Tag Archives: Peter Cotorceanu

Part 11: What God Hath Wrought – The #FATCA Inquisition (Review, Identify and Report on “U.S. Persons”) – But reciprocity?

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Introduction and Synopsis …
The United States has entered into FATCA IGAs with a number of countries (including Canada). Regardless of what Government Officials say (and what the IGAs say) about “Review, Identify and Report”, there is NO meaningful “reciprocity” in the FATCA IGAs. The degree of “reciprocity” was discussed was recently discussed in the following post at Forbes (providing an unusally frank evaluation):


There are at least six different aspects of the IGAs that demonstrate a lack of reciprocity.
They include:
1. Human Targets – The United States defines “US Persons” in a far broader way than other countries define their “tax residents”. This is largely the result of U.S. “citizenship-based taxation”. Only the United States claims the right to impose taxation on (1) residents of other nations and (2) on income earned in those other nations.

2. The nature of the information exchanged – The United States wants far more information (everything) than it is obligated to provide (nothing) under the FATCA IGAs.
3. Due Diligence – The U.S is not required to actively search for the tax residents of other nations. Other nations are required to actively search for “U.S. persons”. But, it is far more than seeking evidence of “USness” in individuals (“Are you or have you even been an American citizen?). Other nations are also required to search for evidence of “USness” in entities (see point 5 below).
4. Penalties – Other nations are subject to penalties for failure to comply with the (“Review, Identify and Report”) provisions of the IGA. The United States is NOT subject to penalties. (If you don’t comply, you are subject to penalties. If we don’t comply: “Too Bad”.)
5. The FATCA Entity Hunt – The United States does NOT and WILL NOT provide information on the beneficial ownership of “entities” (Delaware, Wyoming and Nevada are in the business of providing the secrecy that enables tax evasion). Other countries are required to search for evidence of “USness” in the ownership of entities created under the laws of their countries.
6. The requirement to change domestic laws – The United States is requiring other nations to change their domestic laws to “hunt” for people based “citizenship, national origin” and “place of birth”. The U.S. Treasury may not have the jurisdiction to order state banks to provide information about “foreign accounts”. In other words: You do what we cannot do! As might be expected, the question of jurisdiction is the subject of a lawsuit in the United States courts. In fairness, it is important to note that the “Alliance For The Defence Of Canadian Sovereignty” has brought a lawsuit against the Government of Canada, questioning whether the FATCA IGA is legal under Canada’s Constitution.
That’s the gist of it. If you want to understand why, I invite you to read on.
It’s about reciprocity …


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