Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

THE TERM “ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN [Citizen]” SHOULD NOT BE USED BECAUSE THE TERM IS NOT ACCURATE

Posted on by Posted in Law & Morality 86 Comments

Let’s try this again:

Assume that you, a long-time citizen and resident of France, were born in the U.S. and left U.S. at age four hours after birth, never to return AND you never developed any ties (passport whatever) with U.S. AND never wanted, and do not want, and refuse to accept imposition of U.S. citizenship on your French citizen person — notwithstanding a birth citizenship law of a foreign country (the U.S.).

A lot of people in this post want to define you as an “Accidental American Citizen”, apparently because they feel that this is a useful, easy to digest and understand, term.

But you say: “No way people — I don’t accept U.S. imposition of non-meaningful citizenship that I don’t want and I TELL YOU THAT I AM NOT AN AMERICAN CITIZEN I AM ONLY A CITIZEN OF FRANCE”.

So given the scenario above and your position as a human person, is it accurate or not to say that you are an American citizen?

Does the majority vote that you must defer to a foreign citizenship law that trumps your right to say no way?

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US Senate Finance Committee Chair Calls for Feedback on Tax Reform – Deadline 17 July

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Thanks to JC for finding this information and for the text of this post, which he posted as a comment on the Media thread this evening:

Hatch Calls for Feedback on Tax Reform

The Senate Finance Committee is yet again asking the general public to send comments on tax reform. The deadline is July 17, and the email address is taxreform2017@finance.senate.gov.

https://www.finance.senate.gov/chairmans-news/hatch-calls-for-feedback-on-tax-reform

Maybe I’ll just dust off my previous submissions to the Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee. Maybe ADCS should send them the fine multipart/multimedia submission sent previously to the Senate Finance Committee international work group on tax reform.

They claim that these submissions will be private. I don’t mind to have a submission placed on a website somewhere.

They don’t have a specific category that fits our case. #4 talks about international and competitiveness yet also has the words “preserve our tax base.”

I don’t see a “simplification” category, or a “fairer” category.

If we send submissions in perhaps they will be categorized under the 4 categories provided. Instead of getting drowned out in the individual person tax category, as I imagine there will be a vast majority from Homelanders in this category, maybe best to angle it as international, category #4.

Already a month has passed since this request. The 17th is this coming Monday.

Perhaps this call for submissions has not been broadcast widely. That would mean something less than a mountain of submissions, so more opportunity to impact.

 

Refreshing: @SophieintVeld calls EU answer to plight of #AccidentalAmericans “bullshit”

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad, Law & Morality 84 Comments

Many thanks @Embee for providing the link to the spectacle in her comments here and here. The latter comment included:

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Khadr apology and settlement about violation of Charter rights, Trudeau says

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Cross posted from the Renounce U.S. Citizenship blog.

Now …

Prologue 2014:

(Those who need a “reset” in terms of the issues in the “Alliance For The Defence of Canadian Sovereignty Lawsuit” should watch the complete video here.)

Canada in 2017:

The article referenced in the above tweet includes:

On Friday, the government confirmed a payment had been made to Khadr to settle a longstanding lawsuit. Khadr’s suit claimed Canada had violated his rights and was complicit with the United States when he was detained at the U.S. base in Cuba, denied access to a lawyer and tortured.

The Supreme Court of Canada in 2010 ruled Khadr’s rights had been violated.

The apology sparked fresh public debate about Khadr, but Trudeau says the settlement is not about the details of Khadr’s case but the fact his rights were violated.

Trudeau says the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects all Canadians, “even when it is uncomfortable.”

“When the government violates any Canadian’s Charter rights, we all end up paying for it,” he said.

Trudeau says the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects all Canadians, “even when it is uncomfortable”

Pierre Trudeau would have believed that the Charter of Rights of protects all Canadians. Justin Trudeau doesn’t believe that. In theory constitutional (including Charter rights) are great things. In practice “rights” often make people feel uncomfortable.

