Tag Archives: Taxes

Solving US Citizenship Problems -Toronto, July 19

FATCA, , , ,

 

Life planning, Career planning and the Reality of U.S. Citizenship for Americans Abroad including Life Preparation for U.S.Citizen-children of U.S.Citizens
 
These seminars will include discussion and analysis of the IRS “relaxed opportunities” for people to come into compliance.
 

It is estimated there are 7 million U.S. citizens living outside the United States. Some of these people don’t know that the U.S. may consider them to be citizens. The vast majority of these Americans abroad (according to U.S. law), are required to file tax returns and complete information reporting forms to the United States. Although “citizenship-based” taxation has existed for years, what is new is the enforcement.

Continue reading Solving US Citizenship Problems -Toronto, July 19 →

US Citizenship & Young Adults: Navigating The Special Rules Imposed Upon US Citizens

FATCA, , ,

“Life planning, career planning and the reality of U.S. citizenship for Americans abroad”
“Everything I wish I had known, but couldn’t even have imagined to ask!”
During the winter, John Richardson presented a number of seminars for those concerned with the obvious problems of U.S. citizenship (including the “threshold question” of whether you really are a U.S. citizen).
Seminar topics have invariably included the problems of: FBAR, FATCA, investing, retirement planning, mutual funds, U.S. tax compliance, renunciation, etc.The official “FATCA Launch” of July 1, 2014 will surely make the existing problems worse.
U.S. citizens living outside the United States are subject to a regime of rules that diminish their “life opportunities”. These rules are such that U.S. citizens abroad live at a disadvantage relative to the citizens of any other nation. Those attending previous seminars have been primarily “middle aged” people, who have attempted to plan for their retirement, only to find that their retirement plans are threatened, because of their birth in the United States.

A shared sentiment has been:
“If only, I had known about these rules earlier … This is information that my children and other young adults need to hear! What does all this mean for my children?”

Continue reading US Citizenship & Young Adults: Navigating The Special Rules Imposed Upon US Citizens →

2014 IRS Survey of Individuals Living Abroad – Maple Sandbox has it

FATCA, Taxes, , ,

As previously reported by the IRS, and several other sites, the IRS sent a survey to about 4,000 individuals ‘living abroad’, “regardless of whether or not you have filed a U.S. federal income tax return while living abroad.” This is being done through an independent survey firm, ICF.

(Updated)We have been requested to provide a specific link to the survey:
The IRS did it last year as well, and the 2012 survey results are available:
 
According to the Taxpayers Advocate Service 2013 Annual Report to Congress,
“The IRS has also contracted with an independent consultant to survey 4,000 individuals residing abroad who the IRS believes have U.S. filing requirement and did not file a return. The survey, to be conducted by mail and online, will “focus on why some individuals living abroad do not file a tax return, their awareness of certain tax provisions and forms specific to International Taxpayers, and how the IRS can encourage voluntary compliance among this population.” 
 
There is a lot to consider in this survey, and its ramifications, and much that I suspect people will find, at the least, questionable. Section 4E has 11 multiple choice questions around CBT, filing returns, etc. Section 4H is asking for ‘thoughts’ on what the IRS has done well, or how the IRS can “improve in communicating whether income earned outside the US is subject to US federal taxes”.
 
I am very, very curious to read the comments that this survey will generate!
 
(A password is required to access the survey).
Personally, I’m very interested to know if anyone who has never filed a U.S. tax return, and who thinks they should be filing, actually fills out the survey.

Fraser Institute report – no mention of FATCA

FATCA, ,

I was reading through the Fraser Institute report from January 2014 “Canada’s Catch-22: The State of Canada-US Relations in 2014”
The report mentions several disputes and barriers, such as the Keystone pipeline, the softwood lumber dispute, and intellectual property rights, but there is not a single mention of FATCA.
According to their website “The Fraser Institute measures and studies the impact of markets and government interventions on the welfare of individuals” (emphasis is mine)
Can anyone tell me why and how they can just ignore the impact of FATCA?
report link:
http://www.fraserinstitute.org/uploadedFiles/fraser-ca/Content/research-news/research/publications/canadas-catch-22-state-of-canada-us-relations-in-2014.pdf
 
 

Have you just learned that the United States considers you a US person? (Updated February 6, 2014)

Building Blocks, Citizenship, , ,

February 6, 2014 Update: Yesterday, Finance Canada announced an IGA with the United States that may change some of the information presented here.  We will update as more information becomes available and we better understand what it may mean.

