Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Tag Archives: FATCA

Do All Canadians have the Same Rights?: Letter to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, Issued Jointly by the Isaac Brock Society and Maple Sandbox

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In light of the Canadian Government’s ongoing IGA negotiations with the US, Maple Sandbox and the Isaac Brock Society today issued a joint letter to the Hon. James Flaherty, Minister of Finance, demanding an answer to one simple question, which to date he has not answered.  Do all Canadians have the same rights?  The letter is reproduced below.  As well, you can download a PDF of the letter here.

It has also been released to media outlets with the following message:

“Do all Canadians have the same rights? For two years, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has refused to answer that simple question while he negotiates with a foreign government trying to financially terrorize Canadian citizens, residents and financial institutions.

Now Isaac Brock Society and Maple Sandbox have put that simple question to Minister Flaherty in the attached Open Letter.

We hope you will bring this to the attention of Canadians and Mr. Flaherty. Perhaps you will be more successful at getting an answer from Minister of Finance than we have been.”

“OPEN LETTER TO CANADIAN FINANCE MINISTER JIM FLAHERTY

November 25, 2013

The Honourable James Flaherty, P.C. M.P

RE: FATCA: Canadian Rights vs. Foreign Demands

Dear Minister,

We write to you today asking a simple question: Do all Canadians have the same rights under Canada’s laws and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms?

Your government is quietly negotiating a new tax information sharing agreement with the United States that we fear will remove those rights from Canadians whom the U.S. wants to claim as their own.  We would like your assurance that no such removal is being contemplated. Continue reading →

121 Questions to Ask Your Government About FATCA

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Many thanks to Taxconfuzaled  for compiling this letter of 123 questions (some with reference links) and to Swedish Citizen, Osgood, JustMe and Taxconfuzaled, who all contributed questions to it.  Taxconfuzaled will be sending this to his government; however, he has set it up so that you may customise it for yours.

Text is below or  for ease of viewing/downloading, you can also access it as a Word or PDF document at this link

Continue reading →

#FATCA protest in Canada against @CdnBankers is the shot heard round the world!

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From the Cayman Islands Compass – November 15, 2013 – C0ngratulations to all!!!

FATCA opponents from the Isaac Brock Society and Maple Sandbox, in a Nov. 12 letter to Terry Campbell, president of the Canadian Bankers Association, asked the CBA to resist Washington.

“We implore the CBA to use its considerable influence and resources to insist that the Canadian government categorically reject Washington’s demands and to lobby for FATCA’s repeal by the American Congress,” the letter states.

The letter claims that an intergovernmental agreement to hand over private financial data to Washington “would represent a gross violation of Canadian sovereignty and would violate the rights of Canadian citizens and residents under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and other legal guarantees.” Continue reading →

Letter to Canadian Bankers Association, Issued Jointly by Isaac Brock Society and Maple Sandbox, in Opposition to FATCA

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The Isaac Brock Society and Maple Sandbox today issued a joint letter to Mr. Terry Campbell,  President of the Canadian Banker’s Association, detailing their opposition to FATCA.  The letter, which was hand delivered to Mr. Campbell’s office, is reproduced below.   As well, you can download the PDF of the letter here.

November 12, 2013

Terry Campbell,

President,

Canadian Bankers Association

…

Dear Mr. Campbell,

As citizens and residents of Canada, we are strongly opposed to the Canadian Bankers Association’s (CBA) recently-stated advocacy for an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that would allow the government of the United States – through the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act – to impose its tax laws in Canada.

Such an agreement would represent a gross violation of Canadian sovereignty and would violate the rights of Canadian citizens and residents under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Canadian Human Rights Act, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and other legal guarantees.  The CBA’s claim that an IGA would mitigate these violations in any meaningful way is illusory.

