Michael Sardar, “The FBAR and the Fifth Amendment” Journal of Taxation 111 (2009) 180-182.
The article argues that a substantial hazard of criminal charges exists if a person files a late FBAR. Therefore, on Fifth Amendment grounds, an argument can be made for not filing the FBAR at all. The first time filer says with the FBAR filing,
“I have a foreign bank account and have not reported it previously,” with the inevitable question arising whether the account existed in prior years.
This topic is such a source of anger and high anxiety that I wanted to comment on this in a separate post.
I don’t believe it is possible (without the individual facts) as to whether the RRSP (although in terms of fairness no retirement plan should be included) to treat this as a “one size fits all question”. I expressed my thoughts on this before in a post called “Canadian RRSPs and the OVDI Penalty Base“.
Here is how I think the arguments about RRSPs should be made: Continue reading
Please watch the YouTube video (audio on please) and comment about what the images and nuances mean for you today.
Please find below a very interesting article from Switzerland which a frequent contributor to the site, Skay, has found. I have reposted this here on the main page to increase the visibility of this article.
Skay says (from a post on the relinquishment thread):
If you can read French, a good article just appeared today in today’s Swiss Hebdo entitled “Hounded Americans are giving up their passports.”
In it, the Director of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce says, “Double nationals who have no real need of their American passport are well advised to give it up, because it has become too onerous to keep it.”
A new Barrie McKenna piece is up at the G&M website.
Key Quotes:
Conspicuously absent from the statement was Canada.
This is the comment of the day, from omghe’sstillanamerican:
Yes the UK talks about collecting foreign account information of residents of their own countries while the Treasury department issued this gem (Bloomberg Businessweek):
“When taxpayers overseas avoid paying what they owe, other Americans have to bear a disproportionate share of the tax burden,” Emily McMahon, the Treasury’s acting assistant secretary for tax policy, said in the press release. “FATCA is an important part of the U.S. government’s effort to address that issue and these regulations implement FATCA in a way that is targeted and efficient.”
News Flash: The United States government is so desperate for cash that the IRS has put the RRSP back into the penalty base for the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative. You can read about here and at the Serbinski Forum (see comments by Tacova and tsanaha).
Imagine that. The United States is now raiding the retirement accounts of Canadians. Way to take the high ground Mr. Shulman. Way!
Yesterday I received a computer-generated letter from the IRS regarding the first of four 1040 returns I sent in mid-December. I check the mailbox everyday, thinking the notice from hell may arrive, though I really did not expect to hear a word for months. So I wondered before opening it, am I about to lose my sense of calm gained by renouncing and trying to focus, at least occasionally, on something else. I posted a bit about this yesterday but was unable to copy/paste the letter; Petros asked today that I include it in a new post.
A Treasury official said in a conference call with reporters that more countries may join the “FATCA partners” list.
“We’ve had numerous conversations with other governments beyond the five that are cited,” the official said.
Asked about Canada’s exclusion from the list of five countries, a senior government official with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the United States “was open to exploring a similar arrangement with Canada.”
Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said the ministry had raised “serious concerns” about FATCA with the United States.
“Today’s announcement appears to demonstrate an interest in greater joint government collaboration to address such concerns. We will continue to work with our American counterparts towards an approach acceptable to both our countries,” he said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/us-usa-tax-treasury-fatca-idUSTRE8171G620120208
www.IRS.gov/newsroom Public Contact: 800.829.1040
Treasury, IRS Issue Proposed Regulations for FATCA Implementation
IR-2012-15, Feb. 8, 2012
WASHINGTON— The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service today issued proposed regulations for the next major phase of implementing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
Enacted by Congress in 2010, the law targets non-compliance by U.S.taxpayers using foreign accounts.
