Oh, those politicians and bureaurcrats are sneaky and underhanded.  Is it possible they are being sneaky and underhanded intentionally for our benefit?
The Financial Post is suggesting CRA and Finance Canada “deliberately undermined” FATCA. Read Leaked Documents Show Canada Intended Departure From the IGA.
Those documents were leaked as CRA Bootleg Guidelines over at Brock. In fact, Brock is cited as the source in the article.
Roy Berg says these documents reveal that Finance and CRA “intended to drastically depart” from certain provisions of the IGA.
For example, if someone gives New York City as a place of birth, that is only considered to be an “unambiguous place of birth” if it is listed as New York, New York, USA but is not if it is listed as New York, New York.
Hmmm. Nowhere does my Pennsylvania  birth certificate says USA.
Plus, the CRA information that we previously posted says financial institutions are not required to ask for place of birth.
Canadian passports do give country of birth. So here is a warning. Do NOT provide your passport to your bank!
Mr. Berg thinks this could “eviscerate” the IGA and put banks on the hook for withholding.  Things are getting interesting.
Despite all of this, I still want to see the FATCA IGA killed with the understanding it will not apply to anyone who is a legal tax resident of Canada.