FATCA: Losing Its Way by Victoria Ferauge (aka Victoria) and Lynne Swanson (aka Blaze) is in Accounting Today.
We say:
This extraterritorial law has sparked global fear, confusion, anger and controversy.
We also report:
Now that controversy has come home.
We assess how FATCA strayed so far from its original intent to combat offshore tax invasion. We find FATCA became lost by: Failure to do a realistic assessment; Failure to consult and involve all stakeholders; Changing directions; Complexity; and Unintended consequences.
Because of this:
FATCA has traveled far off the map from its original destination. Now no one—not the proponents or opponents of this law or the lawmakers and bureaucrats around the world making policy or even the average citizen cheering on the fight against tax evasion—can predict what the FATCA landscape will be down the road.
FATCA appears headed for a catastrophic collision.
We Recommend:
The President, Congress, the Treasury Department and the IRS need to refocus on the original modest, laudable intent of FATCA to track down Americans removing their assets from the U.S. in order to illegally evade paying U.S. taxes.
Then they need to find improved ways to achieve that end.
“To restore fairness and balance” in the U.S. tax code must include “fairness and balance” for Americans living outside United States.
International cooperation in combating tax evasion should include developing true partnerships around the world that respect the laws, constitutions, sovereignty and interests of other nations.
Finally, we conclude:
If leaders fail to act quickly to restore global cooperation and respect, FATCA could represent one of the riskiest projects the U.S. has ever tried to push both at home and internationally.
Obama claimed yesterday that one of the reasons they must act on Syria is that they are so “exceptional” I am shocked he is still using that language and yet, I’m not.
I wonder as it relates to this issue how reasonable we can ever expect them to be? I applaud ACA’s efforts on RBT. I think one day they will be successful. One day a long time from now. I also applaud the very detailed efforts you two make in writing these articles and especially being able to get them published in the places you have been able to do so! It’s no small feat given the attitude in the U.S.
I am really grateful to you and I hope other reporters will begin quoting you to help push back some of FATCA’s worst abuses. It’s the best hope of making things workable in the end for FATCA to go back to the drawing board as you two so articulately point out. It’s gone off the rails. It was always headed down the wrong track. I hope it hasn’t snowballed into something they cannot back away from. The only way they ever will is to keep up the pressure. Pointing out how completely ridiculous the actual implementation works is going to get more people to want to pressure them to but, some safety measures in place. Streamlined was not the answer as it has so many traps too!
You go girls! That was a wonderful and very detailed article. Once again. I’m in awe. Glad you are on our side!
Victoria found the Losing Its Way article on a US Treasury news portal.
http://www.usgovernmentportal.com/us-treasury-department?language=en
It’s several articles down–and just above Kick Start World War III. Is that what our Munchkin and Model Moms are planning next?
Actually, be sure to watch the Kick Start World War III video.
Maybe we should do something similar on FATCA. I’m ready to sing American Taxman Stay Away From Me as my contribution!
FATCA may have lost its way, but the article is finding its way around. Here are some of where it’s been on its journey.
I think Alayham is in the Middle East
http://news.alayham.com/node/68249
What Really Happened http://whatreallyhappened.com/content/fatca-losing-its-way
Document The Truth http://documentthetruth.com/?p=78244
Silobreaker http://news.silobreaker.com/victoria-ferauge-and-lynne-swanson-5_2267094793521725449
Someone who just wrote me but, who is afraid to come forward just yet said her sign would say “CBT ENDS WITH ME” Very creative I thought!
Congratulations, Ladies. Excellent article, and it’s gaining traction. I think you’ve done a lot to bring some publicity to this travesty.
Simply great article.
Check out recent mention of Victoria Ferauge & Lynne Swanson article in academic paper, footnote 26:
“26. 26 U.S.C. § 911 (2012); see Victoria Ferauge & Lynne Swanson, FATCA: ‘Simple
Premise’ Gone Terribly Wrong, HILL (July 28, 2013, 1:00 PM), http://thehill.com/
blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/313775-fatca-simple-premise-gone-terribly-wrong (“Even the
King of Thailand, the Mayor of London, England and the Premier of the Canadian
province of New Brunswick are considered ‘U.S. persons’ under American law simply
because they were born in the United States.”).”
from paper I mentioned above:
Taylor Denson, Comment, Goodbye, Uncle Sam? How the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act is Causing A Drastic Increase in the Number of Americans Renouncing Their Citizenship, 52 Hous. L. REv. 967 (2015). (Abstract) (Westlaw)
http://www.houstonlawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/2-Denson.pdf
Thanks Badger! I did a search of the document and discovered Victoria and I are cited numerous times beginning at Footnote 16 and ending with the concluding Footnote 333. The author referenced two of our articles–the one you mentioned from The Hill and FATCA: Losing Its Way from Accounting today.
This is an honour. I sent it to Victoria in Japan (where she is now living).
I may put this document in its own thread–not because it references our articles but because it is so comprehensive.