Tag Archives: Allison Christians

Be Careful Of Faulty Logic Claiming FATCA And The CRS Are Similar: Seven Ways They Are Not

Prologue

For those more interested in logic than in FATCA, you will find a discussion of the logical fallacy here.

Introduction

Last week I participated in a group discussion about FATCA and its effect on Accidental Americans. It’s difficult to have a discussion about FATCA that doesn’t include the CRS (“Common Reporting Standard”). Neither FATCA nor the CRS is well understood. That said, an introduction of the CRS into a discussion about FATCA detracts from a consideration of how FATCA impacts Accidental Americans (and others). Furthermore, there is a generalized assumption that the CRS is a positive development. Associating FATCA with the CRS enhances the “illusion” that FATCA is also a positive development.

In part, the discussion assumed that:

– FATCA (U.S. “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act”) and the OECD CRS (“Common Reporting Standard“) were similar kinds of information exchange agreements; and

– To attack/criticize FATCA would be to criticize and have the effect of weakening the CRS.

These are absurd claims which are based on faulty logic. The faulty logic is that because FATCA and the CRS overlap in one aspect that they are functionally equivalent in intent, effect, purpose and other aspects. The argument appears to be based on the following reasoning:

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The FATCA IGAs Do Not Impose An Obligation Of Reciprocity On The United States

Introduction – The Question

Over the past few months, in unrelated contexts, I have heard the question asked:

Is FATCA reciprocal?

For example the Judges hearing the appeal in the ADCS FATCA Canada lawsuit asked (clearly assuming that it did) whether the FATCA IGAs imposed reciprocal obligations on the United States. Surely it must, they assumed. Recently the head of a FATCA fact finding mission asked in a meeting of individuals the same question. In neither case was a clear “yes or no” answer provided. Some participants were adamant that there WAS reciprocity. Others were adamant that there was no reciprocity. Some simply didn’t know. This post is an attempt to analyze the facts as they pertain to FATCA, consider whether the FATCA IGAs prescribe reciprocity of obligation and ultimately explain why there is NO meaningful reciprocity of obligation.

Some Important FATCAoids

The 2010 Statute

FATCA was signed into law by President Obama on March 18, 2010. The general provisions are found in Chapter 4 – Sections 1471 – 1474 of the Internal Revenue Code. The statute is coercive and is a US demand, under threat of sanction, that non-U.S. banks deliver information, about the bank accounts of residents of their country, to U.S. Treasury. The statute contemplates a one way flow of information to the United States without ANY reciprocity from the United States. (Any discussion of “reciprocity” must take place within the context of the FATCA IGAs.)

The 2014 Implementation Of FATCA Via The IGAs

The implementation of FATCA (via the FATCA IGAs) began (in many countries) on July 1, 2014. Because the statute does NOT (IRC 1471 – 1474) obligate the United States to provide any information to other countries, any obligation of reciprocity must be found in the IGAs.

Do Bilateral Obligations Mean Reciprocity?

Non-U.S. countries are required – pursuant to the FATCA IGAs – to transfer information about the holders of local financial accounts in their country to the United States of America. Notably the vast majority of account information transferred to the United States is information about accounts held by tax residents of the transferor country. In other words: pursuant to the FATCA IGAs, account information is transferred about accounts located in a country where the account holder actually lives to a country where the account holder does NOT actually live! To put this in context, imagine the following scenario:

You have a neighbour in a Canadian small town, who earns his income in Canada and pays tax on that income to Canada. That income is deposited into a bank account at a branch located in his community. That neighbour may be having his bank account information transferred to the United States. How could this be you ask? Surely this must be a mistake? The answer is “No it is not a mistake”. It’s the result of Canada enacting a U.S. law (“FATCA”) on Canadian soil. Pursuant to that FATCA law (described in numerous CBC articles), the transfer of account information is required because your neighbour was either born in the United States or was born in Canada to a U.S. citizen parent. So what you ask? Surely the circumstances of a person’s birth shouldn’t mean that a country where they don’t live has access to their banking information in the country where they do live? Wrong again. It’s about tax residency and about the U.S. unique definition of tax residency. You see, the United States defines any U.S. citizen as a tax resident of the United States (regardless of where that citizen lives). By defining “tax residency” in terms of citizenship, the United States is claiming that the tax residents of other countries are U.S. tax residents. U.S. citizens are subject to all (tax, forms and penalty) the provisions of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. But wait you ask! My neighbour lives in Canada, pays tax in Canada and is a tax resident of Canada! (In fact the FATCA IGAs allow the United States – by tying the definition of U.S. citizen to a definition in the Internal Revenue Code – to define ANY individual in Canada as a U.S. tax resident.) Yes, it’s true. Pursuant to the FATCA IGAs the United States is claiming Canadian tax residents as U.S. tax residents. This means that the United States is claiming the right to impose U.S. taxation on the Canadian employment income, earned by residents of Canada, which is already taxed in Canada. Yes it’s true.