There are an estimated one million people in Canada who have, one way or another, connections to the U.S. that would place them, through FATCA, on the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s radar screen. Add in family members, who are also caught up in this net, and the one million gets closer to four million – that’s nearly 12% of the Canadian population! Continue reading →

Nestmann – Why Have So Many Americans Considered #Expatriation?

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So, while the media sound bytes tell you that expatriation is all about tax, don’t believe it. Sure, that’s a part of it, but the reality is much more complex.

 

My own experience with expatriated clients backs this up.

 

  • One who had lived in Switzerland for more than 40 years gave up her U.S. citizenship only after all of the banks she dealt with there closed her accounts. They didn’t want to deal with all the reporting requirements the USA requires if they accept U.S. account-holders. It’s easier just to fire their American customers.
  • Another client received a letter from the bank that had issued a mortgage years earlier for her home in Germany. The letter threatened to cancel her mortgage unless she could prove she was no longer a U.S. citizen. Rather than face a huge balloon payment, she gave up her passport.
  • A Canadian client contacted me after receiving a bill from the IRS for $20,000, despite being (he thought) 100% compliant with all U.S. tax and reporting obligations. He’d even hired a big-name U.S. accounting firm to prepare his tax returns each year, at a cost of more than $5,000 annually. He never owed any U.S. tax because taxes in Canada are higher than in the USA, but he still got screwed. It appears a Canadian educational savings plan account he’d set up for his daughter was the problem. Under Canadian law, gains in the account are tax-deferred—but not under U.S. law. That led to a big tax bill—and his decision to expatriate.

 

The fact is, more than 7 million Americans now live abroad. Many of them can no longer hold bank accounts, qualify for a mortgage, or set up a tax-deferred account for retirement or their children’s education.

 

How #FATCA will enslave the world in 2 easy steps

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This post appeared on the RenounceUScitizenship blog and was motivated by the included brilliant and insightful comment of Badger.

If #FATCA becomes fully operational, it will result in the following:

Step 1: Non-U.S. countries will (at their expense, whether IGA or otherwise) identify those people who the U.S. defines (a possibly shifting definition) as U.S. persons;

Step 2: Once identified the U.S. will use the existence of those “U.S. persons as the excuse to transfer a share of the GNP of that country to the United States on a permanent and increasing basis. In other words: FATCA is to enforce citizenship-based taxation which is a “forced tribute to the U.S.”

The reasons include:

Continue reading →

#FATCA international law and the sovereignty of nations

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This post appeared on the RenounceUScitizenship blog. It references a very good public policy article. The article puts FATCA in the context of international law and the limits of U.S. sovereignty. The article was tweeted by Just Me in June. I see that some Brockers have left comments. It really needs to be read (for those who have not) with the Kleinfeld article posted earlier today. They fit together very nicely.

 

The above tweet references one of the best articles I have seen on the interaction between international law, FATCA, citizenship-based taxation and intelligent public policy.

Continue reading →

Trust is required to lead and #FATCA undermines trust

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This post appeared on the RenounceUScitizenship blog. This is a great article. Opposition to FATCA is getting traction! This article should be read with the Georges Ugeux article posted above.

Which brings me to another – hot of the press – incredible article about FATCA written by  Professor Denis Kleinfeld, Of Counsel to Fuerst Ittleman David & Joseph PL, Miami, Florida:

FATCA – Predictions of Implementation Failure Proving True

The article is well researched, well organized and well thought out. It is the perfect antidote to Robert Stack’s FATCA Myths coming from Treasury.

Continue reading →

Instead of a #FATCA IGA perhaps Canada should allow itself to become part of the US

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What do you think? Is Diane Francis on the right track?

A FATCA IGA is an “unofficial surrender” of Canada’s sovereignty to the United States. Perhaps Diane is right. Perhaps it is smarter to “officially surrender” to the United States. In this event there would be good news and bad news.

The good news would be that Canada would no longer be considered to be a foreign country.

The bad news would be that Canada would no longer be considered to be a foreign country.

Do you prefer the good news or the bad news?