The IRS is after Canadian investment guru and author Gordon Pape. They claim he owes them $48,730.57.
Mr. Pape wrote of his plight in this month’s Zoomer magazine. Because the article has only been published in print format, I am unable to link to it here. I am not uploading a copy of the article for copyright reasons, but here are some of the highlights.
Mr. Pape was born in the U.S. He moved To Canada with his parents when he was 13. He became a Canadian citizen in Canada’s Centennial Year (1967) and “promptly” received a CLN. (Lucky guy!)
He spends part of each winter in Florida and completed 1040NR taX return with the closer connection form. Then the IRS was after his money.
Mr. Pape says:

Imagine opening your mail and finding a bill from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for $48,730.57
That’s what happened to me during the summer, and I’m not a U.S. citizen. I don’t even own property in the States.

“Needless to say, I was shocked. Then, I was angry. I suddenly understood first-hand what the estimated one million Canadian residents with U.S. ties are experiencing as the IRS aggressively pursues anyone who has failed to file an American return declaring their world-wide income.”

Mr. Papr warns other snowbirds. He sent to IRS a copy of his CLN and is awaiting their response. He concludes:

“I certainly have no intention of paying them $48,000 – or anything for that matter.”

I think Mr. Pape has had an OMG moment. He is fortunate to have a CLN. I hope this may inspire him to help with our battle.

There is some very weird stuff happening here. Whatever it is is messing up display of comments and ability to respond to them. Even I, as an administrator and editor, cannot see them without going to the Dashboard,
I also can’t respond to them. I have tried to correct this with my rather limited geeky skills to no avail. I have alerted Outraged and hope she can fix it.
So, Jan and Gani that is why your comments are not showing (at least they are not showing for me without going to the Dashboard.
Please bear with us everyone. I don’t think this is NSA or CSIS spying on us–but in today’s world, who knows?

On March 23, ADCS sent a letter to Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, other party leaders and some MPs.
The letter to Justin Trudeau said:

Thank you to you, the Liberal Party of Canada and some of your MPs for standing up for Canadian citizens and residents, whether born in the United States, in Canada or in any other country, against the American Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) enabling legislation.
You may be aware we have commenced litigation against the Government of Canada resulting from the Conservative government surrendering Canadian citizens, residents, laws, constitution and sovereignty to the United States for FATCA.
We are disappointed at your near silence since the FATCA enabling act was passed. We are, therefore, contacting you now to request your party’s policy in writing on what you would do if the Liberal Party is elected to form the next government.
Specifically, we ask:
1. Will your party commit to repealing the FATCA IGA in its entirety?
2. If not, why not?
3. What action will your party take to protect Canadian citizens and residents from the demands of a foreign government under FATCA?
4. What action will your party take to uphold Canadian laws, the constitution, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canadian sovereignty as they relate to FATCA?
5. What action will your party take to agree with our lawsuit that the FATCA enabling Act violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and Canada’s constitution? Will you direct the Ministry of Justice to quickly reach an acceptable settlement with us?
6. What action will your party take to ensure a foreign law does not prevail over Canadian privacy, human rights, banking and other laws?
7. What is your time frame for any commitment you may make?
Approximately one million Canadians, their families and business associates are affected by FATCA and many will want to know which party represents their needs and rights. Many will make their voting decision based on this.
We hope the Liberal Party will fight for their rights as Canadians.
Stephen Kish, Ph.D, Chair
John Richardson, Co-Chair
Patricia Moon, Secretary/Treasurer
Carol Tapanila, Director
Lynne Swanson, Chair, Legal Challenge Committee

On June 25 (after prodding), Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau replied.

Dear Ms. Swanson:
Thank you for taking the time to write to me with your concerns regarding the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
The safeguarding of personal privacy has become an increasingly important issue to all Canadians. The government’s move to ensure that information is reported to the U.S. through Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and not directly from the banks was a positive step; however, the implications of having the CRA report to a foreign government about Canadian citizens are still troublesome. The Liberal Party of Canada believes that the Conservative government’s efforts to safeguard the personal privacy of Canadians have been inadequate.
While the United States has the right to target tax evaders using offshore accounts, targeting hard working Canadians who pay taxes is unfair. The government of Canada has a responsibility to stand up for its citizens when foreign governments are encroaching on their rights. We believe that the deal reached between Canada and the U.S. is insufficient to protect affected Canadians.
Thank you once again for writing to me; I always appreciate it when Canadians take the time to share their concerns with me. It is through such exchanges of ideas and opinions that I can best represent not only my constituents, but all Canadians.
Sincerely
Justin J.P. Trudeau

So there we have what we can expect from the Liberals. Our new Prime Minister called the Conservative actions “troublesome…inadequate…insufficient, but did not say what a Liberal government would do.
We need to keep up the fight.
We need to remind Trudeau of his words “A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.”
We need to remind him we require “Real Change Now”
We need to remind him of our right to privacy.
We need to remind him his father’s greatest gift to Canada was the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
We need to remind him to uphold our rights as Canadians.
We need to remind him: “The government of Canada has a responsibility to stand up for its citizens when foreign governments are encroaching on their rights.”

