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 … Continue reading
"Known unknowns and unknown unknowns"
On December 3, 2011 the Globe and Mail reported that the there would be possible waiver of tax and FBAR penalties for U.S. citizens living abroad. (On December 8, 2011 the Globe continued the story.) Once again – the directive was “sit tight” – information would be released by the end of December. Well, some (and there are surely more to come) information has been released. They apply to U.S. Citizens or Dual Citizens Residing Outside The U.S.
Is this welcome news or is it merely a restatement of the law and a further warning? In the online world, one can find a pundit to support any perspective. The third party commentary varies from the:
Obama's 3.8% tax on unearned income - it's true!
The situation is indeed dismal. I don’t understand everything in the following article, but I can see that this is going to:
1. Add more bureaucracy and cost to filing your U.S. tax return – it is not clear how this is intended to impact expats (if they are considered at all);
2. Clearly interfere with your ability to invest and plan for retirement. The U.S. has become a nation of forms and bureaucracy.
The U.S. government is aliready taxing unearned and undistributed gains when it comes to PFICs (and perhaps more). Stop for a moment and think what this means. The idea behind income taxation is that a certain percentage of what you receive as INCOME is to go to the government as your contribution toward running the government. In its most simple terms, this means that (imagine a tax rate of 20%) that if you receive $100 then $20 goes to the government. The taxpayer does not receive all of that he was paid. When it comes to taxing “unearned income”, one needs to ask the following question: Continue reading
Updated on January 16, 2013
As the Government of Canada gets closer and closer to signing an IGA with the U.S. the issue of who is a “U.S. person” is becoming more and more important. Panic is starting to set in. Those of you who became citizens of another country prior to 1986 may not be U.S. citizens. Whatever you do: do NOT ask an accountant or tax preparer (they don’t have the expertise) or even a tax lawyer (they have a financial interest in your citizenship). The proper person to ask is a U.S immigration and citizenship lawyer.
Those who think of themselves as #americansabroad may not be US citizens. Before thinking #FATCA, think citizenship renounceuscitizenship.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/exp…—
U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) January 16, 2013
More on US citizens who became Cdn and are long term citizens of Canada isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/09/07/moo… – Do not presume you must file US taxes—
U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) January 16, 2013
Enjoy this old post.
Listen to the stories of these two people born in the United States. One of these is Professor Maurice Williams who wrote an interesting letter to Obama. Read the following blog post. These two people may or may not be U.S. citizens.
Renouncing U.S. Citizenship – A Growing Trend
Many people are coming to the conclusion that U.S. citizenship is at best undesirable and at worst dangerous. In the past – people came to America in pursuit of liberty and justice. There are some who still do. What is new is the large number of people who are interested in “ceasing to be a U.S. citizen”. More and more people are renouncing U.S. citizenship.
But Wait – Maybe You Are Not A U.S. Citizen After All
I started this blog because I believe that there are U.S. expats who believe that they are U.S. citizens when in fact they are not. Even if you were born in the United States, you may not be a U.S. citizen. It is possible that there are people who entered the OVDI program who are no longer U.S. citizens. This is first of a series of posts where I will discuss reasons why you may no longer be a U.S. citizen. There are many U.S. expats who would be very happy to be in your shoes. Continue reading
Link to Article:
Americans in Canada driven to divorce from their country
This is a desperate time to be a U.S. expat. An “ignorant and arrogant” U.S. Congress (to use the language of American Citizens Abroad) along with Carl Levin, Barack Obama, Timothy Geithner and Douglass Shulman are destroying the lives of American citizens who happen to live outside the United States. It is difficult to describe the state of sheer terror that U.S. expats are living under. The bottom line is that the U.S. is threatening monetary penalties which, if implemented, will force U.S. expats to liquidate their assets (homes, RRSPs, etc.) and pay the IRS. U.S. citizenship is such a liability that there will be a number of marriages (which are already on shaky ground) that will end because the non U.S. spouse will not want to be reported to the IRS. Would you want to be married to somebody if it meant that all of your financial information would go to the IRS? To understand the exact reasons and the how this came about, I encourage you to read other parts of this blog. But, the “bottom line” is what it is. Continue reading
From The War of 1812 To The War of 2012 – America Tries Again!
In 1812, because of grievances against Great Britain, the United States attacked the British Colonies north of the 49th parallel. These colonies were to become Canada. The reasons for the attack included: Continue reading
I never left the U.S. – The U.S. left me!
The lyrics to our National Anthem were written by Francis Scott Key, as the British bombed Baltimore, during the war of 1812. On September 11, 2001 the United States was attacked. In a misguided attempt to protect Americans and to punish the guilty, the government passed laws which undermined the very freedoms that America was built on.
John Adams, one of the founders of the U.S. constitution noted that:
Since September 11, 2001 the freedoms of U.S. citizens have and continue to be eroded.
It has become more important that the guilty be punished then the innocent be protected. Continue reading
