Maple Sandbox Historical Archive – 2012 to 2016

FATCA British Church Bell Ringers

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maplesandboxarchive

May 18, 2015

How crazy can all of this get?
British church bell ringers were FATCAed when opening a bank account in a British Co-operative Bank.
The bank demanded information not only on the 76 year old Treasurer but on every one of the 12 bell ringers.
The church bell ringing treasurer gets it.

“Just imagine the pile of confidential information sitting on someone’s desk if we had 1,000 members,” Mr Campbell said. “The request is so unrealistic, but to my amazement my complaint about this was rejected.
“We do not ask people for their age, let alone their birth date or bank details, when they ask to join the group. If we made it a condition of membership we would soon have no members. Also, most banks recognise identity theft as a growing problem. People shouldn’t be asked to give their exact birth date or bank details for no good reason.”

The Co-op does not get it.

“Like all banks, we have increased the checks we need to do when customers apply for an account.

2 responses to “FATCA British Church Bell Ringers”

George III

May 19, 2015

I do not know if this applies to Canada This only count for joint account reporting. People who are not Americans should have no problem certifying they are not US person for tax purpose. (Please note I don know if Britain use the rule that once you do a CLN you are not a US person for tax purpose. The original European FATCA used the IRS definition of US person for tax purposes.) I do not know if they have changed it to match Canadian FATCA.
12.25 For joint accounts, the balance or value to be attributed is the entire balance or value of the account. This will be attributable to each account holder of the account.
Example
When a joint account has a balance or value of US$100,000 and one of the individual account holders is a specified U.S. person, the amount to be attributed to the specified U.S. person is US$100,000. A report is made for the specified U.S. person; no report is made for the other account holder.
If both account holders are specified U.S. persons, each is attributed the US$100,000 and reports are made for both. For reporting purposes, one slip with the full account balance, should be prepared for each joint holder that is a U.S. person.
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/nhncdrprtng/gdnc-eng.html
I do not know if Britian ask for place of birth for bank accounts.
Of course in Canada even if you gave your place of birth you may still be safe.
“8.28 In the context of an electronic record search, an “unambiguous indication of a U.S. place of birth” must include identification of the U.S. as the country of birth. Identification of a city and/or a state as the place of birth, without identification of the country of birth as the U.S., is not considered to be unambiguous.”
If you gave New York, New York or Chicago Illinois that is not unambiguous.

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GeorgeIII

May 19, 2015

I am not a U.S. person, but I have a joint account with a U.S. person. How does the agreement affect me?
If a Canadian financial institution identifies a joint account as a reportable account, the financial institution will report the full value of the account to the CRA. It will not report identifying information (name, address, taxpayer identification number) associated with joint account holders who are not U.S. persons
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nnrsdnts/nhncdrprtng/fq-eng.html#q2-11

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Maple Sandbox Historical Archive – 2012 to 2016

FATCA British Church Bell Ringers

2 responses to “FATCA British Church Bell Ringers”