UPDATE: September 23, 2015, p.m.
From Lynne:

It looks like when Murray Rankin’s Assistant said “We sent…” , she was referring to Nathan Cullen’s letter.

This afternoon, she sent me the following e-mail attaching the Cullen letter.

Hello Lynne,

I trust you have seen this by now. Please find attached Mr. Cullen’s letter to ministers urgently asking for a delay in transferring information.

Regards,
Maura Parte

Please refer to Nathan Cullen’s letter, as posted here: https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/09/23/letter-from-nathan-cullen-canadian-ndp-finance-critic-to-canadas-minister-of-national-revenue-and-the-finance-minister-requesting-delay-in-fatca-turnover/

******************
AS REPORTED EARLIER TODAY:

Building on Elizabeth May’s letter to the government that Stephen Kish advised about yesterday:

https://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/09/22/letter-from-elizabeth-may-green-party-of-canada-leader-to-canadas-prime-minister-requesting-delay-in-fatca-turnover/

Lynne Swanson reports this morning — thanks, Blaze:

After I contacted the NDP National campaign and Murray Rankin’s office yesterday, I received this reply sent from Murray Rankin’s Assistant at 10:57 last night:

Hello Lynne,
We have sent an urgent letter to the minister. I can provide you with more detail tomorrow.
Maura

I will post any updates when I receive them. I am working on Scott Brison and the Libs.

We’ll stay tuned here and at MapleSandbox for more from Blaze.

(..and I hope the NDP Party Leader, Thomas Mulcair, and other Party candidates will weigh in on the important action of the NDP Deputy Critic for National Revenue for *US-deemed US Persons in Canada*.

[This letter from the Honourable Elizabeth May was prompted by a letter to her from one of our supporters.]

“September 22, 2015

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Canada
Langevin Block
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister,

I am writing to inform you of an urgent deadline that impacts many Canadians, including many of my constituents in Saanich Gulf Islands.

As you are well aware, the Government passed Bill C31 in the spring of 2014, that, amongst its many provisions, implemented an intergovernmental agreement with the United States respecting the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Per the terms of that agreement, the private banking information of hundreds of thousands of Canadian citizens and permanent residents is set to be transferred by Canada Revenue Agency to the IRS on September 23, 2015.

This is unacceptable.

It is a breach of privacy and an attack on citizenship, sovereignty, and access to justice for the Canadian government to allow Canadian banks to send personal financial information of Canadian citizens to another country.

I implore you, Prime Minister, to act now to protect the privacy of Canadian citizens. The IRS is receptive to extension requests and has already granted extensions to other countries. You can, and should, write to the IRS by end of business day and seek an extension from the IRS.

Yours sincerely,

Elizabeth May, OC, MP
Incumbent Candidate for Saanich Gulf Islands
Leader of the Green Party of Canada”

Continue reading →

THIS POST, WRITTEN BY JOHN RICHARDSON, IS CROSS POSTED FROM OUR ADCS-ADSC BLOG.

THE GIST OF THIS POST IS THAT WE NEED TO KEEP THIS SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN GOING FULL STEAM UNTIL THE GOVERNMENT ADVISES THAT IT WILL ASK FOR A DELAY IN SENDING YOUR PRIVATE BANK DATA TO U.S. IRS — OR HAS ALREADY SENT THE DATA:

“As previously posted, ADCS has written the Minister of National Revenue and requested that (in light of familiar considerations) the Government of Canada NOT transfer your FATCA data to the IRS by the September 30, 2015 deadline. In addition (as you know) our lawyers have notified the Government lawyers that they are not required to abide by the September 30 deadline.

The significance of September 23, 2015:

September 23, 2015 has NO legal significance.

It is simply the date that (according to the Government lawyers) the CRA had decided to transfer the data to the IRS. Will they or won’t they? Only their “legal counsel” knows for sure (maybe).

That said, the real issue is whether the Government of Canada intends to comply with the September 30 deadline. If they choose to comply with the September 30 deadline, then the information can be sent any time up to and including September 30, 2015.

Furthermore, the Government of Canada has NO legal obligation to notify us (or anybody else) of their decision.

Therefore, ….

Without a clear statement from the Government of Canada that they have decided to NOT meet the September 30, 2015 deadline your social media campaign must continue.

