Ohhh boo hoo IRS commissioner is crying again, he isn’t getting enough money to run the IRS, isn’t that a pity… IRS warns it could shut down because of lack of money, wouldn’t that be the most horrible thing ever! I say shut it down!!! politico.com/story/2014/12/i … 13681.html
That story made me feel warm and fuzzy all over. The Republican strategy of starving it to death seems to be having an effect. It’s good to see some blowback after the massive cover-up and so-called “investigations.”
Hi Dr. Milker… Sorry for my incredible late reply. Indeed you are right. But I highly doubt anything is going any where, and in my next post I will explain why…
Hi all, sorry I have been absent from all of this for a few months. I took a step back and have been watching all the things going on. It is nice that many other people have picked up the slack and started complaining as well. Big media has also picked up on our story.
However, I have learned a couple of things recently that may be very helpful to all of us.
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FATCA is probably not going to be repealed. Just like Obama care is probably not going to be repealed. I actually don’t know of any serious legislation that has ever gotten repealed. So… We can’t think about this.
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What we can do is pick out those things which will benefit us and that can be accomplished without repealing FATCA.
Hi all, sorry I have been absent from all of this for a few months. I took a step back and have been watching all the things going on. It is nice that many other people have picked up the slack and started complaining as well. Big media has also picked up on our story.
However, I have learned a couple of things recently that may be very helpful to all of us.
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FATCA is probably not going to be repealed. Just like Obama care is probably not going to be repealed. I actually don’t know of any serious legislation that has ever gotten repealed. So… We can’t think about this.
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What we can do is pick out those things which will benefit us and that can be accomplished without repealing FATCA. Which are:
A. Changing from Citizenship Based Taxation to Residency Based Taxation
B. Same country exception- Which means if you live in Taiwan and have a bank account in Taiwan those accounts may be an exception to FATCA reporting. Though this still doesn’t solve the FBAR filings. Information on this can be found here: americansabroad.org/issues/fatc … exception/
These are regulation changes, not legislation changes, so it is possible we could potential get both of these, though more time is still needed. I am not holding my breathe.
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DO NOT, I will repeat that DO NOT EVER use form letters when writing to your congressmen. Once they start receiving many of these, they know exactly what it is and they don’t bother reading them. They want to hear from constituents who have a story, and how a certain piece of legislation really effects their lives. So even if it is short, it is better than sending out a form letter. And yeah, it is unfair that generally we get form letters in return, but see below.
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When congressional offices receive letters, they often send out form letters. However, if an office receives three letters on a issue from three different people, they start to sit up and listen. And the more people who write on the issue, they may actually do something about it. This is a very important piece of information.
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If any of you are doing it, it might be wise to stop unless you have incredible backing. Stop writing petitions on the White House site. As you probably noticed most petitions cannot get the 100,000 signatures required. FATCA now has at least four. But what the White house does is log this information, and what is happening is that all of these FATCA petitions are dying, they are getting 1000 signatures and that’s about it, so petition after petition that fails the White House feels, ok, theirs no one who cares about this issue, so, we’re not going to listen and we’re going to keep doing what we are doing. Now, if you believe that you can get 100,000 signatures and you have real backing to do it, then go for it. This goes for any issue and any petition. But you have to have the support of a huge entity and can supply the people and the numbers.
I hope this has been informative.
I have dual citizenship (USA and TW). I have a post office bank account under my TW ID. As far as I know, the post office does not know that I’m American. FWIW, I did recently open a China Trust account with my TW ID and they asked for my US social security number. Do I still have to file this FBAR thing if I have over 10K usd in my post office account?
If you opened the account with your TW ID and you told the truth about you being a US citizen and if you have more than US$10,000 TOTAL in aggregate for all your accounts in Taiwan my senses say yes, you need to file FBAR for ALL accounts. The problem for you is that I guess the US doesn’t know much about you, you probably haven’t been filing US taxes, have you? and if this is your first FBAR you may be letting the cat out of the bag. It is impossible for me or anyone else on this forum to really properly advise you. Seek a tax accountant and read up through the threads, you might get some idea of the complexities and oddities of all of this junk. I really wish you luck.
