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.

Justice Luc Martineau has delivered his Decision in the Summary Trial.
i have not read it thoroughly yet, but this indicates information may be transmitted because Justice Martineau has ruled FATCA does not violate the Income Tax Treaty.
Significantly:

[9] I have concluded that the collection and automatic disclosure of account holder information about US reportable accounts (see paragraphs 28 to 34 below) contemplated by Articles 2 and 3 of the IGA is legally authorized in Canada by the provisions of the IGA Implementation Act and Part XVIII of the ITA. Moreover, contrary to the assertions made by the plaintiffs, I find that the collection and automatic disclosure of any such information is not inconsistent with the provisions of the Canada-US Tax Treaty, and does not otherwise violate section 241 of the ITA. Basically, I endorse the general reasoning and the legal arguments submitted by the defendants in their written submissions and reasserted at the hearing by counsel.

Fortunately, he did not award costs to the government so Ginny and Gwen are not responsible for those.

77] For all these reasons, the declaratory and injunctive relief requested by the plaintiffs in their motion for summary judgment shall be denied by the Court, without prejudice to the plaintiffs’ right to pursue their claim that the impugned provisions are ultra vires or inoperative because they are unconstitutional or otherwise unjustifiably infringe Charter rights. There shall be no costs. This is a case where, in view of the nature of the issues and the public interest involved in clarifying the scope of novel provisions affecting hundreds of thousands of Canadian citizens, no costs should be ordered against the losing parties.

Please note, this is a decision on the Summary Trial involving the Income Tax Act and Income Tax Treaty issues and not on the Charter and constitutional issues.
The fight continues……
UPDATE September 17, 2015: I have read the decision a bit more thoroughly. My non-lawyer sense of it is Justice Martineau agrees with Canadian Parliament that “Congress has spoken.”
ADCS Directors are considering options. I think Stephen will post further information as things progress.

At last, one of the parties has promised to repeal FATCA if elected.
The Green Party platformpledges:

We will repeal as unconstitutional the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It essentially deprives any Canadian with US connections (even those short of dual citizenship) of full rights to privacy and treats them as a lesser Canadian.

In addition, the Green Party vows:

We will also repeal Bill C-24 which allows the minister of citizenship to revoke citizenship. Other threats to Canadians will be eliminated with the repeal of Bill C-51.

The Green Party says It’s Time to Restore Democracy. Amen.
Thanks to Tim for sending this to several of us.
I like what I see. Now if the Greens only had a chance of forming the government. At least we know Elizabeth May and the Greens are in our corner and still fighting for us.

Cross Posted from Brock. The United States Department of State has announced they charging $2350 U.S. to relinquish unwanted American citizenship.
From a post by Eric at Brock:
Closely following on the heels of their previous announcement that the $2,350 fee for renunciation — twenty times as high as in any other developed country — “protects” the human right to change nationality, the folks at the State Department have announced that they’ll be extending that “protection” to people who relinquished U.S. citizenship under 8 USC § 1481(a)(1) through (4) and seek to obtain Certificates of Loss of Nationality documenting that fact as well.
In the latest Schedule of Fees for Consular Services to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday (80 FR 53704, 53707), Under Secretary of State for Management Patrick F. Kennedy or one of his ghostwriter minions proclaims:

Currently, nationals who renounce nationality pay a fee of $2,350, while nationals who apply for documentation of relinquishment of nationality by the voluntary commission of an expatriating act with the intention to lose nationality, do not pay a fee. However the services performed in both situations are similar, requiring close and detailed case-by-case review of the factors involved in a request for a Certificate of Loss of Nationality, and both result in similar costs to the Department.
In the past, individuals seldom requested Certificates of Loss of Nationality from the Department to document relinquishment. Although the Department was aware that an individual relinquishment service was among the most time consuming of consular services, it was rarely performed so the overall cost to the Department was low and the Department did not establish a fee. Requests for a Certificate of Loss of Nationality on the basis of a non-renunciatory relinquishment have increased significantly in recent years, and the Department expects the number to grow in the future, causing the total cost of this service to increase. At the same time, the Department funds consular services completely from user fees. The Cost of Service Model continues to demonstrate that such costs are incurred by the Department when accepting, processing, and adjudicating relinquishment of nationality cases; therefore, the Department will collect a fee from all individuals seeking a Certificate of Loss of Nationality. Taking into account the costs of both renunciation and non-renunciation relinquishment processes, the fee will be $2,350.

