Wow. Tricia Moon’s (aka Noble Dreamer) anger at FATCA and the IRS is international news.
I was terrified we’d lose all our money in The Guardian reports on Tricia’s “defiant act” of renouncing U.S. citizenship.
“It was like cutting off my right arm,” to not be American any more, says Moon, who only became a Canadian citizen in 2008. “Now, I’m simply angry.”
Tricia is on the board of ADCS and fighting back with legal action.
A financial professional in Switzerland had bank and retirement accounts closed. His Swiss friends tell him:
You Americans are so arrogant and crazy. You think you control everything.”
He now agrees with them.
Go, Nobledreamer!
I really enjoyed this article. I liked the way they ended, with a quote from a Courtney Welch. It sums up how so many of us feel,
“I feel about the same obligation to file US tax papers as you would if the supreme court of Uruguay all of a sudden decided you were a citizen and had to file a tax return there,” he tells the Guardian.
Exactly!
Perhaps Courtney Welch should stay pat for now. First, the IRS has to sift through millions of names, go through records, then determine if they think money is owing. If it is, and the taxpayer is a Canadian citizen, and earned the taxable money in Canada while they were a Canadian, the IRS cannot collect in Canada, and CRA will not assist them. The IRS cannot force a Canadian citizen in Canada to file returns, however visits to the US are over with. Notwithstanding the strong legal challenges, this FATCA mess might crater under its own weight.
@John Canuck, it certainly does give us some measure of security that the CRA is still staying they won’t collect on behalf, or assist the IRS. However, me, I don’t trust our gov’t to stick to their guns. If some US politician takes a run at gov’t policy on this I believe our politicians will cave, like the cowards they’ve already shown themselves to be. They’re not going to stand firm for us, because they haven’t in the past.
Having said that, I do think the IRS will be overwhelmed and it will take time and effort that they’re not ready for.
@Outraged
Thanks! I absolutely love that line!!!
I agree, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that there will be another change, the CDN govt will roll right over and the US will have access to any accounts they decide they want.
Who will stop them?