To put it another way:

If the Government of Canada gives NO indication that it has sent the light, then your job is to continue to make sure that if feels the heat! Use the #StopFATCA hashtag!”

Continue reading →

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/09/21/irs-and-fbi-track-americans-who-renounce-citizenship-why-is-fbi-list-longer/

A new article by Robert Wood highlighting the disparity between IRS and FBI renunciation lists. The Isaac Brock Society is name-checked for its pioneering role in tracking and flagging the inconsistencies in this data. Here’s an excerpt:

The FBI and the IRS don’t agree, yet both are ostensibly tracking the same data: how Americans are giving up their citizenship. For several years, a historical trickle of renunciations of U.S. citizenship has spiked materially. The trickle is now more of an open faucet, though one difficulty in determining the flow is available data. The IRS publishes a list, but many people who have expatriated claim their names are never on the IRS list.

Each three months, there is a public name and shame list published by the Treasury Department based on information from the IRS. The list each quarter is incomplete so the numbers are under-stated, some say considerably. For example, consular expatriations where people do not file exit tax forms with the IRS are apparently not counted. Indeed, the Treasury Department’s published list states explicitly that this is just a list of those about whom the Secretary of the Treasury has data. Statistics are also not available for why people say good-bye.

Now, a new report flagged by Paul Caron backs up the claim that the IRS is undercounting Americans who are renouncing citizenship. The report quotes extensively from Andrew Mitchel, an attorney who specializes in renunciations. Mr. Mitchel compares IRS and FBI data and says the gap between the two sets of figures is significant. Mr. Mitchel credits Canada’s Isaac Brock Society for beginning to track the FBI data in 2013.

In our September 18 ADCS blog post we advised you that, for whatever reason, the United States Department of Treasury will now permit a one year extension, to September 30, 2016, to turn over private bank account information to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, to comply with the U.S. FATCA law. However, the affected country HAS TO ASK FOR THE EXTENSION.

On September 18 we said on the blog:

“Well, it’s been quite a week. At approximately 4:45 p.m. today the IRS issued a notice confirming that the FATCA implementation date will be extended to September 30, 2016. As you know Canada has a Model 1 IGA. Assuming the correctness of the post in the above tweet:

Model 1 IGA Jurisdictions for Which the Obligation to Exchange Is In Effect — For those Model 1 IGA jurisdictions where the obligation to exchange is in effect now, Notice 2015-66 provides that FFIs in that country will be treated as FATCA compliant, and not subject to withholding, so long as the partner jurisdiction notifies the U.S. before September 30 that it requires more time, and “provides assurance that the jurisdiction is making good faith efforts to exchange the information as soon as possible.” Notice 2015-66 does not, however, change the deadline for FFIs to report information to their local tax authority, which remains governed by law of that country.”

We therefore instructed our legal counsel to notify the Government of Canada (and they have) of this development and request that the Government of Canada NOT disclose your banking information to the IRS.

— Today, September 21, we posted a new ADCS blog in which we specifically asked Canada’s Minister of National Revenue, Kerry-Lynne Findlay, a defendant in our lawsuit, to apply for the extension before September 23, the date the private account information is due to be sent to the U.S. IRS.

We said:

September 21, 2015

The Honorable Kerry-Lynne Findlay,
Minister of National Revenue
House of Commons

Dear Minister Findlay,

We have an urgent time-sensitive request regarding our litigation in which you are a defendant, which we believe will be helpful to both plaintiffs and Government defendants, but which needs to be acted on no later than by end of business day September 22, 2015.

We are the chair and co-chair (and legal counsel) of the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty. We are the non-profit organization which is prosecuting the FATCA lawsuit against the Government of Canada. The lawsuit is “live”, “well” and expected to move to full trial in 2016. We are at: http://www.adcs.adsc.ca.

By way of background:

1. On February 5, 2014 the Government of Canada entered into a “Model 1” IGA agreement concerning the imposition of the U.S. FATCA (“Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”) law in Canada.

2. On June 19, 2014 the Government of Canada enacted the FATCA enabling legislation through Bill C-31.

3. On July 1, 2014 FATCA became the law of Canada. The IGA required that Canada (via the CRA) report the banking information of those defined by the U.S. to be U.S. Persons to the IRS

4. The FATCA IGA required that the information be reported no later than September 30, 2015.

5. The Government of Canada has indicated to our legal counsel that it intends to report the banking information of those identified as “U.S. persons” to the IRS on September 23, 2015.

