Accidental Americans punished by US-Canadian agreement
Most Canadians are not aware of the extent of the machinations of our current government under Harper. Everyone knows they have pushed through things by hiding them in omnibus budget bills, but there is one in particular that most Canadians are not aware of.
What I am writing about is the signing of an intergovernmental agreement allowing the overreaching US FATCA law to become the law in Canada as of July 1.
This law overrides all previous tax treaty laws that were in place.
What does this means for ordinary Canadians who have some kind of connection with the US? They may have their private bank account information handed over to the IRS (balances, deposits, withdrawals and payments) to be assessed for possible “failure to file” (US tax returns), with the possibility of huge bankrupting penalties being levied against them.
Canadians could have their private financial information turned over if they have any kind of “indicia” – meaning place of birth, address in the US (holiday home), bank account transfers to or from US accounts or marriage to an American. Even snowbirds could find themselves on the wrong side of the tax fence if they overstay in the US (as determined by the US, NOT Canada).
I know that many people in the Beach have US connections. I am one of them. I am known as an “accidental American” who was born in the US but came here as a small child. I have never lived there since, never worked there, and never used any services of the US. I am a Canadian through, and through and yet now I find that me and my Canadian-born spouse may have all of our private financial information turned over to the IRS.
I have discovered that I cannot even renounce my unwanted US citizenship because I could be subject to crippling penalties and extremely costly back filing charges (running in the $10,000 to $20,000 range).
All this for not owing one penny in actual tax to the US, since I pay taxes in Canada.
Why should anyone be subject to anything like this, just due to their place of birth?
Yet the Canadian government is allowing this. Imagine what they would have said if China had asked for the same thing? Or Eritrea?
Oh wait, Eritrea DID! And what did the Harper government do? They kicked their ambassador out of Canada! But when the US threatens us with sanctions unless they turn over access to information on all Canadians of US origin they said, “Here you go, anything else you’d like? Just ask!”
There is a determined group of Canadians who are pursuing a court case under the Charter. More information can be found at adcs-adsc.ca. For more general information on accidental US “persons” of all types see the Isaac Brock Society’s website, isaacbrocksociety.ca.
Gwen D.
Address withheld
A possible tragedy becomes story of hope
Those of you who know me know I believe the glass is always half full.
Those times when it is pouring rain, gloomy and nothing is going right, I remind myself of how lucky I am to have had a Dad who taught me to find the rainbow, look at the bright side of things, look for the beauty, all that positive stuff.
So on March 6, my birthday, when I slipped on the ice, it was devastating – nothing like this had ever happened to me before. What about keeping my business going, how do I walk Betty, or shop or cook?
What comes around goes around – oh, did I forget to insert that along with the half-full glass?
My neighbour Moss came running when I called him, and got my coat, ID, socks for my very cold feet and my keys (can’t do without them).
I had the nicest ambulance drivers, who had their vehicle side-swiped – before I was loaded, thank God – and stayed with me in emergency when they didn’t have to.
My neighbour Patty brought me flowers and a BIG card from the kids. All in all the stay in the hospital (4 days) was one pill, a visit to the washroom, a meal, and one blood-taking after another, all with a smile from the great nurses.
My second operation was great and I got to see the two metal plates and 14 screws that now secure my ankle and leg.
While in the emergency ward I emailed my neighbours, asking them to let Betty out to do her business and so on. My neighbour Nancy, a nurse, came to see me, making sure I was OK, lowering my anxiety and assuring me that my house, dog and cat would all be looked after.
My friends William and Ruth picked me up, and my anxiety was very high with having to manage my stairs on crutches, but my neighbour Patti came over and put her body right behind me just like we were attached, giving me assurance that I would not fall backwards – what a relief!
My neighbour Irene walked Betty six days a week for three months, and Betty just loved the walks on the beach. I would laugh when she would come home all wet from the water and snow and coated in sand.
My neighbours Fred and Glenda drove me to physio for three weeks, until I was able to drive.
I was so fortunate that my client, Allan, kept me on, managing a project along with the general contractor. I couldn’t go to the site, but was able to get everything done from my temporary office on my main floor. My neighbours Ian and Fred would make runs to get plans printed, and Patty would do any scanning I needed (the scanner was in my office in the basement).
My general contractor, Joe, dropped everything to install handrails into the basement and grab bars in the bathtub. My neighbour Debby loaned me a bathtub seat so I could sit and shower; I never knew that a shower could be such a glorious thing.
I don’t believe that stories like this are uncommon but I do think that we forget to open our eyes and look.
A man across the street is in a scooter. One of the neighbours, Ian, the day before heading off for a holiday – the day most people would be packing and getting ready – built a ramp so the husband could have some mobility in the back yard. The day Ian returned from his holiday he built a second smaller ramp so the husband could get out of the back yard on his scooter.
