Warning! USA invading Canada and other countries. be aware if you are an US person living abroad.

[RAFREE]

110. Just the FACTS as far as I have seen them here.

I do find that sad but, I don't blame them. This issue has not been as discussed in the U.S. as it has been in other nations who are negatively impacted. I know Patricia. House Ways and Means asked for submissions when they heard the "unintended consequences" of FATCA. She's not the only one who I know of that has been harmed by this. Did they REALLY think this was going to harm the 1 percent? She sent in a letter the same as hundreds of others did. ACA presented the submissions and you could write the situation online to begin with. House Ways and Means did not require you to have an "in" in order to participate. Patricia is very ill and has been horribly damaged by what happened to her. Her foreign spouse was so outraged that they had marriage issues over this. He's never been American and was put through the wringer too.

Just this week I talked with a 77 year old man who came to Canada with his Canadian parents when he was two months old. The U.S. didn't used to allow dual and he never knew he was "American" He heard about FATCA on this radio show.
http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2013/11/13/fatca-under-fire-from-tax-experts-canadian-citizens/

It's cost him over 20,000 dollars to straighten this all out. He's going to Toronto to renounce this year.

Got another letter yesterday from a man who is taking his 90 year old mother to renounce over it in the next two weeks. She's paid over 4000.00 to straighten it out. NOT ONE OF THESE PEOPLE ARE RICH.

There are many "accidental Americans" along the border, border babies, people who left a long time ago and were told when they took other citizenship that they were "no longer American" who have been reclaimed since 1986 and now have to pay to renounce and in order to do that you have to pay big bucks to file tons of forms which most of these people can little afford.

Then you have the spouses and children of U.S. persons who can't bank normally where they live because there is a U.S. person in the household.

The Canadian Civil Liberties association has spoken out about this issue as well as the Canadian Green Party, NDP, Liberal Party Leaders and other organizations who have met with those most horribly impacted.
http://www.greenparty.ca/statement/2013-01-28/backgrounder-canada-and-fatca
http://ccla.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-12-04-Letter-to-Dpt-of-Finance.pdf

Ted Hsu my liberal party member submitted the following.