On the afternoon of Friday, September 18, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service issued Notice 2015-66, pursuant to which the deadline for the turnover of FATCA data (for countries with a Model 1 IGA agreement) has been extended for one year. Countries with a Model 1 IGA (including Canada) are no longer required to report to the IRS by September 30, 2015. It is required that Model 1 countries request this extension from the IRS.

See:

IRS extends FATCA Compliance Date for one year to September 30, 2016

Click to access n-15-66.pdf

REQUEST:
In light of the large number of Canadian citizens potentially affected AND in view of the fact that the Government of Canada and the Minister of National Revenue are defendants in the Deegan and Hillis lawsuit AND in view of the fact that the Government is NO longer required to transfer the FATCA data to the IRS we request:

That the Government of Canada apply for the extension, no later than by end of business day September 22, to NOT transfer the data with a view to meeting a September 30, 2015 deadline that is NO longer required.

Clearly, the Government of Canada, irrespective of its FATCA obligations to the United States, has the opportunity to not transfer the private banking information of innocent Canadian citizens to the United States Internal Revenue Service.

Your action in requesting the permitted delay in the transfer would be significant for both plaintiffs and defendants as we move down the litigation road.

Should you need more information I ask that you contact Mr. John Richardson our legal counsel and co-chair. [I included John’s cell phone number for Minister Findlay to make it easy for her to contact our ADCS legal counsel for further information.]

Sincerely,

Dr. Stephen Kish, Chair, Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty
John Richardson, Co-Chair and Legal Counsel

cc:
Andrew Treusch, CRA
John Ossowski, CRA
Kevin Shoom
The Honourable Joseph Oliver

 
UPDATE
 
John Richardson’s first talk will begin in 15 minutes

 
PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN TIMINGS SINCE LAST POSTED

https://www.taxconnections.com/broadcast
 
Start Time

 
• 08:00AM PDT – Los Angeles     09:00AM MDT – Calgary     10:00AM CDT – Chicago

 

• 11:00AM EDT – New York     16:00PM BST – London     17:00PM CES – Paris

 

• 18:00PM IDT – Tel Aviv     23:00PM HKT – Hong Kong     00:00AM JST -Tokyo

 

• 01:00AM AEST – Sydney (Tuesday, 22 September, 2015)

 
 
Schedule
 

 

• 08:00- 09:03 AM PDT AM001 Introduction Kat Jennings and Interview with Keith Redmond Paris, France

 

• 9:03 AM – 10:15 AM002 PDT Michael DeBlis, DeBlis Law, Bloomfield, New Jersey
  What Is FATCA, FBAR, CBT, FCC, OVDP? What Does It All Mean?

 

• 10:15 AM – 11:31 AM003 PDT Ephraim Moss and Joshua Ashman, ExpatTaxProfessionals, U.S. And U.K.
  What Are Your Tax Filing Obligations As A U.S. Citizen Living Abroad?

 

• 11:31 AM – 12:16 PM004 PDT Frank ”Chip” Hider, Hider & Associates, Dallas, Texas
  You Have An Offshore U.S. Account – Criminal, Quiet Disclosure Or Amnesty! What Do You Do?

 

• 12:16 PM – 01:18 PM005 PDT John Richardson, Citizenship Solutions, Toronto, Canada
  How To Live As A United States Tax Compliant Citizen Abroad

 

• 01:19 PM – 02:34 PM006 PDT John Richardson Citizenship Solutions, Toronto, Canada
  How The U.S. Exit Tax Imposes Punitive Taxation On Non-U.S. Assets And Pensions Earned Abroad

 

• 02:34 PM – 02:39 PM007 PDT Conclusion For Day One-Kat Jennings

 

 
If you are unable to make the event, simply click here for access to all the recordings 24/7
 
I don’t know if it is too late to register for a free ticket but this was the link to do so earlier:
 
For the Online Tax Summit register today

cross posted from ADCSovereignty page

UPDATE September 28, 2015
CANADA

from Tricia Moon:

As we wait (and wait and wait) I thought I would tell you of a small thing that happened to me that might make a few people feel better…

I opened a (new) bank account last Friday with a different branch of BNS than the one where I still have quite a few accts. After about 3 mins, poof! Not asked “Are you or have you ever been an American citizen/U.S. “Person?” Not asked to fill out a W8 or W9.
I asked the gentleman why and he said as an existing customer, they already have done the KYC/AML procedures etc.I mentioned that I renounced, had a CLN etc and we had a very nice discussion.

