Archive for August 2013
2013 Aug 27 – Chapman
Brad Chapman
No one’s exempt from the U.S. tax man
BC Business (27 Aug 2013)
http://www.bcbusiness.ca/finance/no-ones-exempt-from-the-us-tax-man
Canadian financial institutions will be asking all clients about their possible status as US persons.
2013 Aug 20 – Tordjman
Jeremy Tordjman
U.S. expatriates flee taxman’s reach
Japan Times (20 Aug 2013)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/20/world/u-s-expatriates-flee-taxmans-reach/#.UhPrg-U9uRI
Gulf War veteran Scott Schmith renounced US citizenship after twenty years of residence in Switzerland. Four named academics and professionals comment on the increasing rate of renunciation.
2013 Aug 19 – Snowbirds
Snowbirds may have to pay income tax in the USA
Montreal CTV (19 Aug 2013)
http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/snowbirds-may-have-to-pay-income-tax-in-the-usa-1.1417047
IRS Form 8840 may determine that a Canadian snowbird has become subject to US income tax.
2013 Aug 18 – Bernadi
Luca Bernadi
Why so many Swiss nationals are giving up U.S. citizenship
Le Temps via Worldcrunch (18 Aug 2013)
* * *
Ces Suisses qui rendent leur passeport américain
Le Temps (16 Aug 2013)
Wife of Swiss lawyer personally knows seven Swiss citizens “among the 200 people who have renounced their American nationality in the last three months of this year [2012?].”
2013 Aug 15 – Cain
Patrick Cain / Anna Mehler Paperny / Leslie Young
Why are so many American expats giving up citizenship? It’s a taxing issue
Global News (15 Aug 2013)
Ruth Freeborn in Kingston, Ontario is preparing to renounce US citizenship. Comment from Toronto CPA Kevyn Nightingale and McGill tax professor Allison Christians. Calgary tax lawyer Roy Berg says his firm has “as many as 50 U.S. citizenship renunciation files on the go.” Two graphs: FBI vs State Department totals for citizenship renunciation 2006-2013; Quarterly totals of published names of people renouncing U.S. citizenship 2003-2013.
2013 Aug 14 – Featherston
Catherine Featherston
Exposed: IRS is colluding with banks to unfairly target U.S. citizens abroad
Occupy.com (14 Aug 2013)
http://www.occupy.com/article/exposed-irs-colluding-banks-unfairly-target-us-citizens-abroad
Extensive reporting relies on interviews with renunciant Genette Eysselinck in France, Victoria Ferauge of American Citizens Abroad, FBAR activist Marvin Van Horn, Georgetown law professor Itai Grinberg, and OECD tax attorney Keith Lawson.
2013 Aug 9 – Griffiths
Dylan Griffiths
Americans giving up passports jump sixfold as tougher rules loom
Bloomberg (9 Aug 2013)
Just-released second quarter figures on U.S. citizenship renunciations total 1131, a sixfold increase compared to the same quarter from 2012. Tax lawyer Matthew Ledvina in Zurich mentions annual corporate compliance costs of $5000 per US person, and individual filing costs of $2000.
2013 Aug # – Nightingale
Kevyn Nightingale / David Turchen
The US implications of a tax free savings account
Wealth Management Times no. 77 (Aug 2013)
http://connect.cch.ca/newsletters_FinancialPlanning_August2013_article3
31 footnotes. “Most of the larger accounting firms are taking the conservative position that a TFSA is not treaty-protected. … The IRS has not pronounced on this question, and the issue has not yet been litigated.” [This article first appeared in the CCH newsletter Tax Topics No. 2146 (April 25, 2013).]