The examples of Canadians with a “U.S. taint” and Mr. Khadr make people uncomfortable. That is perhaps why both really are “Charter of Rights” cases!

(Of course the Supreme Court of Canada has not (unlike in the case of Mr. Khadr) YET ruled that the rights of Canadians with a “U.S. taint” have been violated. Perhaps, that is the real difference.)

In conclusion …

#Americansabroad: “Ask NOT what the Homeland can do for you! Ask what you can do for the Homeland!

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reposted from renounceuscitizenship blog

homelanders reachout
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What follows is the full text of the Facebook post referenced in the above link. Really now, it’s time to understand that taxation is NOT the price you pay for Government services (or certainly not civilization). It’s something you are required to pay to support the Homeland. Homelanders abroad, Accidental Americans and other dual citizens, academics, and those opposing FATCA, FBAR, PFIC, CBT and other forms of U.S. extra-territorial harassment should really be asking:
 
“Ask not what the Homeland can do for you! Ask what you can do for the Homeland?”

I posted this to my 400 “friends” on Facebook. It’s great to see and hear their disgust when they become enlightened about what the US government is doing to its own citizens. Also had some friends from Iran say, “gee and I thought my government was bad” I also copied in the testimonial videos for good measure. We have to get the word out that this impacts all Americans and the USA as a nation. Hiding in fear and not speaking up will get us nowhere.

“Guys, most of you know I’ve lived overseas for close to 20 years. Let me warn my fellow Americans to not try to live and work outside the USA for an extended amount of time. The US government and IRS with it crazy laws has now made Americans living overseas “rejects”, while the rest of the world is free to work and live where they please completely unburdened by their home country. The US is unfortunately intent on destroying its network of US citizens living abroad in order to maybe catch a few rich American tax cheats that live in the US.
The US is the only country in the world that taxes on citizenship alone and forces foreign banks to give all banking account info on US citizens to the IRS, regardless of where they live. Mind you, the US gives these countries no information in return, and that has made the USA the biggest tax haven for the rich from the rest of the world.

Foreign banks are now as a result denying and cancelling American’s bank accounts, cancelling mortgages, or just won’t sell you financial products since the filing hassle for them to the IRS has become too much and it’s just easier to get rid of US Americans as customers.
Companies also don’t want you if you are American and have signing authority, since the IRS wants all of that company’s info too and most companies see no point and just refuse you the job and take anyone with any other nationality.

You are also supposed to file all sorts of forms each year declaring your bank accounts and insurance to the IRS even though you might owe no tax due to some treaty and if you get 1 thing wrong, you get a fine of $10k to $50k per form. You also need to hire an expensive accountant that understands US tax, while you of course hire another local accountant for your local tax, which is already much higher than the US.

If you sell any property here, the US also wants a piece of that too, even if you already paid tax here on it. If you get a pension from a company, the US will want some of that too. All while you will get $0 Social Security and not ever qualify for Medicare, and anything you need from an US Embassy, even evacuated from a hostile country, you have to pay for it. You get 0 benefit from being an American overseas.

The result, Americans born and raised in the US and instilled with American values are not allowed to live unburdened overseas and have 0 representation in the US government, yet are supposed to pay taxes twice, have job opportunities lost and have banks refuse you.
If you want to give up citizenship to escape the hassle and be free to live like everyone else, that will cost you $2,500 and maybe a piece of everything you own.

So, I bet you didn’t realize you aren’t free to just leave the US other than on vacation. The rest of the world will leave us behind with their overseas network of citizens and build relations, while Americans will simply just need to stay home to avoid the hassle.

I’m passing this on, because I

realize most of the homeland Americans had no idea about these laws and their consequences made by our own government.”

 

Call for Information Regarding Lack of U.S. Reciprocity #FATCA

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UPDATE

from Eric:

Many thanks Trish for lending us a hand in our search. Documents should be sent to ericmartin2017 at hotmail dot com. We thank in advance our Canadian friends for their help. We too are fighting FATCA with all our energy with one simple im: to win!

