Do you want to Share Your US Tax Story?
Well, Democrats Abroad wants to hear from you. They are publishing a selection of stories each day and say they will use some in submission to the government.
My big question is, what has Democrats Abroad done so far? My sense is not much (neither, of course, have Republicans Abroad). If representatives of either would like to dispute that, they are free to come here and tell us differently. Don’t be surprised if we don’t agree with you.
You will either weep or scream as you read the stories.
Someone who has been a Canadian citizen for decades who got caught up in IRS snare with no one telling her she relinquished US citizenship and could get a CLN and be free of IRS.
A Belgian who had bank accounts closed. An Israeli terrorized by IRS over legal sale of stocks. A US citizen in Switzerland overwhelmed with costs and time to be compliant. A Thai businessman who finds IRS anti-business.
Then, there’s the Canadian citizen born in Canada with “US citizenship as it was passed to me, like a genetic disease, from my American father.” Legal fees to the “sharks” (aka tax lawyers) and penalties extorted through OVDI cost him six months salary. He considers himself “lucky” with a understanding wife, a mortgage to pay, and a young family to support. It seems none of those “sharks” told him CRA will not collect for IRS on Canadian citizens. He’s waiting to renounce US citizenship.
I personally am not going to tell Democrats Abroad my story as I don’t consider myself American (and I don’t trust them!) Have they told one Canadian citizen she relinquished three decades ago or told the other one born in Canada that CRA will protect him? I doubt it.
I am posting this, though, in case others want to share their experiences to try to make a difference.
Share Your US Tax Story
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11 responses to “Share Your US Tax Story”
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I don’t like the title. It should be renamed to something more like:
“Explain the damaging impact American insanity has had on your life and why you agree that the US government has gone mad”.LikeLike
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I went ahead and filled out the survey, wondering if they might do something with results in the future. I didn’t really feel I had a “story” to tell. I totally missed the fact they were putting the stories on each day. Have they said anything about what sort of report they’re going to submite?
BTW, for some reason, I can’t login.LikeLike
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Blaze, I was referring to a different site I came across yesterday. It was a survey with the option to tell “your story” at the end of the survey. It was not the same site that I got to from your link. So I went there and read some of the stories. I read at the bottom of the page that they were not taking any more submissions……………
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“My sense is not much (neither, of course, have Republicans Abroad). If representatives of either would like to dispute that, they are free to come here and tell us differently.”
I notice you didn’t get any takers.
A few months ago I was infuriated by how little these organizations were doing on behalf of American abroad. I finally decided they were going to be useless on the topic and I moved on.
Perhaps I should have known better. No one I know in my host country belong to Dems Abroad and have little or no interest when I ask them about it. Well, live and learn.LikeLike
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Noble Dreamer: Ooops! I missed the point they are no longer taking submissions. That tells us something, doesn’t it?
@Victoria: I just invited @DemsAbroad and @RepubAbroad on Twitter to Maple Sandbox to tell us what they are doing on FATCA-
You may be aware Just Me (aka FATCA_Fallout) had some twittsation going with @DemsAbroad in December and January. Their responses confirmed our feelings they were not doing anything worthwhile on FATCA.
@RepubAbroad did not have the courtesy or respect to respond even once. So, that probably tells us something, too…LikeLike
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@Blaze: They’re no longer taking submissions because they apparently think that the “amnesty” program for “low-risk” cases solves the problems, and it certainly would for some of the cases described. (Possibly the Dems Abroad even instigated or suggested that program.)
By letting those who are most obviously innocent off the hook cuts down the yelling a lot.
A lot of the problems with the way the FBAR mess was handled were probably due to simple bureaucratic stupidity (unbendable internal rules invented for other cases and bosses who wanted to make quota). The wording of the FBAR law and the IRM on FBAR make it clear that innocents should not be punished. But a country that would pass a law like FATCA clearly wants to make it impossible for its citizens to be able to live outside its borders. That’s why I renounced.LikeLike
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I think Democrats Abroad know as well as we do that the “amnesty” for “low risk” really does little to address the violation of FATCA. They are simply singing from the Democratic hymnbook of Levin, Schumer, Baucus, et. al.
Neither Democrats Abroad nor Republicans Abroad even acknowledged my invitation to come here and tell us what they are doing on FATCA.
I’m sure none of us are surprised at that.LikeLike
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Anyone have any ideas on why Isaac Brock is down?
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Petros has been in touch with them but there is no real answer. The tech support people are gone for the day.
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Blaze,I think they intended to take them up to a point and submit them to some agency….I remember the exchange with Just Me, I also got one response where they indicated they’d follow through but didn’t happen. I figured they were at least acknowledging a big problem by posting those stories, which was more than I thought they would do….
Brock site likely to be down until tomorrow. And my internet is so off and on the last week, it’s driving me nuts. I lost the first comment I tried to post, let’s see if this one goes thru.LikeLike
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In terms of FBAR on a standalone basic the IRS has fewer options to collect than back taxes and even fewer overseas. For one thing FBAR is not a tax and the IRS is technically not responsible for collecting FBAR penalties the Treasury Financial Management Service is.
The one real weapon the US has for enforcing tax law outside the US is criminal prosecution. At best this is a high risk high reward strategy for the US plus I think the US Justice Department wants far better relations with Canada than the IRS does.LikeLike
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