Bandit Gang Writ Large

The enduring mystery of U.S. offshore cash

"The U.S. Internal Revenue Service lumps in the foreign dividend with corporate income. While the U.S. offers a credit for foreign taxes paid, U.S. multinationals typically face an extra tax bill when the foreign earnings come home for a number of reasons, including the higher U.S. corporate income tax rates. So when Apple says it intends to give $100-billion back to shareholders by the end of 2015, it's all well and good. It's got just $45-billion in the U.S., however, and that's what leads to a cash-rich company borrowing more cash, just to give it away." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe enduring mystery of U.S. offshore cash

Spain refuses to extradite Swiss bank data ‘thief’

"A Spanish court refused on Wednesday to extradite a former HSBC bank employee to Switzerland where he is wanted for allegedly stealing data that exposed thousands of suspected tax dodgers. Hervé Falciani, a 40-year-old French-Italian, was arrested in Barcelona in July 2012 after he arrived by boat from France. Switzerland asked for Falciani to be extradited to face charges of violating Swiss banking secrecy laws and revealing industrial secrets. Spanish prosecutors had opposed Falciani's extradition on the grounds that he was helping authorities investigate tax fraud and because banking secrecy was abolished in Spain in 1977." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpain refuses to extradite Swiss bank data ‘thief’

IRS says hundreds of thousands of US citizens are not reporting Canadian trusts

"This week the IRS released statistics on the number of returns it received in 2010 from US citizens with foreign trusts. In all of Canada only 324 returns were filed that report ownership in a non-US trust, which likely means hundreds of thousands of US citizens residing in Canada had not filed the appropriate returns. This is important for two reasons: first, the penalties for not filing are draconian (but waivable); and second, last week the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report that encouraged IRS to pursue those taxpayers who file late returns using a technique known as 'quiet disclosure.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS says hundreds of thousands of US citizens are not reporting Canadian trusts

The Internet Sales Tax: Taxation Without Representation

"Why should a taxation principle which is obviously preposterous when applied to tax jurisdictions around the world be regarded as tax fairness when applied inside the jurisdictional limits of the United States government? We are talking about invisible lines that separate tax jurisdictions. If the sales tax principle is legitimately applicable between states inside the United States, then the principle ought to be equally applicable between states inside the United States and states outside the United States. If the principle is preposterous when we cross national borders,then it should be equally preposterous when we cross state jurisdictions inside the United States." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Internet Sales Tax: Taxation Without Representation

Internet Sales Tax Passes the Senate, 69 to 27

"Republicans in the U.S. Senate caved in. They voted to force businesses located in one state to serve as unpaid tax collectors for 45 other states. (Five states have no sales tax.) The RINO Party Line is that this is not a tax increase. It is a huge tax increase. Voters will pay it. Businesses will pay it. The nightmare of complying will kill tens of thousands of online businesses. This is a subsidy to Walmart, which pays sales taxes because it is physically located in all states. Amazon has also joined in — same reason. It has delivery centers in several states, and it plans to add lots more. These companies want small businesses to pay. They do not want competition." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInternet Sales Tax Passes the Senate, 69 to 27

Money Laundering Is Financial Thoughtcrime

"From President Roosevelt's 1933 seizure of personal gold to the Nazi confiscation of Jewish wealth to the recent deposit theft at Cyprus banks, asset plundering by governments has a long and colorful tradition. Protecting wealth from oppressive regimes continues to this day. Even as the money-laundering laws are said to exist for the fight against terrorism or drugs or gambling, the cashless utopia is simultaneously being thrust upon us as the monetary architecture of the future. Expect ever more increasing thoughtcrime enforcement as the international money flow tightens." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMoney Laundering Is Financial Thoughtcrime

Senator Rand Paul Introduces Bill to Repeal FATCA

"In a major game-changer, Senator Rand Paul (Republican of Kentucky) today introduced a bill to repeal mandates of the 'Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act' (FATCA) on financial institutions and individual American citizens as a 'violation of sovereign nations’ laws and privacy matters.' In a letter to his Senate colleagues, Dr. Paul pulled no punches about the destructive effects of the FATCA law and the unsupportable claims that FATCA is a legitimate tool to combat tax evasion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSenator Rand Paul Introduces Bill to Repeal FATCA

U.S. Demands Wells Fargo Records To Identify Tax Cheats Using Caribbean Havens

"Opening yet another front in their war against offshore tax evasion, U.S. enforcers have served a 'John Doe' summons on Wells Fargo Bank requiring it to turn over records that could identify any U.S. taxpayers who held accounts from 2004 through 2012 at CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited (FCIB), which operates in 18 Caribbean countries, including such notorious tax havens as the Cayman Islands. Wells Fargo provides correspondent bank services to FCIB, so Wells would have served as a conduit for transfers to and from FCIB accounts to U.S. accounts, corporations and individuals." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Demands Wells Fargo Records To Identify Tax Cheats Using Caribbean Havens

The Cyprus Depositor Haircut

"The manager told him not to worry, saying the deposit insurance was per account, not per person. She added: ‘We just put your name on the account so your wife wouldn’t take money out without your consent.’ Remembering that in the 1980s his British building society had played down the risks of taking out an endowment mortgage, Demetriou asked if they were 100 per cent sure. He was told they were. The advice was 100 per cent wrong. The deposit insurance is per person, not per account. Soon afterwards, the banks closed for more than a week, and when they reopened, he’d been stripped of 44 per cent of his savings." Continue reading →

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Renouncing US Citizenship, for tax and political reasons

"RT segment from April 15, 2013 in 'honor' of US income tax day. Features noted figures Jet Li and Eduardo Saverin, who recently quit their American citizenship for tax reasons. Freddi M. Weintraub, a tax attorney, provides insight into the law surrounding expatriation. Segment concludes with an interview with Mike Gogulski (me), who renounced his US citizenship in 2008 for political reasons and has lived without any nationality since -- a stateless person." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRenouncing US Citizenship, for tax and political reasons