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Part 29 – Can the full Canadian tax paid personally on distributions from Sec. 965 income be used to offset the @USTransitionTax

Introduction – As the year of the “transition tax” comes to an end with no relief for Americans abroad (who could have known?)
As 2018 comes to and end (as does my series of posts about the transition tax) many individuals are still trying to decide how to respond to the Sec. 965 “transition tax” problem. The purpose of this post is to summarize what I believe is the universe of different ways that one can approach Sec. 965 transition tax compliance. These approaches have been considered at various times and in different posts over the last year. As 2018 comes to an end the tax compliance industry is confused about what to do. The taxpayers are confused about what to do. For many individuals they must choose between: bad and uncertain compliance or no attempt at compliance. (I add that the same is true of the Sec. 951A GILTI provisions which took effect on January 1, 2018.)
But first – a reminder: This tax was NEVER intended to apply to Americans abroad!!!
A recent post by Dr. Karen Alpert – “Fixing the Transition Tax for Individual Shareholders” – includes:

There have been several international tax reform proposals in the past decade, some of which are variations on the final Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) package. None of these proposals even considered the interaction of the proposed changes with taxing based on citizenship. One even suggested completely repealing the provision that eliminates US tax on dividends out of previously taxed income because corporate shareholders would no longer be paying US tax on those dividends anyway.

and later that …

One of the obstacles often mentioned when it comes to a legislative fix is the perceived requirement that any change be “revenue neutral”. While this is understandable given the current US budget deficit, it shouldn’t apply to this particular fix because the transition tax liability of individual US Shareholders of CFCs was not included in the original estimates of transition tax revenue.

The bottom line is:
Congress did not consider whether the transition tax would apply to Americans abroad and therefore did not intend for the transition tax to apply to them. Within hours of release of the legislation, the tax compliance industry, while paying no attention to the intent of the legislation, began a compliance campaign to assist owners of Canadian Controlled Private Corporations to turn their retirement savings over to the IRS. There was (in general) no “push back” from the compliance industry. There was little attempt on the part of the compliance industry to analyze the intent of the legislation. In general (there are always exceptions – many who I know personally – who have done excellent work), the compliance industry failed their clients. By not considering the intent of the legislation and not considering responses consistent with that intent, the compliance industry effectively created the “transition tax”.
In fairness to the industry, Treasury has given little guidance to practitioners and the guidance given came late in the year. In fairness to Treasury, by granting the two filing extensions, Treasury made some attempt to do, what they thought they could, within the parameters of the legislation.
The purpose of this post …
This post will summarize (but not discuss) the various options. There is no generally preferred option. This is not “one size fits all”. The response chosen will largely depend in the “stage in life” of the individual. Younger people can pay/absorb the “transition tax”. For people closer to retirement, for whom the retained earnings in their corporations are their pensions: compliance will result in the destruction of your retirement.
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Part 10: What God Hath Wrought – The #FATCA Inquisition (Review, Identify and Report on “U.S. Persons”) – But only those "Born In The USA"

The purpose of this post is to highlight:

  • who are the targets of the “FATCA inquisition” under the FATCA IGA; and
  • who will not turn up in the “FATCA inquisition” under the FATCA IGA.