If you do not need a CLN in the first place, nothing in the Immigration and Nationality Act requires you to obtain one to document your loss of US citizenship, and people who relinquished before 4 June 2004 did not have to report their relinquishment to the State Department in order to end their status as U.S. tax subjects either. However, FATCA regulations and IGAs require people with U.S. indicia to show their banks a CLN or provide a “reasonable explanation” of why they do not have U.S. citizenship.
See this earlier post for discussion of what banks might accept as a “reasonable explanation”, and let us know if you find a bank which will accept the absurd price-tag as an explanation of why you don’t have a CLN.

Because I posted the reply from the NDP via Murray Rankin in its own thread, I am doing the same with the Liberal Reply Trudeau of June 25.

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

I have just received a response to ADCS on the letter we sent to the leaders five months ago. Here is the reply from Murray Rankin.

RE: US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)
Thank you for writing to share your ongoing concerns regarding the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between Canada and the United States designed to implement FATCA in Canada.
New Democrats are deeply troubled by the implications of FATCA and the associated IGA, and we are closely monitoring the litigation your organization has commenced against the Government of Canada.
From the beginning, many organizations raised the alarm that the IGA for the implementation of FATCA in Canada may violate the privacy rights of Canadians and could be subject to constitutional challenge.
The NDP has repeatedly raised concerns about the FATCA agreement that was negotiated behind closed doors and rushed through Parliament without proper consultation or examination.
Previously, New Democrats called on the Conservative government to acknowledge the broad concerns expressed by Canadians and civil society organizations regarding the implementation of this IGA. We asked the Conservative government to agree to remove it from omnibus Budget Bill C-31, which granted the Minister of National Revenue sweeping powers to make any regulation necessary to carry out the agreement.
It is my belief that the decision to rush this legislation through Parliament was reckless and, as a result, it lacks the safeguards needed to protect many of the rights that Canadians so dearly value.
New Democrats have repeatedly questioned Conservatives in the House of Commons and at the Standing Committee on Finance. It became abundantly clear that the Conservative government has very little understanding of the consequences of FATCA and has been tone deaf regarding the very real concerns of hundreds of thousands of Canadians.
Moving forward, New Democrats remain committed to ensure that Canadians’ voices are heard and that our laws are consistent with the constitution, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and Canadian sovereignty more broadly.
A New Democrat government will order a full and urgent review of the FATCA IGA to identify and address all measures that threaten the constitutional and privacy rights of all Canadians.
We will seek to reopen the IGA for renegotiation with the United States in order to address the serious concerns of Canadians and ensure that their rights are protected. We will do so in an open and transparent manner – instead of the secretive manner pursued by the Conservatives.
More broadly, we will ensure that all proposed legislation is subject to a more robust screening to ensure compliance with the Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Conservatives have failed to uphold this duty, with the result that, in many instances, litigation was initiated that could have been avoided.
As noted above, New Democrats continue to closely watch the progress of your litigation against the Government of Canada.
We also understand that many people across Canada are now directly facing the consequences of the agreement. New Democrat Members of Parliament will continue to assist individuals access the information and resources they need regarding how the FATCA IGA affects them.
Please feel free to contact me with any concerns you may have.
Sincerely,
Murray Rankin
NDP Candidate for Victoria
NDP Deputy Critic for National Revenue