Q-1212 — October 25, 2013 — Mr. Hsu (Kingston and the Islands) — With regard to the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA): (a) what steps has Canada undertaken to complete an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) with the United States; (b) with what type of legal instrument will the government enact a FATCA implementation agreement; (c) will the government bring an IGA before Parliament and, if so, in what form; (d) what steps are in place to ensure parliamentary review of an IGA; (e) what studies have been undertaken as to whether an IGA can be implemented as an interpretation of the existing double tax treaty; (f) in what ways will the government involve Parliament in any process to amend interpretation of the double taxation treaty; (g) who is involved in the process indicated in (a); (h) by what criteria is the government evaluating any proposed IGA with the US; (i) who established the criteria in (h), (i) on what date, (ii) under what authority; (j) is a draft IGA currently being negotiated, and if so, what is the status of said negotiations; (k) when will the draft IGA be made public; (l) will the public be consulted for input on any agreement, and if so, by what means; (m) with which specific individuals and groups did the Minister of National Revenue consult regarding FATCA, and on what dates; (n) with which specific individuals and groups did the Minister of National Revenue consult regarding any IGA, and on what dates; (o) with which specific individuals and groups did the Minister of Finance consult regarding FATCA, and on what dates; (p) with which specific individuals and groups did the Minister of Finance consult regarding any IGA, and on what dates; (q) what studies and analyses has the Department of Finance undertaken with respect to FATCA; (r) what studies and analyses has the Department of National Revenue undertaken with respect to FATCA; (s) what analyses and studies have been undertaken as to whether the proposed FATCA regime constitutes an override of the existing double tax convention; (t) what were the conclusions of the studies in (s); (u) what steps is the government taking to ensure that, as a result of FATCA or an IGA, the US will not be allowed to impose higher taxes on Canadian persons than those agreed under the current convention; (v) what studies and analyses have been undertaken to determine whether Canadian citizens and residents are or will be denied financial services in Canada owing to US tax law in general and FATCA in particular; (w) what are the conclusions or recommendations of the studies in (v); (x) what mechanisms are in place to ensure that Canadian citizens and residents are not and will not be denied financial services in Canada owing to US tax law in general and FATCA in particular; (y) what measures will be taken to remedy denial of services to Canadians as a result of FATCA; (z) what studies and analyses will be undertaken to assess FATCA’s impact on the availability of TFSAs and RESPs for dual US-Canada citizens; (aa) what are the conclusions of any studies in (z); (bb) what analyses and studies have been undertaken regarding whether the US definition of “resident” for tax purposes, and its impact on Canadians with dual status, is compatible with Canadian law, including the Charter of Rights and freedoms; (cc) what analyses and studies have been undertaken regarding whether the US definition of “resident” for tax purposes, and its impact on Canadians with dual status, as will be enforced by FATCA or by an IGA, is compatible with Canadian law and, in particular, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms; (dd) what analyses and studies have been conducted with respect to FATCA's consequences upon Canadians who believed their US Citizenship had been relinquished; (ee) with respect to the studies referenced in (dd), what particular efforts has the government undertaken to ensure no violation of a Canadian's charter right would be occasioned by implementing FATCA or an IGA; (ff) what studies and analyses have been undertaken regarding the likely cost of FATCA implementation to (i) Canadian private institutions, (ii) Canadian individuals, (iii) the government; (gg) how were the figures in (ff) arrived at, by whom, when, and in consultation with whom; (hh) what studies and analyses have been undertaken as to whether the likely cost of FATCA implementation to Canadian private institutions, Canadian individuals, and the government will be offset by the receipt of reciprocal tax information and Canadian tax law enforcement by the US; (ii) what analyses and studies have been undertaken as to whether the likely costs and benefits described in (ff) and (hh) are likely to be greater, lesser, or the same as under the current tax-information-sharing relationship with the US; (jj) what agencies, boards, tribunals, or commissions of the government have studied, interpreted, analyzed, or commented upon FATCA, (i) to what extent, (ii) on what dates, (iii) with what conclusion(s); (kk) what specific steps has the government taken to assess the privacy implications of FACTA; (ll) on what dates and with respect to what topics has the government met with the Privacy Commissioner to discuss FATCA or the effect of any IGA; (mm) broken down by province or territory, (i) on which dates and (ii) with what individuals in the provincial and territorial governments did the government consult on the subject of FATCA; (nn) broken down by province or territory, (i) on which dates and (ii) with what individuals in the provincial and territorial governments did the government consult on the subject of any IGA; (oo) does the government have the support of every province and territory with respect to any proposed implementation of FATCA, and what evidence does the government have that this support exists; (pp) has the Department of Justice developed any policy relative to the implementation of an IGA and, if so, (i) how was it developed, (ii) in consultation with whom, (iii) to whom was it provided, (iv) who requested it, (v) what were its findings, conclusions, and recommendations; (qq) how will the government monitor and enforce compliance by Canadian institutions with FATCA requirements; (rr) how will the government monitor and enforce regulatory oversight of the bank due-diligence efforts required by FATCA and its implementation, including (i) by whom (ii) how, (iii) using what standards such efforts will be evaluated; (ss) what penalties exist and what penalties does the government intend to establish for failure to adhere to standards indicated in (rr); (tt) has the Department of Justice or the Department of Revenue developed any legislation or guidance relative to the implementation of an IGA or FATCA and, if so (i) how was it developed, (ii) in consultation with whom, (iii) to whom was it provided, (iv) who requested it, (v) what were its findings, conclusions, and recommendations; (uu) has the Department of Justice reviewed any proposed legislation relative to the implementation of an IGA; (vv) with what individuals or groups has the Department of Justice consulted relative to the implementation of FATCA; (ww), what steps have been undertaken to assess regulatory changes to federal institutions at the provincial and territorial level that would be required as a result of FATCA or any IGA; (xx) what steps has the Canada Revenue Agency taken with regard to developing or implementing FATCA or any IGA; (yy) what tax information does the Canada Revenue agency currently share with the US, (i) when, (ii) under what circumstances, (iii) in what form; (zz) has the government assessed whether FATCA and its implementation would require changes to the ways in which tax information is currently shared with the US; (aaa) what has the government sought, or does the government plan to seek from the US, in terms of reciprocal information sharing as a result of the FATCA or IGA negotiations, and what is the current status of negotiations on this point; (bbb) what measures are in place to ensure that no privacy laws or policies are violated in any transfer of information contemplated in (aaa); and (ccc) by what process(es) and on what dates will any IGA and its enacting legislation be vetted for compliance with the (i) Constitution Act, 1867, (ii) Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, (iii) Canadian Bill of Rights?

There have been numerous articles written here not one of them favourable.

Those who are most negatively impacted here are NOT the rich and are not tax evaders. In many cases the cost of this is FBAR penalties not taxes since 82 percent of Americans abroad OR their foreign families would not ever owe any taxes to the U.S. Even Nina Olsen the tax payer advocate stated that congress was causing people to be harmed who were not the intended targets of FATCA in her report to congress. Ways and Means asked for those submissions so no, Patricia did not have any inside connection. She simply submitted a letter. She is a far cry from rich and she's hardly a right winger!

These are the people FATCA is harming.
http://we-are-not-a-myth.tumblr.com/

http://www.occupy.com/article/exposed-irs-colluding-banks-unfairly-target-us-citizens-abroad
http://globalnews.ca/news/782020/why-are-so-many-american-expats-giving-up-citizenship-its-a-taxing-issue/

There's a lot more where all of this came from. I find it sad that those living in the U.S. seem to think that if you are negatively impacted by all this you must be a tax cheat and if you are not then you should "just give up your citizenship" FATCA sounds laudable but, the way it is written needs amending. If the U.S. went to residency based taxation like the rest of the civilized world they could then concentrate on those really "off shoring" while not gather up long term expats, their foreign spouses, children, the elderly, border babies in high tax nations. FATCA is about penalty gathering as it is now and not taxes. Further it violates Canada's Charter of Rights but, the U.S. has said we can "just change" our laws. I wonder if our Parliament passed a law and bullied the U.S. into changing the constitution how that would fly. Especially with no benefit to the U.S. for doing so. FATCA needs to target criminals and instead it lumps in every expat with drug lords and money launderers.