There are four parts to this post:
Part A – Who is a “U.S. Person” and how are they defined?
Part B – The FATCA IGA doesn’t hunt ALL U.S. persons. It is designed to hunt primarily for people who were “Born In The USA”
Part C – But, those “Born In The USA” may not actually be U.S. citizens or may have NO connection to the United States – Meet Tina
Part D – The FATCA IGA has been interpreted by the Canada Revenue Agency to NOT hunt “Green Card Holders” resident in Canada
Part A – Who is a “U.S. Person” and how are they defined?
If the purpose of FATCA is to hunt for “U.S. Persons”, “U.S. person” includes “U.S. citizen”, and the FATCA IGA’s state that “U.S. Citizen” is defined under the Internal Revenue Code, we must ask:
Who does the Internal Revenue Code define as a “U.S. Person”. The definitions are found in S. 7701 of the Internal Revenue Code.
S. 7701
(a) When used in this title, where not otherwise distinctly expressed or manifestly incompatible with the intent thereof—
(1) Person
The term “person” shall be construed to mean and include an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation.
(30) United States person The term “United States person” means—
(A) a citizen or resident of the United States,
(B) a domestic partnership,
(C) a domestic corporation,
(D) any estate (other than a foreign estate, within the meaning of paragraph (31)), and
(E) any trust if—
(i) a court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust, and
(ii) one or more United States persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust.
(50) Termination of United States citizenship
(A) In general
An individual shall not cease to be treated as a United States citizen before the date on which the individual’s citizenship is treated as relinquished under section 877A(g)(4).
(B) Dual citizens
Under regulations prescribed by the Secretary, subparagraph (A) shall not apply to an individual who became at birth a citizen of the United States and a citizen of another country.
(b) Definition of resident alien and nonresident alien
(1) In general For purposes of this title (other than subtitle B)—
(A) Resident alien An alien individual shall be treated as a resident of the United States with respect to any calendar year if (and only if) such individual meets the requirements of clause (i), (ii), or (iii):
(i) Lawfully admitted for permanent residence
Such individual is a lawful permanent resident of the United States at any time during such calendar year.
(ii) Substantial presence test
Such individual meets the substantial presence test of paragraph (3).
(iii) First year election
Such individual makes the election provided in paragraph (4).
(B) Nonresident alien
An individual is a nonresident alien if such individual is neither a citizen of the United States nor a resident of the United States (within the meaning of subparagraph (A)).
(3) Substantial presence test
(A) In general Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, an individual meets the substantial presence test of this paragraph with respect to any calendar year (hereinafter in this subsection referred to as the “current year”) if—
(i) such individual was present in the United States on at least 31 days during the calendar year, and
(ii) the sum of the number of days on which such individual was present in the United States during the current year and the 2 preceding calendar years (when multiplied by the applicable multiplier determined under the following table) equals or exceeds 183 days:
In the case of days in: The applicable multiplier is:
Current year 1
1st preceding year 1/3
2nd preceding year 1/6
(B) Exception where individual is present in the United States during less than one-half of current year and closer connection to foreign country is established An individual shall not be treated as meeting the substantial presence test of this paragraph with respect to any current year if—
(i) such individual is present in the United States on fewer than 183 days during the current year, and
(ii) it is established that for the current year such individual has a tax home (as defined in section 911(d)(3) without regard to the second sentence thereof) in a foreign country and has a closer connection to such foreign country than to the United States.
(6) Lawful permanent resident For purposes of this subsection, an individual is a lawful permanent resident of the United States at any time if—
(A) such individual has the status of having been lawfully accorded the privilege of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant in accordance with the immigration laws, and
(B) such status has not been revoked (and has not been administratively or judicially determined to have been abandoned).
An individual shall cease to be treated as a lawful permanent resident of the United States if such individual commences to be treated as a resident of a foreign country under the provisions of a tax treaty between the United States and the foreign country, does not waive the benefits of such treaty applicable to residents of the foreign country, and notifies the Secretary of the commencement of such treatment.
The Internal Revenue Code mandates that “U.S. Persons” are subject to U.S. taxation. “U.S. Persons” include both individuals and entities.
Individuals – include U.S. Citizens, Green Card Holders and those who meet the “substantial presence” test.
Entities – include a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation.
Part B – FATCA doesn’t hunt ALL U.S. persons. It is designed to hunt primarily for people who were “Born In The USA”

Here is why …
In a recent paper McGill Professor Allison Christians notes that:

Perhaps surprisingly, FATCA’s identification method does not align with the statutory construction of the US Person population described above/ The misalignment is evident when comparing the three US Person categories to the FATCA indicia meant to alert financial institutions to the possible existence of a US Person. The misalignment continues to the verification phase, where taxpayers are asked to furnish various negative proofs of their status as US Persons, as Tina was asked to do. By examining the identification and verification processes, we begin to get a sense of the population actually being targeted by FATCA to enforce US taxation and financial reporting requirements on nonresidents.
FATCA has financial institutions searching for US Persons by looking for the following “indicia” of status:
1. account holder is identified as a US citizen or resident;
2. birthplace in the United States;
3. a US telephone number;
4. a US residence or mailing address;
5. standing instructions to transfer funds to a US based
account;
6. Indications of a power of attorney over the account to a
person with a US address;
7. a “care of” or hold mail address as the sole address.
In addition, where indicia are not present, a “responsible officer” must certify as to any knowledge of an account holder’s status as a US Person, and must monitor its accountholders for possible changes in circumstances.38 Other than the first factor on the list, the FATCA indicia do not align with the three categories of US Person as defined by § 7701.