Correct, I’ve never filed taxes and it’s because officially, I’ve never made enough to file (less than $9.000 USD a year). Only the 1st year I was here, I made over. I didn’t file cuz I didn’t know I had to.
When I opened the post office bank account, I was never asked if I was American and I think that wasn’t necessary at the time (about 8 years ago).
When u say seek a tax accountant, do you mean someone from the US or a TW one or a TW one familiar with US tax laws?
SensAsian, the ones in Taiwan will probably tell you to come completely clean. The ones in the US might not, who knows… I suggest you contact several, or pay a little money to get some consultation. It seems you are not making a lot of money… But from what you say you have never had 10,000 total USD in Taiwan or any foreign account right? If that is the case than previous FBARs would not be needed anyway. But if you have 10,000+ in accounts for more than just this year, that could pose a problem. There are some programs available to come clean, but frankly I might not recommend any of them, not sure… I would talk to an accountant and see the situation. In the meantime you can also browse over the Americans Abroad Website. americansabroad.org/, there is also a list of tax preparers there for your reference, that might help you. I would recommend you become a member of this organization as well as they do many things to support Americans abroad.
Hello all it is that time of year again,
The Senate Finance Committee is is looking for suggestions on Tax Reform. finance.senate.gov/newsroom/ … a0870cd8d6
more reference here, but use the first link to get the bottom line. americansabroad.org/issues/ … -hear-you/. Make sure you follow their guidelines and submit your pdf letters to two places, InIndividual Income Tax and International Tax. The DEADLINE is April 15!!!
ty, and yes i’ve had over 10k usd in just 1 account for multiple years. i just never knew i had to tell the US
Well then definitely you will want to try to resolve this one way or another. You are not alone in this, there are 7.6 million Americans living abroad and many of whom never knew they had to.
Just a heads up all. I got a letter from HSBC yesterday, and they are threatening to close my accounts or lock me out of financial services if I do not comply with signing two agreements.
HSBC Taiwan has stated clearly that if one does not sign two documents, one being a W-9 and the other being a secrecy wavier that your accounts will be closed. I have 3 months to decide what I want to do… Just a heads up, the storm is coming and Taiwan has not technically even signed the agreement that…
This is an excerpt of what I was sent.
Seems the local banks are not yet under as much pressure as those banks from “tax havens” like HK. However, just a guess as to whether local banks eventually just decide to do the same and close accounts if account holder doesn’t provide what the IRS wants. I went ahead and signed W9 for ChinaTrust bank.
Read an article that England is asking for clarification regarding the terms of the IGA they signed. England’s interpretation is that the IRS is asking banks to deny services to clients unwilling to sign requested documents. Well, the overall situation is banks are screwed if you don’t sign as IRS will interpret that as the bank is not cooperating (they will not care the reasons).
I suspect that sooner or later local banks may end up doing the same thing. What surprises me though is that as I remember HSBC became a local bank not under HSBC international. As I remember some insurance companies also had that happen. I am just wondering if all of this is legal, can they really force us to sign such things and is there any way to fight back?
What bothers me is this secrecy waiver. I don’t feel this is reasonable in the least. If the IRS is asking banks to deny services and foreign banks comply with that, I see a whole lot of people being able to sue either local governments or the US governments eventually. Apparently we all wear “The Scarlet Letter”: “A” for American! Denial of services.
If European banks can close American’s accounts with no backlash I see little hope in Taiwan. A few politicians may highlight the problems but no major changes will happen with the IRS promising so much in new collections from all of us tax dodgers.
Since the Terms and Conditions for a bank account can be changed at any time the banks are going to implement very strong clauses inside to allow them to give our account data to any organization which requests. Well, that is how I interpret the news Terms and Conditions I read for one bank.
Indeed you are right. It seems hopeless to think anything can be done, and that’s what is wrong with our society. Frankly I can’t just sit back and watch all this stuff fall apart, but there seems little I or anyone in a similar position can do. Write and call your congressmen and be active. I have found that there is some movement and some of what I have been doing as well as many others is starting to have an effect. Which is good news, but some damage may already have been done.
Great to see this thread. Any suggestions for dealing with US expat taxes?
Do you have a specific problem?