Petros offers a new series of posts in which he critiques the Internal Revenue Code. He compares it to two other law codes, (1) the Torah and the Ten Commandments; (2) the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This is the first instalment to introduce the series. (Cross-posted from the Righteous Investor)
Give the Taxpayer Advocate Service a piece of your mind.
The Taxpayer Advocate Service posted a link on their Twitter feed asking for people to offer suggestions on how to reform the US tax system. Maybe everyone should send them some concerns they have? You won’t receive a response but the page says “Your suggestions are compiled and reviewed by the National Taxpayer Advocate.” It certainly wouldn’t hurt to let them know what we all think of FATCA and FBARs, and it is anonymous. I’ve already put in my two cents. Hope you all will too!
Citizenship renunciations soar under Obama – Renouncing U.S. citizenship as an act of self-defense
Cross posted from RenounceUScitizenship (where there is an updated version)
Learn why many U.S. citizens living outside the United States view the renunciation of U.S. citizenship as the only patriotic option.
Renouncing U.S. Citizenship as Self Defense – The Life Of A U.S. Citizen Living in Canada Continue reading
A Day in the Life of an American Emigrant
I posted this a couple of days ago on the Flophouse blog after reading a few too many comments about “evil tax evaders living it up on the Riviera” and then promptly moved on to other things. It was then shared on Reddit by a fellow blogger here in France, Overseas Exile (good blog, great guy and he writes about FATCA) and it caused a mild stir. Some of the comments were quite encouraging. Others were less so. So, here it is. Just my experience. Curtis stopped by and explained why he shared it on Reddit, “I really appreciated your original post because honestly, most folks really don’t know what it’s like to be outside the US. In fact, I suspect that many Americans would be surprised to find out that we get up, go to work, go home, eat dinner and go to bed just like they do — we just do it in a different country.”
The rationale behind FATCA: 30-year IRS vet
30-year IRS vet writes, as a veteran litigator for the IRS who is now in private practice, about the IRS and about the rationale behind FATCA.
1,781 Americans renounced citizenship in 2011, according to the Federal Register
The Federal Register has just published the names of 360 former Americans who renounced citizenship in the fourth quarter of 2011. This brings the total number of published renunciants for last year to 1,781, compared to 1,485 for 2010. This includes 499 from January to March, 519 from April to June, 403 from July to September, and 360 from October to December. Internal Revenue Code Section 6039G requires that “[n]otwithstanding any other provision of law, not later than 30 days after the close of each calendar quarter, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register the name of each individual losing United States citizenship (within the meaning of section 877 (a) or 877A) with respect to whom the Secretary receives information under the preceding sentence during such quarter.” It’s an open question whether this list is actually complete. The RenunciationGuide.com website has expressed concerns about the completeness and quality of the data. International tax lawyer Andrew Mitchel at one point concluded that this list should only contain “covered expatriates”, but later re-examined the issue and concluded that it contains the names of all former Americans who lost citizenship in the period in question.
Update: Andrew Mitchel also just put up some nice charts on his blog with the number of published renunciants by year and by quarter, going back to 2004.
Tagline changed: removal of "in Canada and"
Some discussion in a recent thread has caused me to change the tagline of the Isaac Brock Society by removing the words “in Canada and”. I think this gave the wrong impression that, because US persons in Canada started this blog, we see it as a Canada-only fight. But from the beginning we have encouraged our international contingent of writers and participants.
Keeping Tabs – More Banks "Firing" US Clients
The following item is an excerpt from Rubinstein & Rubinstein, LLP:
January 29, 2012
U.S. Clients Not Welcome at Offshore Banks
We’ve been keeping a tally of foreign banks that no longer welcome U.S. clients. While UBS and Credit Suisse have been closing offshore accounts for U.S. clients and transferring the clients to on-shore, tax-compliant divisions, other offshore banks have been firing U.S. clients outright.
Comment from a 30-year IRS vet
We received the following comment from 30 Year IRS Vet:
This web site is a wonderful opportunity for people to vent about the new IRS initiative to focus on offshore compliance. I would guess that most people fall into one of two categories: those who are “off the grid” and do not file nor do they have any intention of becoming compliant with their US federal tax obligations and those who are sincerely attempting to figure this all out and determine what to do and then make a good faith effort to comply.
DFAIT Info Section on Dual Nationality
I thought it would interesting to post a link to DFAIT (Canada’s ministry of Foreign Affairs) info section on dual nationality.
http://www.voyage.gc.ca/publications/dual-citizenship_double-citoyennete-eng
Some interesting points they make:
You are a dual citizen if you are recognized by more than one country as a citizen. In some cases, you may not be aware that you are a citizen of another country. Dual, or multiple, citizenship may occur by choice or default and result from: