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Part 33 – US residents bring suit alleging that the Section 965 US Transition Tax is Unconstitutional


A lawsuit alleging that the Section 965 transition tax is unconstitutional affords the opportunity to write Part 33 in my series of posts about the U.S. Transition Tax.
Part 22 of this series included a discussion of a paper by Sean P. McElroy which argued that the Section 965 repatriation tax was unconstitutional for the following reasons explained in the abstract:
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The 2019 IRS "expatriation" compliance campaign: Getting ahead of the fear mongering

On July 19, 2019 the IRS announced six new compliance initiatives.
Of particular interest to U.S. citizens and permanent residents (Green Card holders) is what is described as:

Expatriation
U.S. citizens and long-term residents (lawful permanent residents in eight out of the last 15 taxable years) who expatriated on or after June 17, 2008, may not have met their filing requirements or tax obligations. The Internal Revenue Service will address noncompliance through a variety of treatment streams, including outreach, soft letters, and examination.

What is expatriation?
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Letting go and moving on: So long @JayNoonez and thanks for your efforts over the years

Introduction:


When it comes to Americans abroad, a community is the same as a village.


Which is why it saddens me to read …


Please remember that …


Thanks to @JayNoonez for his contributions over the years! He should be recognized as an “Unsung Hero Of Life“.
John Richardson – Follow me on Twitter @Expatriationlaw

Part 8 of series: Former ACA Tax Director Jackie Bugnion recalls the 2014 Kirsch Schneider debate on "citizenship-based taxation"

Before moving to the post, if you believe that Americans abroad are being treated unjustly by the United States Government: Join me on May 17, 2019 for a discussion of U.S. “citizenship-based taxation” as follows:


You are invited to submit your questions in advance. In fact, PLEASE submit questions. This is an opportunity to engage with Homelanders in general and the U.S. tax compliance community in particular.
Thanks to Professor Zelinsky for his willingness to engage in this discussion. Thanks to Kat Jennings of Tax Connections for hosting this discussion. Thanks to Professor William Byrnes for his willingness to moderate this discussion.
Tax Connections has published a large number of posts that I have written over the years (yes, hard to believe it has been years). As you may know I oppose FATCA, U.S. citizenship-based taxation and the use of FATCA to impose U.S. taxation on tax residents of other countries.
Tax Connections has also published a number of posts written by Professor Zelinsky (who apparently takes a contrary view).
This is the eigth of a series of post I have written as a run up to the May 17, 2019 Tax Connections discussion about U.S. citizenship-based taxation. You can read the previous posts here.
Introducing Jackie Bugnion …
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US Treasury interprets Section 962 Election to mean that individual shareholders are entitled to 50% exclusion of #GILTI income when calculating income attributed

On March 4, 2019 as described by Helen Burggraf at American Expat Finance:
My comment included:

Also welcoming the news of the changes in the tax treatment of Americans’ overseas small businesses was John Richardson, a Toronto-based lawyer at CtizenshipSolutions.ca, who specializes in assisting Americans abroad with their tax and citizenship issues. The Treasury, Richardson said, should be congratulated for taking a “purposive” approach “when interpreting how Sec. 951A interacts with Sec. 962” of the relevant regulations.
In layman’s terms, Richardson noted, the new regulation means that “American expats may now deduct 50% of the active business income defined as GILTI, thus reducing the amount of GILTI they would be expected to have to pay tax on.”
However, the new regulations don’t affect the so-called Section 965 “transition tax,” he noted.
“It appears that Treasury heard and understood the problems faced by individual shareholders of CFCs [Controlled Foreign Corporations].
“I suspect that organisations representing S Corps [a type of closely-held corporation, as defined by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service] also made submissions to Treasury and had an influence on this decision.
“All Americans abroad should be encouraged by this. Instead of interpreting the law in the most literal and punitive way, it appears that Treasury has recognized the problems that individuals, whether living inside or outside America, faced.
“The bottom line is that small business owners abroad will now, for the most part, be able to defer U.S. taxation on the active business income of their corporations by using the Sec. 962 election, provided that their corporations are paying sufficient local tax. They will of course have to pay U.S. tax when the income is distributed to them.
“But [even here], the distributions will be subject to local tax which can then be used, via the FTC rules, to offset U.S. tax owing – for active business income.
“In other words, this is excellent news for Americans abroad.”

Full discussion here …


An example of the 50% discount and the Section 962 election here …


John Richardson – Follow me on Twitter at @ExpatriationLaw