However, it was interesting that he didn’t pick up that the bank could have been in error by not asking considering I very much was US for the majority of my time as their customer. Meaning lots of others who haven’t renounced/have no CLN may well not have to worry…

Many duals will obviously be able to evade detection -even with new accounts- if their banks have similar policies. He also told me that it is illegal for a bank to photocopy any identification documents. And never to let anyone take ID to do that.

So perhaps, way back when, even if one DID use a a non-US passport with a US birthplace, I can’t really imagine the birthplace being written down-just the passport number (of course, for years prior to FATCA).
September 27, 2015

  from Dr. Stephen Kish:

 Yesterday I attended a meeting of the Republican Overseas (RO), who are mounting their own lawsuit against FATCA and the IGAs. I met, for the first time in person, Dani Küttel, who has been posting on this site and who is one of the plaintiffs. The U.S. Government lawyers, as expected, are attempting to contest “standing” of all of the plaintiffs arguing that our wounds are self-inflicted. The decision on the RO injunction (September 28-29) will be made at about the same time as that for our request for a stay (September 28?) and their attorney will advise me as soon as the Federal Court has ruled in their case.

September 26, 2015

 from Dr. Stephen Kish:

“LITIGATION UPDATE: We instructed the Arvay-Gruber team to take legal steps to prevent the handover and obtain a stay related to the summary trial appeal. It is likely now (but situation still fluid) that the Court will hear our motion for a stay. There will be no oral arguments and the court will consider our arguments based on the written submission only. The Government of Canada will also file written materials. I will release the motion when I am able to do so.

The “live feed” below will pick up every tweet that uses the hashtag#StopFatca. Please help get this message out-join our Tweet brigade (another version of Brock SWAT) now at 56! Canadians have 1 day to continue pressuring the government prior to transmission on Sept 29. Other Model 1 IGA countries have 2 days prior to transmission on Sept 30. Please advise of any countries who have received an extension from the September 30, 2015 deadline. Also please advise if you know of any governments who have notified the IRS that they want the extension.

Every US Person abroad needs to put the same pressure on their own governments TO STOP THE EXCHANGES FROM TAKING PLACE as all Model 1 IGA’s require turnover of information by September 30. Each government has TO ACTUALLY REQUEST THIS EXTENSION FROM THE IRS, so members need to take responsibility for making sure their respective tax authority/government does so.

#StopFATCA Tweets

WORLD

The Treasury Department is up to something. new CAAs signed

The titles of both agreements include the words “to improve International Tax Compliance and to Implement FATCA. I am afraid to imagine what that actually means.

A competent authority arrangement is a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and its treaty partners to clarify or interpret provisions of an existing tax treaty, such as the ones used to justify the intergovernmental agreements, or IGAs, under FATCA

“The signing of these Competent Authority Arrangements marks another significant milestone in the international effort to gain proper reporting of offshore accounts and income,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in a statement. “Together in partnership with other tax authorities, we are demonstrating how far we have come in the fight against offshore tax evasion.”

US & Australia

US & UK and Northern Ireland

ATO hands over bank details to US Internal Revenue Service
THE AUSTRALIAN SEPTEMBER 24, 2015 12:00AM

The Australian Taxation Office has handed the US Internal Revenue Service details of more than 30,000 bank accounts containing more than $5 billion in the first transfer of information under America’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.The ATO said that in return for supplying the FATCA data, the IRS will give it information about Australians with US accounts that will be used to root out undeclared offshore income.Its figures imply the accounts, revealed to the IRS in the first tranche of data, have an average balance of more than $160,000.

Note: Link not guaranteed due to paywall
Continue reading →

[JOHN RICHARDSON ASKS THAT EVERY PERSON READING THIS POST IMMEDIATELY LAUNCH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS AND SKILLS AND SEND TO ALL PEOPLES AND ALL POLITICIANS: THE MESSAGE IS TO DELAY THE FATCA HANDOVER.

ADCS HAS JUST PREPARED A PRESS RELEASE WITH SAME MESSAGE WHICH IT IS SENDING OUT AND WILL POST.]