I already saw the many responses on Brock. We are grateful, all this is very useful. We intend to milk this idiosyncrasy of our constitution to the fullest.
*******

I’ve received a request from our fellow expats-in-peril Association des Américains Accidentels to search for documents to help them in their litigation.

As of this week, we have hired a lawyer to get a legal opinion re: FATCA.

One of the angle we are pursuing is non reciprocity. Under the French Constitution (article 55) a treaty which is not reciprocal becomes null and void, as simple as that. We are presently looking for all documents written par the IRS/Treasury to US Senators or any other documents emanating from the US Treasury which point to the fact that the US has no intention of making FATCA reciprocal.

We are now in full gear and our aim is to make FATCA null in void in France and perhaps at the European level too. (it is another avenue we are exploring too)

In advance many many thanks,

Eric and Fabien

I have already sent them the letter from Mark Mazur (then Assistant Secretary of Treasury for Tax Policy) to Senator Rand Paul dated Oct 10, 2012.

Please help their legal challenge: Let’s Unite to Defeat FATCA

 

U.S. “culture of penalty” and inflation: First, inflation used to first increase the size of #FBAR penalty base and then increase the size of actual penalties

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 17 Comments

cross-posted from citizenshipsolutions blog
written by John Richardson

Introduction: Penalty as a part of American Culture

The above tweet links to a wide range of examples of America’s culture of penalty.

The purpose of this post is to explore how inflation results in the facilitation of enhanced penalty collection in America today.

What is inflation?

In its simplest terms:

“Inflation is defined as a sustained increase in the general
level of prices for goods and services in a county, and is measured as
an annual percentage change. Under conditions of inflation, the prices
of things rise over time. Put differently, as inflation rises, every
dollar you own buys a smaller percentage of a good or service. When
prices rise, and alternatively when the value of money falls you have
inflation.”

Source: Adam Hayes, CFA

(Note his use of the words “goods and services“. Are
FBAR penalties and the S. 877A Exit Tax consumer goods or
government services?)

Inflation can either be helpful or can be hurtful. Some benefit from
inflation and others are hurt by inflation. At a minimum, inflation will
always erode the value of cash.

Effect of inflation on owners/lenders of cash: When it
comes to cash inflation will hurt the owners/lenders of cash. This is
because inflation will erode the value of cash.

Effect of inflation on borrowers of cash: Inflation
will help he borrowers of cash. This is because inflation erodes the
value of the cash that must be repaid.
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#FEARBar (“Foreign Email Account Report”) update – All indications lead to reporting #offshore email accounts

Posted on by Posted in Issues regarding US persons abroad 35 Comments

Cross posted from the Renounce U.S. Citizenship blog.

The above tweet references a post written four years ago in June of 2013. The post predicted that at some point the United States would require disclosure (in addition to FATCA (Form 8938) and FBAR (FinCen 114) and other forms) the email accounts used by Americans abroad.


That post concluded with my prediction:

The purpose of FBAR and FATCA is to …

Provide the U.S. with information that is outside of its jurisdiction. In other words, the U.S. has no legal right to the information. Therefore, by threatening “life altering” penalties, the U.S. forces its citizens to provide this information to the U.S. government.

If the contents of bank accounts is important, then the contents of an email account would be even more valuable.

You heard it here first:

The next information return that the U.S. will require is the:

“Foreign Email Account Report” – FEARBar for short!

Congress will (like FATCA) unknowingly pass the general legislation (slipped in as part of a Hiring Act) and authorize the IRS to specify the contents of the return. What an Orwellian World!

FEARBar coming to an information return near you!