2. Citizenship
“Citizens” are the second category of US Person described above. Only two of the indicia have any direct bearing on one’s status as a citizen, namely, the account holder’s identification as such, and her birthplace in the United States. The first of these indicia confirms the voluntary nature of the nonresident citizen’s acquiescence to her status. Announcing oneself as a US citizen to a non-US bank seems to be the clearest indication that the account holder is in fact a US citizen and therefore a US Person for tax purposes.44
Birthplace in the United States, however, highlights a major difficulty in imposing citizenship taxation. A person born within the territory of the United States is usually entitled to birthright citizenship, with few exceptions. 45 That is why Tina is automatically a citizen, without any independent action on her part or that of her parents. However, the definition of a citizen in US law is complex and is subject to widespread misunderstanding by those who receive the status by birthright but have never lived permanently in the country. 46 Moreover, citizenship can be changed by the individual through relinquishment 47 or renunciation.48 In the past, it was possible for a person to relinquish her citizenship automatically upon naturalization in another country.49 However, the US Supreme Court rejected this position and reinstated citizenship once thought lost.50 Today, the individual must display intent in order to lose citizenship status.51
The interplay of these immigration rules with taxation on the basis of citizenship is subject to intense debate and certainly exceeds any scope of common wisdom.52 In the past, expatriation would have automatically negated a person’s citizenship status for tax purposes; at present, it does not.53 Indeed, the definition of citizen for tax purposes is potentially circular in the application.54 These complications attending to birthright citizenship are sufficiently detailed and specific to the individual that they create legal uncertainty that is not answered in the tax law, let alone in FATCA indicia.
pages 15 – 17
SSRN-id2717367

Part C – But, those “Born In The USA” may not actually be U.S. citizens or may have NO connection to the United States – Meet Tina

Allison Christians is the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law at McGill University in Montreal, where she writes and teaches in the area of national and international tax law and policy. You can follow her on the Tax, Society & Culture blog at taxpol.blogspot.com or on Twitter (@taxpolblog). She delivered the following speech at the International Conference on Taxpayer Rights in Washington on November 18.

* * * * *

I would like to tell you a story about the taxpayer’s right to know what the law requires of her and to have the law administered fairly. This is just one story based on things happening now, but it is a common story. I’m telling this story instead of giving an exposition on the underlying legal texts because sometimes the rules are too complicated and too technical for anyone to really understand, even tax lawyers. Moreover, reading the law itself doesn’t explain what isn’t written on the books, which can matter more in how things play out in human terms. As you will see, the implementation of the law gives rise to a taxpayers’ rights issue — one that wouldn’t be clear from reciting the law alone.
The story I am going to tell you is about a woman named Tina. She’s Canadian. She is 62. Tina is nearing retirement age and has been a cautious and diligent person all her life, carefully saving for her old age following the textbook investment advice that tells us we should invest in low-load pooled investment vehicles — mutual funds — and hang onto them for the long term.
Tina isn’t buying and selling investments, following market trends, or taking risks. She doesn’t have time for that. Tina is married with two kids and lives in the family home she bought with her husband some 30 years ago. She’s hanging in for slow and steady, reliable, low-risk growth, planning for retirement in Canada. As a child, Tina occasionally took a trip down to the United States. Visiting Florida in February is still a tempting prospect, given the harshness of Canadian winters, but Tina has only dreamed of that kind of vacation so far. She is careful with her money, plans to live on her savings, and doesn’t want to burden her kids.
One day, Tina finds the following letter in her mailbox. It’s from her neighborhood bank where she has been banking all her adult life, where she has her checking and savings accounts.
Read Tina’s story and the story of all Tina’s at Tax Analysts.

 
Part D – The FATCA IGA has been interpreted by the Canada Revenue Agency to NOT hunt “Green Card Holders” resident in Canada


See the post referenced in the above tweet.
 

@Taxpolblog "Conference on Tax Justice and Human Rights" – June 18 – 20/14 #TJHR


Looks like this was a great conference! What follows are the tweets.
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Allison Christians #FATCA presentation – March 16, 2014

Christians-2014-Fatca-basics

On March 16, 2014 Professor Allison Christians of the McGill Law School gave a presentation – “FATCA For Humans”. This was an event which was NOT for law students, NOT for lawyers, NOT for academics, but was for the community of those Canadians who might be affected by FATCA. Her presentation was excellent. The session itself was described as follows:
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