Ginny Writes to London Mayor Boris Johnson. Help Stop FATCA with ADCS.

FATCA, IRS, , , , , , ,

November 22, 2014
Boris Johnson
Mayor of London
Greater London Authority
City Hall
The Queen’s Walk
London SE1 2AA
Dear Mr. Johnson:
RE: IRS
Yes, Boris Johnson I know just how you feel.
But the article is incorrect about the amount for the cut off and you would owe a lot more than just the capital gains on your house. Fines and exit fees could amount to hefty penalties for failure to file income reports when you, like a lot of of us, didn’t know about these until recently. Because the IRS never informed anyone or published their regulations in any way that the public would see.
The USA is the only country in the WORLD that taxes by citizenship, rather than residence. They need $$$ to fund their deficit and they are now going after every person in every country that they consider American. Like you, many people who lived in the USA for a few years or more who had no choice where they were born, never have considered themselves US citizens. You are a British citizen clearly. You have no ties to the USA. I know that feeling too.
However, to date there are only two people in the world, my co- plaintiff and I who are taking on this issue (in our true home country Canada, as full Canadian citizens, in our courts) because Canada entered into an agreement with the USA which turns over our banking information via our CRA. Just as the UK has done by entering into a similar intergovernmental agreement. As you are now finding out. I am not saying that to toot my own horn. I am saying it so that you might consider another option.
You might consider launching your own legal protest in the UK on behalf of people there like you, that the USA deems to be tax invaders. I bet that might be an interesting political launching pad for you, considering the USA went to war with the UK over off shore taxing in the first place. As in the ‘real’ Tea Party Revolution. I assume you well know your history? And that you see the irony?
And you have political cache that I don’t.
It’s not easy and it sure is expensive. But principles and access to justice are very important things to stand up for, in my opinion. Your mentor, Mr. Churchill would no doubt be proud of you if you did.
All the best, Boris.
Ginny Hillis,
Windsor Ontario, Canada
[Plaintiff in Canadian FATCA IGA lawsuit against Government of Canada]

49 thoughts on “Ginny Writes to London Mayor Boris Johnson. Help Stop FATCA with ADCS.”

  4. Thanks JC.
    I sent the link to this thread to Robert Wood on Sunday. He e-mailed me back almost immediately that he would publish it.
    Great that he did.

    Reply

  6. Thanks to all of you and to the Mayor of London. I have now lived in fear with sleepless nights for six years since I learned, by change the demands on me and the draconian penalties. This is unAmerican and unfair.

    Reply

  8. In error, I posted the following article in the wrong thread. I am doing a copy and paste of my comment and Jan’s reply here so they will not become lost over time.
    Many apologies. Here they are:
    Lynne Swanson on November 27, 2014 at 9:43 am said:
    New York Times is giving Boris different advice than Ginny.
    Get Real, Boris Johnson tells Boris to:

    “Give us a break. Get used to it…It’s the law…Pay up.”

    I have better advice for Boris. Follow Churchill`s creed.

    “Never, never, never give up.” Fight back.

    Join Ginny and Gwen. Become the third person in the world to launch court action. “You have the political cache.”
    Also, be sure to donate to ADCS! We need you Boris.
    Jan on November 27, 2014 at 3:27 pm said:
    Your advice is solid, Lynn! Good reference to Churchill.
    I did not comment in that op-ed piece but this is what I would have said (and if you want to post it there, feel free but don’t send him my email):
    NEWS FLASH: We do not choose where we were born, so why should anyone be penalized for that? Boris has not lived in the U.S. since he was five. Therefore, filing taxes for him (or someone else abroad) is not as easy or as inexpensive to file as someone like you who actually does work and live in the U.S.–even when no taxes are owed. You, sir, get to file standard forms in your local language with everything already marked in U.S. dollars, and use off-the-shelf tax software or your neighbourhood H & R Block to get the job done. We who live abroad, besides filing and paying our local taxes, in order to satisfy Uncle Sam, have to find someone competent enough to deal with extremely complex forms that will have to be sent to a foreign country (the U.S.). Worse, our forms are NOT filed with the domestic IRS you deal with. No, OUR forms go to FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), who are experts in applying severe penalties for trivial mistakes or a missing form. Just because the U.S. congress enacted laws to extort money from “US persons” around the world, doesn’t mean those laws are fair and just. Unlike you, we are NOT represented by that congress nor do we have any ability to address any problems through U.S. courts. It’s a totally different ball game for people who live outside the U.S. borders, a game that if we “play ball” always forces us to lose, and have the risk of losing everything we ever made abroad, thanks to FinCEN. Boris doesn’t want to play that game and I bet if you were in his shoes, sir, you wouldn’t either.

    Reply

  9. I would expect nothing else from the New York Times. Editorially, they have been one of Obama’s cheerleaders, so I cannot imagine them taking a stance against the Messiah’s FATCA or any variant of it.
    “It’s the law” he says? Whose law?
    Boris follows Queen Elizabeth’s law.
    If those are the writer’s principles, he should be the first to support any country’s attempt to apply its law extra territorially. Maybe Canada should apply Canadian taxation against Canadian citizens resident in the US. If the Saudi regime tried to penalize a Saudi woman for wearing a mini skirt in New York, he should, to be consistent, support Sharia Law.
    What a semi-literate clown.

    Reply

    1. I’m as happy to read your latest article as I am to observe that you are back to writing articles again. It’s been such a tough road for you since “the Humpty Dumpty incident” and I hope this indicates a big upswing in your health. Thanks for digging into the Boris Johnson morass so adeptly with your Sandbox shovel. I loved how you used it to unearth and then spotlight the ADCS and Ginny and Gwen’s litigation. Bravo!

      Reply

  15. Well it seems Boris did not take the advice of Ginny or of his hero Winston Churchill to “Never, never, never give up.”
    Instead, London Mayor bows to “outrageous” demands to pay U.S. tax bill.
    This says Boris has agreed to pay capital gains on his first home in Britain. No word of how much. His spokeperson said simply:

    The matter has been dealt with.

    I bet it has. And I bet he got a deal because of his high profile.
    Thanks to Badger for finding this at Financial Times and to Pacifica for finding it in a publication that was not paywalled.
    I’m glad Ginny and Gwen are stronger than the mayor of one of the world’s largest cities and are continuing to fight for all of us.
    Please support them with your donations.

    Reply

  16. I am sorry to hear that Boris Johnson gave in to the US/IRS. Another case of extortion. It would be great if he renounced his US citizenship. At the same time, he is in a more difficult position than most of us FATCA resistors. He is the public eye and likely in the dreaded “exit tax” category.
    Anyway, I continue to support ADCS. Thank you to Ginny and Gwen for their strength of character. It would be helpful if public figures like Boris would come around and give support as well.

    Reply

    1. So, here’s a question. Is Boris high profile enough that the US govt is actually going to give a hoot about the negative press – mayor of London, potential British prime minister – who publicly states he wants to shed toxic US citizenship?

      Reply

  20. Here we go. Washington Post is reporting Britain’s Foreign Secretary avoided paying U.S. taxes for years.
    No mention of what a travesty Boris is. Just the usual “If you are a U.S. citizen, you owe U.S. tax” (from a compliance condor).
    Boris seems to have a history of insulting foreign leaders.
    At least he is non-partisan. Boris has insulted Obama, Clinton, Bush and Trump and has spread his offensive comments around the world–including Turkey, China and Syria.
    Why in the world would the UK’s new Prime Minister make Boris Foreign Secretary?!?

    Reply

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