FEARBar – “Foreign Email Account Report” – #Offshore email reporting – coming to an information return near you!

#americansabroad : "me and UK husband paid 40% of life saving to bring me into US compliance. divorce threatened" isaacbrocksociety.ca/2013/06/04/fea…—
U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) June 05, 2013

What if the US wants you returned to the Homeland? The conventional wisdom is that there is not much the US can do if you are not within their borders. This is a complicated question. There are at least two issues:

Assuming a violation of U.S. law, under what circumstances will an extradition treaty provide for extradition to the U.S.?

Lawyer: Becoming more likely that US gov can extradite people back to the US for tax crimes blogs.angloinfo.com/us-tax/2013/06… – #FATCA enforcement—
U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) June 04, 2013

Grover Norquist and Dan Mitchell argue for territorial taxation – “IRS Discount” associated with U.S. entities or persons

Introduction – Territorial vs. Worldwide Taxation or Global Taxation – It’s becoming topical!

July 15, 2012 – the Financial Times ran a front page article called “China eases taxes for foreign companies” The article included the following:

China will cut taxes on the profits that foreign companies take out of the country by up to 50 per cent after rules on withholding taxes were relaxed to encourage more overseas investment.

The move will also apply to dividends paid by Chinese listed companies to foreign shareholders through the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor scheme . In both cases, the lower tax rates will apply only to companies and shareholders based in countries, such as the UK, that have double taxation agreements with China.

The changes could save companies billions of dollars worth of tax payments, which might initially lead them to repatriate more profits, but ultimately should provide incentives for more investments, according to experts at KPMG. US companies, however, cannot benefit as they are taxed on a global basis by US authorities.

Why IRS conduct may contribute to establishing “Reasonable Cause” for failure to file Mr. FBAR

Two solitudes – To “OVDP” or to NOT “OVDP”

To OVDP:

Does bringing the past into "compliance" mean that one must enter #OVDP ? One lawyer thinks so isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/07/23/wil…—
U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) July 31, 2012

To NOT OVDP:

@USCitizenAbroad digitaljournal.com/pr/814599

prweb.com/releases/2012/…—
Alvin S. Brown, Esq. (@USTaxAttorney) July 30, 2012

When it comes to the “compliance dilemma”, the thinking seems to be:

“To OVDP or to NOT OVDP” – Note the Isaac Brock press release on OVDP 2012

That question has consumed created enormous “life altering anxiety” and a large number of LCUs life credit units). Readers of this blog will have seen a number of compliance options acknowledged and considered. These range from “compliance going forward” at one end of the spectrum to OVDP at the other. At a minimum it is important to consider the ramifications of all options. That said, there are a large number of lawyers who believe that entering OVDP is the “default option”. At least one lawyer as stated his view that compliance means OVDP. (The validity of this position was strongly questioned here. At least one other lawyer has stated that he has “always gone in under reasonable cause”.

In any event, I have come to see that the question is NOT:

“To OVDP or to NOT OVDP”.

The question is:

“To reasonable cause or to NOT reasonable cause”

As Form Nation becomes a police state, there is an increasing number of laws and a decreasing requirement to prove wrongful intent

The purpose of this post is to make three important points.

1. The U.S. has so many laws that it is impossible to know whether you are in compliance with the law

2. It takes less and less (in terms of guilty intent and knowledge) to be convicted of the crime of violating one of these laws.

3. The combined effect of  “1″ and “2″ is that the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.

I will discuss each point separately.

Something new (maybe) from the IRS for taxpayers residing outside the U.S. and who have NOT been filing tax returns and FBARs

Whatever this means was announced on June 26, 2012 under the title of New Filing Compliance Procedures for Non-Resident U.S. Taxpayers. Those interested in this topic should check back frequently for more specifics. The specifics should be available no later than September 1, 2012. I am certain that the “cross border professionals” will say that this is “nothing new”. After all the statute of limitations for FBARs is six years. This is a message from the IRS and therefore it needs to be read carefully. It also needs to be read in the context of:

1. OVDI – You are all criminals

2. The December 2011 FS – well maybe “reasonable cause” does really exist

3. Voluntary disclosure in general – always been there anway

You can be sure that the IRS chooses its words carefully. Therefore, we must read the words of the IRS carefully.