Perhaps you’ve just read one of the sensationalist IRS-propaganda articles in the media that says every person born on US soil is a US citizen and must file income tax reports to the US, and are at risk for huge penalties. Perhaps you heard about this situation through another person who has a US connection. Either way, you’re probably confused about what this means and what you need to do about it.  Continue reading Have you just learned that the United States considers you a US person? (Updated February 6, 2014) →

Another Open Letter to Recalcitrant Canadian Bankers Association: Response to statements made on November 19 2013 CBC broadcast

FATCA, , ,

The November 19 CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) broadcast, in which a representative of the Canadian Bankers Association was interviewed, shows that Canada’s banks still feel that they have no choice but to capitulate to US demands for FATCA implementation.
This is just one brief response also posted on IsaacBrockSociety.ca: 

[SENT BY MAIL; POSTED ONLINE AT ISAACBROCKSOCIETY.CA
AND MAPLESANDBOX.CA]

November 21, 2013
Mr. Marion Wrobel
Vice-President, Policy and Operations
Canadian Bankers Association
199 Bay Street, 30th Floor
Toronto, Ontario
M5L 1G2
Dear Mr. Wrobel,

[Re: Your November 19 2013 CBC broadcast statements on
Canadian banks and FATCA]

I am asking you, as a representative of the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA), to provide more balance in future statements you will make to the public on involvement of Canadian banks in implementing the U.S. imposed FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) law.
In your November 19 statements broadcasted on CBC the audience was left with the impression that Canada’s banks have no choice but to capitulate to U.S. demands to implement FATCA– because the U.S. has a “large economy” and “financial markets are integrated.”
I appreciate that only limited broadcast time was available, and know that you would not mislead; however, Canadians need to know, directly from the CBA, that Canadian banks do in fact have the option of resisting FATCA in order to protect rights of all of us and the sovereignty of our country. Continue reading Another Open Letter to Recalcitrant Canadian Bankers Association: Response to statements made on November 19 2013 CBC broadcast →

MacLean's Article: FATCA in Toronto Centre

FATCA, , ,

Just hours before the Toronto Centre debate on FATCA, MacLeans Magazine added fuel to the flame.
In On Being Canadian and How Freeland Could Have Responded to McQuaig, author Erica Alini brings FATCA front and centre.
In a debate, McQuaig attacked Freeland for being un-Canadian. Freeland, who has spent several years in Russia, UK and US, did not respond.
As Ms. Alini points out about FATCA:

This kind of snooping could turn out to unconstitutional under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects privacy and liberty and forbids discrimination based on “national or ethnic origin.” And among the many whose rights might be trampled over would likely be Freeland, who must have a SSN, if not a green card, and certainly had a U.S. address. It would also include Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, who was born in Connecticut, and probably other MPs. Continue reading MacLean's Article: FATCA in Toronto Centre →

This Week's News–Lots

FATCA, ,

This has been a big week for FATCA News. I have been busy with various r FATCA projects, so I haven’t had time to post them.
Here are a few. The first was the letter to Canadian Bankers Association posted here and at Brock by Pacifica and the news release.
Toronto Centre has a FATCA Debate scheduled for November 18. Schubert posted that in another thread.
Toronto Centre (whoever they are) also has some articles on their site. Anti-FATCA Movement Gains Momentum and #TorCen Candidates Need To Understand What FATCA Implies For Privacy Rights in Canada
Today, FATCA in Canada was the lead story on the front of the Caymans Compass: Grassroots Challenge to FATCA In Canada
Moving across the pond, France and US signed an IGA. This was expected, but it is not good news for Americans living in France. I hope Victoria and others will tell us what they think of it.
In Switzerland, Tina Turner Gives Up U.S. Citizenship–FATCA Wheel Keeps On Turning.
Petros and I were contacted by a lawyer-reporter for an article in a prominent international tax journal. It should be published the beginning of next week. However, for copyright reasons, we may not be able to publish it here for about two weeks after publication.
Stay tuned… Continue reading This Week's News–Lots →

Toronto Centre Green candidate responds to our Demo and CBA emails

FATCA, , ,

As noted on other threads, on November 6 I sent an email to five Toronto Centre candidates concerning our current demonstration outside the Metro Convention Centre in Toronto. Yesterday I sent emails to the same candidates, transmitting to them the joint Brock/Sandbox letter to CBA and reminding them both about our demo and about the FATCA-centred debate being organized by Toronto Centre Debates for November 18.
I received yesterday (but only got to my email today) a reply to these emails from the Green candidate. Several days ago I got a reply from the Progressive Canadian candidate, who has been in touch with IRSCompliantForever and who I understand may attend our demonstration. At this moment, I have received no replies at all to either email from the Conservative candidate (Geoff Pollock) nor the Liberal candidate (Chrystia Freeland), and all I have from the NDP candidate (Linda McQuaig) in reply to my second email is a standard robo-reply thanking me for my email, saying it will be forwarded to an appropriate person, and asking me for a donation. Conclude from all this as you will, Toronto Centre voters. And pass the word around.
The full text of the reply from John Deverell, the Green candidate for Toronto Centre, is as follows:
Dear XXXX,
Thank you for the extensive documentation you provided on the US Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FACTA) and the attempt to embroil Canadian financial Institutions directly in its administration.
As Green Party leader Elizabeth May indicated in January of this year, we do not approve of the extraterritorial enforcement of US tax law by Canadian financial institutions, nor do we approve of an Intergovernmental Agreement between Canada and the US to produce that effect. Continue reading Toronto Centre Green candidate responds to our Demo and CBA emails →