green-card holders)
- Renunciations per 100k diaspora population: 81
- Renunciations per 100k homeland population: 0.53
Sweden
- Diaspora population: 300,000
- Homeland population: 9.3 million
- Latest renunciation figure: 5 (2010)
- Renunciations per 100k diaspora population: 1.66
- Renunciations per 100k homeland population: 0.032
TD Waterhouse FATCA Privacy Waiver Form
We have the smoking gun right here. I believe the fact that TD is now publishing this document is enough to now start making formal complaints to the Privacy Commissioner’s Office both in Ottawa and her provincial counterparts. If the Privacy Commisioners office won’t do anything then I believe the courts are now an available avenue. Lawyer up as they say. It might also be worthwhile to forward this form to the lawyer I recommended several months ago for his take.
http://www.tdwaterhouse.ca/products-services/investing/documentation-index.jsp
http://www.tdwaterhouse.ca/document/PDF/apply/forms/tdw-apply-forms-591856-di.pdf
I believe that by publishing the above linked form TD is now in VIOLATION of Canadian law and is now subject to whatever legal action IBS members want to throw at them. (Note: there is no definition at this point of who exactly even is a US citizen and I suspect many of us don’t even consider ourselves to be ones in our own minds).
Out of the fry pan: on playing musical trading accounts (UPDATED)
Update: I am happy and relieved to say that the rest of my US positions have been moved now to TD Waterhouse. It is now only a matter of getting them to transfer any remaining dividends will be paid on the 15th of June. Also, I’ve learned the reason for Penson Worldwide’s financial woes: a bad bet on a horse race track.
(NB: I’ve started to see my final positions show from Questrade show up in my TD Waterhouse US funds account after I published this post–so good news. I’ve got my fingers crossed for now.)
In the Spring of 2011, when I was in the process of getting out of the United States tax system, my lawyer advised that I move my accounts out of TD Waterhouse into a company that had no holdings in the United States, as he thought the US could hold TD’s US assets as leverage against me. So I took his advice, and moved my bank accounts to a credit union and my investment accounts to Questrade, a Canadian only company. Thus, if things got nasty with FATCA, I would create distance between me and the United States. I wonder how many US laws I broke doing this.