Cross-posted from the ADCS blog

Let’s begin with the end:

My advice to you for the next few days …

Launch a massive a focused “social media” campaign (primarily Twitter
and Facebook) which is to convey two sets of messages:

1. To individuals – The Government of Canada
   is about to turn one million of your fellow Canadians over to
   the IRS because Stevie Harper WANTS to!! Get them to pressure
   the Government and the Candidates.
2. To Candidates and Political Parties – Those
   who do NOT actively oppose the great FATCA turnover will NOT
   winning the election!!

You have only a few days. As Ronald Reagan was fond of saying:

“When you can’t
make them see the light, make them feel the
heat.”

Move quickly!!

John
Richardson

___________________________________________________________________________

Here is why …
Continue reading →

cross posted from the ADCSovereignty Blog

FATCA Update: Treasury Relaxes September 30 Deadline for Model 1 IGA Jurisdictions to Exchange Ta… http://t.co/wocIyAGoPr via @BlankRomeLLP

— John Richardson – Counsellor for US persons abroad (@ExpatriationLaw) September 19, 2015

Well, it’s been quite a week. At approximately 4:45 p.m. today the IRS issued a notice confirming that the FATCA implementation date will be extended to September 30, 2016. As you know Canada has a Model 1 IGA. Assuming the correctness of the post in the above tweet:

Model 1 IGA Jurisdictions for Which the Obligation to Exchange Is In Effect

For those Model 1 IGA jurisdictions where the obligation to exchange is in effect now, Notice 2015-66 provides that FFIs in that country will be treated as FATCA compliant, and not subject to withholding, so long as the partner jurisdiction notifies the U.S. before September 30 that it requires more time, and “provides assurance that the jurisdiction is making good faith efforts to exchange the information as soon as possible.” Notice 2015-66 does not, however, change the deadline for FFIs to report information to their local tax authority, which remains governed by law of that country.

We have instructed our legal counsel to notify the Government of Canada (and they have) of this development and request that the Government of Canada NOT disclose your banking information to the IRS.

It’s been quite a week. We will keep you posted.

John Richardson

UPDATE:
Please go to these articles about the lawsuit and comment:

Financial Post

Globe & Mail

cross posted from the ADCSovereignty WordPress blog

I  left my root canal appointment this afternoon to a message announcing that Justice Martineau had rendered his decision. We did not win round 1. Notice that I did NOT say that the Government won round 1.

Here is the decision:

T-1736-14 decision sept-16-2015

Before, I comment specifically on the decision, I want to be clear on the following points:

1. This decision marks the end of the beginning. It has always been clear that this litigation would NOT stop at the first level of trial.
2. The “summary trial” on the Tax Treaty issues was a “carve out” of the main Charter issues.
3. Obviously we continue on.

I am not surprised by the result – that is a “win” or a “loss”. What I am surprised at is the content of the decision (which I will get to in a moment).

But first some general thoughts/feelings/comments …

A. As you know, the CRA has announced that it will be sending the results of “FATCA Hunt” to the IRS on September 23, 2015.

This is hardly a surprise, given that Canada, has been and continues (under the Harper Government) to be a “World Leader” in FATCA implementation. Obviously this is  a great disappointment. My guess is that it will be a long time before there are any specific results (meaning letters from the IRS) from this.

This is the beginning of a long struggle. Remember, this is a “marathon” and NOT a sprint. Concern is appropriate. Panic is not. Justice Martineau’s decision does reinforce the principle that the Treaty does NOT obligate the Canada Revenue Agency to assist the IRS in collecting tax on Canadian citizens. Do NOT do anything that is reckless and is a reaction to this decision (as opposed to a response). You will be subject to a good deal of “fear mongering” from various people (accountants, lawyers, bankers …). You should deal with this situation “one FATCA letter at a time”. Remember that a “FATCA Letter” is a letter that indicates that you are under “suspicion of being a U.S citizen”. It does not mean that you are a U.S. citizen.

The only difference between today and yesterday is that Justice Martineau has ruled against us – clearing the way for the next step.

In any case, Justice Martineau has “cleared the way” for the CRA to send your account information to the IRS. This is not good news.

B. It’s important to see this decision as an event that brings us one step closer to moving this issue through the courts.

For those of you who see the result as failure (and I don’t) I remind you that every failure brings us one step closer to our next success.
 

As George said over at Brock:

“Ladies and gentlemen, we go back to work and keep moving forward.”

Continue reading →