I am telling these stories because I believe that we all go through things that cloud our vision of that rainbow, and sometimes only see the glass half empty, and this happens to all of us.
So the next time your day is not going so well, the kids are whining or sick, your neighbour is (in your opinion) taking advantage of your good nature, you think your spouse is not pulling their weight, or you feel that you are being ignored, remember: LET IT GO. It is only hurting you and blocking the rainbow.
Sally Talbot
East Road
No fan of plan for Kew Gardens “improvements”
So, let’s just get this straight: In a city increasingly paved over and condo-ized, with more and more people desperate for a bit of green space, we are going to spend $650,000 to “improve” – that is to say, to increase the amount of pavement in – Kew Gardens, the grassy envy of so many downtown neighbourhoods?
That’s the plan led by our local BIA and supported by our councillor, Mary-Margaret McMahon. They say the plan has had extensive public consultation. In fact, while there’s a working committee of “stakeholders,” there has been one public meeting (in March) and one open house on June 16.
The designs on display by Plant Architect Inc. (or maybe the firm was Paving Architect Inc.?) were drawn in such a way that the park’s two already existing paved paths were minimized off to the sides, leaving a large “empty” expanse of grass in the centre of the drawing for the landscape architect’s proposed new paved path (even though it is in actuality not far from the existing ones).
The land slopes away from the Queen Street sidewalk sharply enough that the project is likely to cost more than it’s budgeted for – probably closer to $1 million – and the additional construction needed to raise that ground is likely to cause further disruption to already stressed park trees.
Why is taxpayers’ money being spent “improving” a natural gem in our neighbourhood that’s beautiful and working fine, when so much of our city is an aesthetic disaster and falling apart (including the Beach streetscape)?
The BIA says it wants additional seating and a paved area for people to linger because Beach retailers are desperate. I’m sympathetic to the retailers, but paving more of our park won’t help them. Our shopping district is suffering because high rents and development pressures are driving out distinctive small retailers.
There are many more creative solutions to enhance Queen Street East that don’t entail messing with parkland – decorative street lighting or paving, making Queen Street an artist-friendly zone by funding more artist takeovers of empty storefronts, for example. A village in Austria recently garnered attention by inviting international architects to redesign its bus shelters.
Or would it be smarter to spend this money figuring out how to compel developers to build significant public space into their projects (maybe set their buildings back, to allow public seating on the street) or require them to make significant streetscape improvements with every condo project that’s allowed?
Tricia Wilson
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Re: “Accidental Americans punished by US-Canadian Agreement”
Thanks for printing Gwen D’s letter regarding what many refer to as “the worst law that no one has ever heard about” – the American law, called the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”. As a Canadian born to Canadian parents in the US, but having left USA as a baby, I have been following the FATCA drama in Canada and throughout the world, for the last year and a half. With the recent implementation of this American law in Canada, imposed under threat of economic sanctions by USA, the ‘witch hunt’ for Canadians born in USA begins officially this Canada Day.
I feel sorry for the tens of thousands of Canadians who still have no clue about FATCA, and no clue that USA considers them delinquent US tax filers, simply because place of birth on their Canadian passport is USA. These unfortunate Canadians with ‘US persons’ status, will not even know WHY ‘the nice lady at the bank’ is asking them where they were born, and may innocently answer ‘USA’ without realizing that they have just marked themselves “Reportable to the IRS.” Their first clue that something is really wrong, may not be until they get a penalty notice in the mail from the IRS for an amount exceeding the amount in their bank accounts. IRS will calculate penalties by comparing the FATCA reports sent from the banks(via CRA) to the IRS, to the ‘FOREIGN Bank Account Reports’ that US persons are supposed to be submitting every year to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, detailing their LOCAL bank accounts.
Expect some intense drama to unfold over the next year or so, as 10’s of thousands of Canadians wake up to a real life nightmare.
U.S. FATCA law takes precedence over Canadian law effective July 1, 2014, Canada Day: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2014/06/20/implementation-of-the-us-fatca-iga-has-been-given-royal-assent/
The U.S FATCA intergovernmental agreement negotiated and signed behind closed doors by the Canadian government; legislation for implementation buried in omnibus Budget Bill C-31; hearings and debate before the House of Commons and the Canadian Senate without media coverage on any of that process to Canadians, and now omnibus Bill C-31 given Royal Assent by Canada’s Governor General and implementation of the FATCA IGA not even mentioned in the Conservative government’s press release.
An oversight? Still so few know. How is this possible in a country that calls itself a democracy?