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Morales-Santana: SCOTUS Makes it Harder for People Born Abroad to U.S. Citizens to Become U.S. Citizens

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cross-posted from the citizenshipsolutions blog

by John Richardson

**********

Prologue:U.S. citizenship is not as attractive as it was

One benefit of U.S. citizenship: If one is a U.S. citizen then one cannot be deported from the USA

Some Green Card holders become U.S. citizens. Some do NOT become U.S.
citizens. Many of those Green Card holders become U.S. citizens in order to avoid the possibility of deportation. Deportation results in expatriation and can (among other things) subject the unfortunate Green Card holder to the S. 877A Expatriation Tax, which can result in significant confiscation of assets. In fact, the S. 877A Expatriation Tax discourages people from seeking Green Cards in the first place. That said, it is only Green Card Holders who are “long term residents” who are subject to the Exit Tax.

The plight of Mr. Morales-Santana: No U.S. citizenship = the possibility of deportation

The facts as described by the court:

In 2000, the Government sought to remove Morales-Santana based on several criminal convictions, ranking him as alien because, at his time of birth, his father did not satisfy the requirement of five years’ physical presence after age 14. An immigration judge rejected Morales-Santana’s citizenship claim and ordered his removal. Morales­ Santana later moved to reopen the proceedings, asserting that the Government’s refusal to recognize that he derived citizenship from his U. S.-citizen father violated the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee.

To be deported or not to be deported – it depends on Mr.Morales-Santana’s claim to U.S. citizenship

In order to avoid deportation, Mr. Morales-Santana needed to establish that he was a U.S. citizen.

In order for the U.S. Government to deport Mr. Morales-Santana, it needs to establish that he was NOT a U.S. citizen.

If you wanted to argue that Mr. Morales-Santana was a U.S. citizen, then how would you make the argument?

Facts: Mr. Morales-Santana was born (1) outside the USA and (2) out of wedlock. He was NOT born to a U.S. citizen parent who met the U.S. “physical presence requirements” to transmit U.S. citizenship! How could he then be a U.S. citizen?

Hmmmmmm ….
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#FATCA and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

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The initial reaction of the Canadian government to FATCA can best be described by a letter then-Finance Minister, the late Jim Flaherty wrote, intended to be placed in major American newspapers.Virtually no one believed there would be any reason for the U.S. to impose this given Canada is a higher tax jurisdiction and owing annual income tax was rather unlikely. Back in 2012, in spite of all the scaremongering created by the IRS and foreign tax compliance practitioners, the underlying hope/belief of “US Persons” in Canada was that it would be impossible to get around the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In spite of the fact that the first Model 1 IGA was released on 26 July 2012 by the US Treasury. The IGA was developed cooperatively with France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom.

The post below was written over a year before the Canadians signed the IGA agreement on Feb 5 2014. Interestingly enough, it was written on the same day as a letter written by Peter Hogg, perhaps THE most important constitutional lawyer in Canada. This letter was sent to the Department of Finance and was welcome news.

“Note that the prohibited grounds of discrimination
include ‘national or ethnic origin’, and the Supreme Court has held that citizenship is an ‘analogous ground’ also prohibited by s. 15(1).”
(Andrews v. Law Society of BC (1989) 1 S.C.R. 143)…
“The point of this letter is to urge the
Government not to agree to an IGA which would call for foreign legislation which would offend s. 15
of the Charter.”

Perhaps I just have a bad memory but it is curious to me now, that there is such a difference in the time some of our main allies signed and when we signed. I only recently (and surprisingly) learned that the U.K. and Germany do not have anything comparable to our Charter. Could that be a reason they were more willing to sign earlier on in the process? Does it mean the Canadian government at first considered the possibility that any action they took would not be able to withstand a Charter Challenge? And if so, what was it that made them change their minds? How did they come to believe they could get away with changing a law to break the law? Bill C-31 is the only of the clearly unconstitutional laws that the Trudeau government refuses to budge on (the others being C-23 C-24 & C-51).

While Canada clearly failed when it had the chance to stand up to the U.S. government, perhaps we can count on the Supreme Court of Canada, in the end, to demonstrate leadership by living up to the ideals enshrined in the Charter.

*******
Reposted from renounceuscitizenship blog on December 21, 2012.

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