We posted 144 Offshore Banks & Now Financial Advisors Are Turning Over Your Names To The IRS where we discussed the Government has added 47 more banks and financial advisors to this list bringing the number to 144 total banks and foreign financial advisors. Included in this list as #137 is Stefan Buck (effective 11/15/16).
An interesting read by the Telegraph that walks an Accidental American through the process of renunciation of American citizenship to avoid paying a life time of US taxes, penalties, interest, and potentially criminal offences for non-filing. Read it here. Excerpts below:
On May 26, 2016 we posted 97 Offshore Banks Are Turning Over Your Names To The IRS – What Are Your Waiting For? and since then, the Government has added 47 more banks and financial advisors to this list bringing the number to 144 offshore banks and foreign financial advisors. The IRS keeps updating its list of foreign banks which are turning over the names of their U.S. Account Holders, who are now subject to a 50% (rather than 27.5%) penalty in the IRS’s Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). This penalty is based on the highest account balance measured over up to eight years.
If you are an American living abroad, you may have taken advantage of the automatic 6-month tax filing extension by filing Form 4868 by the original due date of your return (April or June 15). If so, now is the time to get moving on your tax return filing. October 17th is just around the corner!
Since their inception in 2009, the IRS tax amnesty programs have been fairly successful in encouraging delinquent taxpayers to come forward and disclose their offshore activities to the IRS. As the IRS receives more bank account information from foreign institutions however, it may begin to revisit amnesty applications to see whether the bank account info provides evidence that forgiven taxpayers did not in fact qualify for amnesty.
During February 2016 the beleaguered South African Minister of Finance, Minister Pravin Gordhan, made a serious attempt to balance government’s books.
Gordhan was called back after Minister Nene was removed from his position, by President Zuma early December 2015. The true reason for this politically motivated musical chairs, appointing three ministers in less than 4 days, remains a mystery. Point is Nene was removed and Gordhan had to step in and rescue the cash flow and ensure the country did not face junk status.
Philip Wrigley had a problem. As the notoriously parsimonious owner of the Chicago Cubs in the 1970s, Mr. Wrigley did not want to spend big money to attract top players. But as the savvy owner of a successful confectionary business he also knew that no one would buy tickets to see a perennially second-division ball club. So he came up with the idea of the “loveable losers” a slightly-above average team that could win 80 or 85 games in a season.
The point of this story is that Mr. Wrigley did not want to be penny Read More
Many people make purchase decisions based on cost, and little else. “Motor oil is motor oil,” they insist. In the minds of many, it is pure folly to pay X dollars per month for auto insurance when another company provides the same service for a mere Y dollars. Or, they ask rhetorically, what moron would pay X dollars per gallon for gasoline when the station a quarter-mile down the road only charges Y dollars?
But, as the corporate shills at Valvoline were quick to remind Earl, cost is only one element in a purchase decision. As many of us Read More
Ted Cruz was born in 1971 in Canada. He was therefore born a Canadian citizen. He claims to have been born to a U.S. citizen mother and was therefore a U.S. citizen by birth. (Whether he qualifies as a “natural born citizen” is a different question.) As a Canadian citizen he had the right (prior to renouncing Canadian citizenship) to live in Canada. Had Mr. Cruz, moved back to Canada, he could have avoided the U.S. S. 877A Exit Tax. Incredible but true. It will be interesting to see whether Mr. Cruz regrets renouncing his Canadian citizenship. As you will see, by renouncing Canadian citizenship, Mr. Cruz surrendered is right to avoid the United States S. 877A Exit Tax.
Here is why …
The S. 877A Exit Tax rules in the Internal Revenue Code, are the most punitive in relation to U.S. citizens living outside the United Read More
A lot has been written about the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act {FATCA} in the past year. As this year comes to a close and I write up this post, I wanted to give you all, my dear readers a synopsis at your finger-tips, a round-up, if you will of some major FATCA events for 2015:
1. FBAR Deadlines Changed:
On July 31, 2015 President Obama signed the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 into law, which modified the due date of several key forms for Americans with foreign income and Americans living abroad. That includes the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or Form 114, colloquially known as the FBAR.
Any U.S. person with a financial interest in, or signatory authority over, foreign financial accounts must file the FBAR, if at any time, the aggregate value of their relevant foreign account or accounts exceeds $10,000. An account over Read More
There is a lot of buzz going around these days about FBARs, foreign accounts, foreign corporations, IGAs, tax treaties, more & more Swiss banks on the roll-call list, you name it and they cry “FATCA”! Confusion all-around, fear mongers are having a field day, may be rightfully so, fines are high and penalties higher. People are ready to hit the panic button. Or so one would think!
To quote my favorite Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh here, “People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar.”
If you are wondering what a Thich Nhat Hanh quote is doing on a tax blog but you have one hand hovering over the panic button, just think about it…without going into many of Buddhism’s wonderful practices let me assure you, do decide to end your suffering, however first- DON’T PANIC! Second, hire yourself a good Enrolled Agent who Read More
If you are a U.S. citizen living abroad, here’s the good news – you actually belong to a group that fares significantly better financially than your counterparts still living in the United States. According to a survey cited recently in the Wall Street Journal, 19% of the expatriates surveyed earned $150,000 a year or more, compared with only 9% in the U.S., according to IRS tax return statistics. Expectantly, with the good news comes some unfortunate news, at least at first glance. The U.S. tax system happens to be one of the most aggressive systems in the world, mainly because it taxes citizens wherever they reside. This can lead to a sticky situation for citizens living abroad who suddenly come to realize that they have not remained current with the legally required filing of their U.S. federal income tax returns or other information reporting requirements. Very often, this Read More
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