Most Americans are not aware of this .
Hi all...
I was astounded when I read this today....
It seems that the world is standing up to the US government....and saying that what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
Not every dual citizen is a traitor or evading taxes. As you all know that Canada has higher tax laws
There are many Americans who came to Canada for jobs, romance or political reasons and became citizens. this FATCA has turned into a nightmare of bully and threats.
read the article.
http://clsbluesky.law.columbia.edu/2013/06/19/should-lex-americana-be-universal-fatca-turns-foreign-banks-into-tax-informants/
Should Lex Americana be universal? FATCA turns foreign banks into tax informants
For the IRS, it is an important development in U.S. efforts to improve tax compliance involving foreign financial assets and offshore accounts. FATCA includes two major features:
It requires US taxpayers to declare the existence of their foreign accounts, wherever they are in the world, if they reach $ 50,000 for singles and $ 100,000 for married couples. This is consistent with the universal tax principle. This is in addition for the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) that requires a reporting to the US Treasury under the Bank Secrecy Act.
The IRS, armed with its whip, requires foreign banks to provide information on such accounts if the accountholder is a US national or a US resident. The negotiations are managed country by country by IRS officials. It is therefore a use of the US political muscle and ability to threaten foreign financial institutions to withdraw their license to operate in the United States. The FATCA rules essentially require a “foreign financial institution” (“FFI”) to enter into, and to comply with, a reporting and withholding agreement (“FFI Agreement”) with the IRS with respect to US account holders. An FFI that enters into an FFI Agreement is referred to as a “Participating FFI.” An FFI that does not enter into an FFI Agreement (referred to as a “Non-Participating FFI”) would be subject to a 30% gross withholding tax on withholdable payments, unless it is otherwise exempted from the FATCA regime.
FATCA raises fundamental questions of privacy, but also raises questions about how it can be properly executed. Why, as a Belgian-born, dual-citizen, grandfather, am I no longer allowed to use or send money from my Belgian account for my granddaughter in Paris by using Internet banking? Why is my account subject to all kinds of FATCA restrictions while I am not required to disclose the account because its amount is below the IRS thresholds? Why can I not view the balance of my account on line?