Show them we are NOT “American citizens abiding here in Canada. Show them We Are Canadians!
Stop “Congress has spoken” for Canada’s Parliament. Vote! Votez!

I already voted. Together we can make a difference.

James Jatras at Repeal FATCA waited two years to receive an “expedited” response from U.S. Treasury to a Freedom of Information Request on FATCA IGAs.
Jim has not yet reviewed the 1164 pages of information (nor have I). He provides a link to the documents and says:

I rely on readers to review them and notify me at repealfatca@gmail.com and the interested public of anything of significance.

To some of us in an e-mail, Jim also said:

It would be good to have as many pairs of eyes as possible review these docs for anything that might be useful, particularly in the Canadian and US litigation. My guess is that most of it is fluff – maybe all of it— but perhaps something got in here that’s more telling than they supposed when they released it. As noted, I have not yet reviewed the docs. At this time, I do not plan to issue my own analysis.
Second, please report anything of interest – especially if perhaps helpful for (a) appeal of withholding of some docs or (b) our friends in Congress opposed to FATCA and the IGAs – to me. Also notify the larger community for their insights.

Two years “Expedited.” Really?
Actually, Jim did better than I did. I submitted a Freedom of Information request to U.S. State Department for some personal information in September of 2012. I’m still waiting after more than three years and many phone calls to them.

This may be of interest to Canadian citizens living outside our borders for more than five years. If you are able and willing to travel to the last riding in which you resided in Canada, with proof of your ID, your Canadian citizenship, and of your residence in that riding (an old utility bill or tax assessment from CRA might do that trick), you can in fact vote either in advance poll or on election day.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/elections-canada-expat-sault-ste-marie-vote-1.3266434
Maybe bring a printed copy of the above CBC story with you.
Your chance to help vote Harper into the oblivion he and his government so richly deserve. For more reasons than I have space to list here, but we can start with the FATCA IGA for openers.

“Tax havens” vs. “Bank Secrecy” and a world of residence based taxation

Governments in general and the U.S. government in particular, have become more concerned that U.S. citizens either move their capital from the United States or hide their capital from the United States. People who would move their capital from the United States so that they could generate a better “after tax” rate of return. People who would hide their money from the United States so that their capital and income would escape U.S. Taxation. Any country with tax rates lower than U.S. tax rates would be considered to be (from a U.S. perspective) a “tax haven”. Any country that does not disclose the identity of its customers to the United States would be considered to be engaged in “Bank Secrecy”. As more and more income is generated from capital, governments the world over, have become concerned about capital escaping taxation. This concern has culminated in the OECD “Common Reporting Standard” which will “keep the capital of a country’s residents” in that “person’s country of residence”. In other words, countries are concerned that the residents of a given country, pay tax to that country. This principle reflects the principle that all countries (save one) impose taxation based on the fact of “residence” in the country.
FATCA and U.S. citizenship aka “place of birth taxation” or how to impose U.S. taxation on the world
In 2010 the U.S. Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law the U.S. “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act” which is known as FATCA. It was aimed at resident U.S. citizens, green card holders, etc. President Obama, Senator Carl Levin and others claimed that the purpose of FATCA was to combat tax evasion, tax havens and bank secrecy. That may be a partial truth.The truth is that FATCA attacks “middle class” Americans abroad AND expands the U.S. tax base into other nations.

President Obama signed FATCA into law on March 18, 2010. Senator Carl Levin, a co-sponsor of the FATCA legislation, declared that “offshore tax abuses [targeted by FATCA]cost the federal treasury an estimated $100 billion in lost tax revenues annually” 156 Cong. Rec. 5 S1745-01 (2010). FATCA became law as the IRS began its Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP), which since 2009 has allowed U.S. taxpayers with undisclosed overseas assets to disclose them and pay reduced penalties. By 2014, the OVDP collected $6.5 billion through voluntary disclosures from 45,000 participants. “IRS Makes Changes to Offshore Programs; Revisions Ease Burden and Help More Taxpayers Come into Compliance,”
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRS-Makes-Changes-to-Offshore-Programs;-Revisions-Ease- Burden-and-Help-More-Taxpayers-Come-into-Compliance (last visited Sept. 15, 2015). The success of the voluntary program has likely been enhanced by the existence of FATCA.

Continue reading University of Windsor – Faculty of Law – Special Program Thursday, October 8, 2015 →