June 18, 2012 – The Trojan Horse, U.S. citizenship-based taxation, and other less expensive ways to wage war

“War is failure”
- Once heard Colin Powell requote this truism

June 18/12 – 200 years ago today the US attacked Canada in the #warof1812 – thestar.com/news/books/art… Laxers's perspective thestar.com/opinion/editor…—
U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) June 18, 2012

Today is an important day in Canadian History. Exactly 200 years ago today, the United States under President Madison attacked what was then British North America. The outcome of the war depends on which country’s historians you listen to. But what is clear is that – after three years, the United States failed in its military invasion of it’s British neighbour to the North.  In other words U.S. expansion stopped at the 49th parallel – making the existence of Canada possible.

What “Form Nation” does to U.S. citizens living outside the United States

I came across a great post which I tweeted:

@aaforobama interested in knowing what the Obama admin has done to #americansabroad with #FATCA and the dormant #FBAR terra0nullius.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/ann…—
U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) June 06, 2012

I then left the author the following comment:

Hello:

Found you from a pingback on an article I wrote.

A very well done article. Thought I would spread the word a bit:

https://twitter.com/USCitizenAbroad/status/210362763225202689

See that you have an interest in human rights. Here is a post that I
wrote a while ago:

Do you think that the U.S. practice of citizenship-based taxation is in 
 violation of International law?

Could citizenship-based taxation evolve into a crime against humanity?

U.S. citizens abroad are suffering and being forced to 
renounce U.S. citizenship as defensive measure.

“Hitching a ride” – FATCA – The Trojan Horse of the Hire Act – Updated with Roger Conklin comment

Hitching A Ride – Is A “Trojan Horse” Provision Legitimate?

 

@SenCarlLevin thinks extraneous legislative amendments should be banned washingtonpost.com/opinions/fight… How can he justify #FATCA wp.me/p1OvGl-18—
Renounce U.S. Citz (@renounceus) April 28, 2012

 

In order for legislation to have “moral force”, it should at a minimum:

1. Be read by legislators prior to it becoming law; and

2. Not contain provisions that are unrelated to the main purpose of the legislation – i.e. NOT “hitch a ride”

“Hitching a ride”** is especially easy if the Congressmen don’t read the legislation.  Nancy Pelosi commenting in relation to Obamacare, noted that it was important for Congress to pass the bill, so that the American people (and presumably Congress) could learn what was in it.

FATCA is unrelated to the  purpose of the HIRE Act. It simply “hitched a ride” into the Hire Act. Who knows how many Congressmen read and understood the Hire Act prior to voting in favor of it? Provisions that “hitch a ride” into legislation are analagous to  soldiers left inside a Trojan Horse*. Once the primary legislation takes effect, the “hitchhiker provisions” will be unleashed on an unsuspecting public.

FATCA has been referred to as the “neutron bomb” of international finance. It is the most dangerous act of American Imperialism ever.  It will  hasten the demise of the U.S. as a world power.

Chicken soup for the immigrant soul – Getting a good night sleep for less than $10,000

It’s no secret that U.S. Green Card holders and immigrants have been among the biggest victims of OVDP and OVDI. For countless immigrants, the “American Dream” has turned into the “American Nightmare”. Imagine coming to a country – let’s call it “Form Nation”. Imagine not being told about the tax and reporting laws of  “Form Nation”. Imagine  not knowing about Mr. FBAR and then being told that you were a criminal and that the only way out was to pay up. Imagine, being told that you were a criminal according to the laws of a country AND LIVING IN THAT COUNTRY. Imagine trying to seek help from the “cross border professionals” who told you that you must go into OVDI (and pay them lots of money for the privilege).  U.S. tax compliance is very expensive. Understanding FBAR penalties is import in making the OVDI decision. As bad as the situation has been for U.S. citizens living abroad, I suspect that the situation is far worse for the immigrants. What are they do do? For the most part they want to be in the United States (although after hearing their story, I suspect fewer and fewer people will want to immigrate to the U.S.). Like U.S. citizens living abroad, the lives of Green Card holders are also being destroyed.

I thought the following part of a thread should be made into a separate post. It illustrates the nightmare facing Green Card Holders. But, it also demonstrates how the Isaac Brock Society has become a real help to people in distress. What follows is certainly “Chicken Soup for the Immigrant Soul”, but it also delivered as a very nice “Good Night” story, helping this person get the good night’s sleep that he or she so craves. This thread is proof that a “good night’s sleep” can be had without spending $10,000.

What follows shows that  the “Isaac Brock Society is coming of age!”

Citizenship renunciations soar under Obama – Renouncing As An Act Of Self Defense

To Be, Or Not To Be: That Is The Question: – Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune …