8 responses to “Another Open Letter to Recalcitrant Canadian Bankers Association: Response to statements made on November 19 2013 CBC broadcast”

1. 

   Blaze

   November 21, 2013

   Thanks Compliant. I love “Recalcitrant Canadian Bankers Association.”
   It’s important CBA hear from a wide range of Canadians, but I understand people are reluctant to “out” themselves.
   When I initially contacted CBA, Schubert sent my letter to them on by behalf without me identifying myself. That was almost two years ago.
   After Schubert made the initial contact, I did my follow ups using my real name. I’m not prepared to hide any more. I have done nothing wrong.

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2. 

   WhiteKat

   November 21, 2013

   @Blaze, The problem is that not all of us who have also not done anything wrong have an ‘oath of allegiance’ paper that is the equivalent of a ‘get out of jail free card’ to fall back on. Some of us are in deep doo doo, if we step too far out into the limelight. Knowing where to draw the line for such people (I am one) is a bit tricky.
   Having said that, banks cannot just ‘pick on’ individuals even if they do know who we are due to our activism. They have to follow the IGA rules, and treat us all the same as everyone else who walks into a bank, whether or not ‘they’ know we are ‘US persons’ from having read our names on a petition or on a website somewhere or because they have us on video at a public demonstration.

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3. 

   Blaze

   November 21, 2013

   @WhiteKat: I know. I can’ t believe Canadian banks can be participants in this reign of financial terror on their long time Canadian customers.
   Despite repeated questions to them, (including by AnnMaria Tremonti on CBC last week,) they continue to evade the question of how they will know where someone was born.
   They don’t answer that question because they are fully aware that they can’t do it legally.
   I don’t believe an IGA will give them any way around that.
   If CBA would like to come here and answer that question, they are welcome to do so.

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4. 

   Blaze

   November 21, 2013

   Here’s another example of a publication outside of Canada picking up on our letter to CBA when Canadian media didn’t.
   http://www.convey.com/1099-news-tax-blog/international-tax-compliance/canadians-voice-opposition-to-fatca/#axzz2l7iHFY00
   Actually, they picked it up from the Cayman Compass article, but they did pick it up. I’m not sure where they are located, but they are not Canadian.

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5. 

   WhiteKat

   November 21, 2013

   They could be in the USA. The article had this at the bottom:
   ” Convey provides tax information reporting services and software to businesses to make IRS compliance clear and uncomplicated.”

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6. 

   badger

   November 28, 2013

   @Blaze, along with utter revulsion at what the banks are willing to perpetrate on their accountholders, and on assets that the banks need in order to exist, I am shocked that this is happening as applied to assets that we OWN. The money in the accounts belongs to us – not the banks, and not the US. Much of it/most/all of it has already been taxed, or will be taxed (on withdrawal or after any distribution). If legal locally made and held Canadian savings are to be seized and sent to the IRS, or accounts closed, then this is not a democracy. Basically at that point, we’re dealing with despots.

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7. 

   OutragedCanadian

   November 29, 2013

   Hey, I was just doing a search on the Parliament of Canada site for ‘fatca’, and ran across some interesting things. It could be that this is old news, and has been talked about before and I just don’t remember it, but I found the minutes to a March meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance. In it, there are high ranking bank officials named. For example,
   “Ms. Nanci York (Vice-President, Enterprise Regulatory Projects, Scotiabank):
   Hello. My name is Nanci York. I am vice-president of enterprise regulatory projects at Scotiabank. I am the bank’s point person for the implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA. In this role I am responsible for FATCA readiness and compliance across our global operations, ”
   Murray Rankin (MP) asked, “whether or not we in Canada can craft a good automatic information exchange agreement to get around some of the problems I’ve mentioned.”
   She said (at the time) “We could.”
   http://www.parl.gc.ca/HousePublications/Publication.aspx?DocId=6054727&Language=E&Mode=1
   However, in the same search I came across a doc, “Pre-budget consultations 2012”, in which Tim Smyth said,
   “I believe a reporting requirement specific to nationality under the ITA is against the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Previous cases such as Chua vs Minister of National Revenue and Edwards vs Law Society indicate I suspect what would be a strong reluctance by Canadian courts to support this “intergovernmental” approach to FATCA. In some sense a ITA reporting requirement tied to nationality or in many cases even dual nationality would be seen as a modern day equivilent to the old Chinese Head Tax.”

   Click to access 411_FINA_PBC2012_Briefs%5CSmythTimE.pdf

   Kudos to Tim Smyth! And a pox on Murray Rankin and Nanci York.

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8. 

   Blaze

   November 29, 2013

   @Outraged: Murray Rankin is the NDP Revenue Critic. Since then he has written a letter with objections to FATCA. It’s not as strong as I would like, but it does cover some of our issues.

   Click to access Rankin-Letter-to-Flaherty.pdf

   Timothy Smyth is certainly an ally. It’s good to know someone spoke out at Parliament on this.

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