Royal Assent happened on June 19th. Here’s the June 20th press release from Finance: http://www.fin.gc.ca/n14/14-085-eng.asp
Video of several Conservative MPs mocking of my son’s entrapment into *US citizenship* — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANqVaEpRi_4 – are these the government representatives your vote goes to? He is the other kind of “Accidental American” — born in Canada to US parent(s). Sure, it is easier for those who don’t have a US place of birth showing on their Canadian passport. I, however, don’t want a work-around for my son and others like him — I want common sense law. Canada taxes on residence as the rest of the world, except for the USA and Eritrea. That could easily be changed, but why change a CBT cash cow for the US?
For those concerned about this or future U.S. (or any country) extra-territorial law coming into Canada: http://www.adcs-adsc.ca/
@calgary441
Why the U.S. should agree to a revision of the Canada-U.S. tax treaty: they believe in a people’s right for self determination, free from interference from another sovereign. Applying this to Canada, America should agree to Canada’s right for self derermination for Canadians free from outside interference. The Canadian government should pursue this right – with above exemptions outlined – in a renegotiated treaty.
Re: “Accidental Americans punished by US-Canadian Agreement”
A remedy could be revising the Canada-U.S. tax treaty. This treaty covering all matters of taxation between citizens of Canada and the U.S., by not saying otherwise, is the equivalent of the Canadian government giving legal consent to the U.S. government to double tax Canadians resident in Canada (who happen to have U.S. citizenship). The treaty could have lots of exemptions such as for accidental US persons, family home, life insurance, pension, etc. etc. In my opinion, the treaty represents giving up a portion of Canadian sovereignty to the U.S. government. And, it shows no respect for Canadian family members.
The U.S. government has made statements about the Ukrainian people’s right for self determination free from the interference of Russia. What about the right of Canada for self determination of Canada, free from interference from an outside sovereign – the U.S. government in this case.
This might be an easier angle than reversing FATCA. And it may address issues more comprehensively than a reversal of FATCA.
Re: “Accidental Americans punished by US-Canadian Agreement”
Thank you Gwen D. for your letter and to Beach Metro for publishing it. FATCA implementation was smuggled into Canada in a hidden panel in the luggage compartment of another of Harper’s omni-buses. It needs to be hauled out and exposed for what it is — Canadian government approval for a US witch hunt to find anyone with a US connection (no matter how minuscule) and for a massive data transfer to the USA of private, sensitive, financial information about individuals who are Canadian taxpayers. It will affect 1 to 4 million people in Canada — those the IRS deems to be “US persons for tax purposes” plus their family members and business associates with whom they share accounts. Thank goodness the Alliance for the Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (stopfatca dot ca) recognizes the importance of an individual’s privacy and the value of a nation’s sovereignty. I share Kathleen P.’s concern for Canadian residents who could innocently walk into a bank after July 1st without any awareness of FATCA. It’s vital to get the word out to them. It’s vital to challenge the Canadian government for bringing FATCA across the border.
Our government has criminalized 1,000,000 Canadian citizens. Imagine if the Chinese or Indian governments tried to pull the same thing as the USA!
Joe, you are way way off on your numbers as many are when they try to assess the populations involved.
“They” say there are an estimated 1,000,000 US citizens living in Canada. They forget to count the “dual” Canadian / US citizens living in other countries. They forget to count the family members who may not hold US citizenship but are considered “US Persons”, so estimate that if 75% of the US Citizens have families with at least one child then add 1,500,000 (including the partner) people to the 1,000,000 number to get 2,500,000 immediately affected on the primary level. 2 children? …add another 325,000 to total 2,825,000 and finally if there are 3 children then add another 50,000 for a grand total of 2,875,000….but wait there’s more
Another level consisting of US persons for tax reasons include hundreds of thousands of Canadian citizen “Snow Birds” and Canadian citizens only that happen to have purchased real estate in the US and therefore have financial ties including bank accounts or even Green cards to allow them to work in the US and one can see the numbers easily double (estimate) for a result of close to 5,000,000 people that might attract unwanted hassles from the IRS, all thanks to Harper burning the House of Canada to the ground leaving only ashes to blow away. In my opinion, Canada no longer has a sovereign identity therefore has nothing to be proud of going forward. In short, it now stands for nothing at all. Our financial institutions are now controlled by a hostile foreign power thirsty for our money to help fund their war machine.
New names are in the wings for our banks:
Toronto Dominion Bank to become Texarkana and Denver Bank and Watering House
Bank of Montreal to become Bank of Minneapolis
Scotia Bank becomes Sacramento Bank (You’re poorer than you think)
Royal Bank of Canada to become Reno Bank of Canuckistan
and so on. Credit Unions are blameless in my opinion even if they cooperate with the IRS reluctantly
The next question a lot of people are asking is why are Obama and Harper destroying their respective countries?
Well said Tricia Wilson!
@Tricia Wilson – Please cite examples of “distinctive small retailers” that have been driven out by “development pressures”. Oh, that’s right, development has driven exactly zero retailers out of the Beach.