Fugitive Tax-Slaves

Lebanon’s financial sector prepares to open books to Uncle Sam

"The Lebanese banking sector has been preparing for FATCA like the teacher’s pet not because it is a major advocate of reining in tax havens — Lebanese law explicitly allows companies set up with offshore tax status — or greater taxation transparency and new tax laws in the country. Rather, the sector is exceedingly wary of international regulators, specifically of falling foul of the US Treasury. This is due to Lebanon’s immense exposure to American leverage: some 70 percent of local deposits are held in US dollars; [..] no one wants a repeat of the 2011 Lebanese Canadian Bank fiasco, when the bank was accused by the US of money laundering and subsequently closed its doors." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLebanon’s financial sector prepares to open books to Uncle Sam

77,000 Foreign Banks To Share Account Info With IRS

"Nearly 70 countries have agreed to share information from their banks as part of a U.S. law that targets Americans' assets overseas. Starting in March 2015, these financial institutions have agreed to supply the IRS with names, account numbers and balances for accounts controlled by U.S. taxpayers. The law requires American banks to withhold 30 percent of certain payments to foreign banks that don't participate in the program — a significant price for access to the world's largest economy. The withholding applies to stocks and bonds, including U.S. Treasurys. Some previously owned securities would be exempt from the withholding, but in general, previously owned stocks would not." Continue reading →

Continue Reading77,000 Foreign Banks To Share Account Info With IRS

Here’s One Fight Uncle Sam Can’t Win

"Economic citizenship programs are proliferating. That’s something to celebrate. These programs are a bracing antidote to the increasing tendency of governments to impose travel restrictions against their citizens, using passports as weapons. This has long been the policy of authoritarian governments like North Korea and China. But in recent years, the US and UK have made much greater use of passport revocations and even involuntary loss of citizenship against persons they perceive as 'enemies of the state.' Is it really surprising that a market has arisen to deal with these draconian restrictions on one of humanity’s most basic rights, the right to leave one’s own country?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHere’s One Fight Uncle Sam Can’t Win

The Strange Tale of Swiss Banking – And What It Means for You

"It is interesting that remaining private banks are switching from partnerships to corporations. Judicially enforced corporate personhood distorts markets and enables market behavior that would not otherwise be feasible or tolerated. What remains most puzzling is that this most powerful industry composed primarily of private Swiss banks allowed itself to be virtually ruined in a few years' time. The precedent has been set, however. One nation may indeed interfere judicially in the affairs of another and force compliance, part of a wider assertion of privilege by a US government that is attempting to turn banking systems around the world into part of the US tax collection effort." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Strange Tale of Swiss Banking – And What It Means for You

Capital Controls Rolling Into High Gear Under FATCA

"It isn't just affecting the most financially restricted people on Earth: US citizens... it is affecting everyone. Take myself, for example. I operate numerous businesses worldwide. I am a Canadian citizen as well as the citizen of a Caribbean country and our business operations are also operated out of a non-tax jurisdiction in the Caribbean. On top of that we hold no bank accounts, whatsoever, in the US... instead, we have bank accounts all over the world. Yet, in the last two months we have had our accounts or transactions frozen, denied or questioned in different jurisdictions at least ten times. And we have had countless other problems over the last two years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCapital Controls Rolling Into High Gear Under FATCA

U.S. tax deal jeopardizes Canadians’ privacy

"Imperils the privacy of up to a million Canadians and creates a two-tier level of citizenship in this country, discriminating against citizens based on their ethnic origin. It could include so-called border babies, Canadians whose mothers gave birth across the border for medical reasons; Canadians who have returned after holding green cards for work in the U.S.; Canadian snowbirds who could be deemed 'U.S. persons' based on the length of their stay in the sun; and Canadians born to a U.S. parent who may have never set foot in the U.S. If you are a Canadian holding a joint account with a U.S.-born spouse, your financial information, too, could be headed to the files of the IRS — and perhaps beyond." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. tax deal jeopardizes Canadians’ privacy

The Shocking Real Reason for FATCA, and What Comes Next

"The central planners at the G20 and OECD devised what they call a new 'global standard' of automatic financial information exchange between governments (i.e., GATCA) modeled on the US’s FATCA. However, GATCA would have never been possible in the first place had the US not cleared the path with FATCA. The G20 and OECD needed the US—the sole financial superpower (for now at least)—to strong-arm and cram down the throats of the rest of the world this privacy-killing measure. There’s no other entity on the planet with the capability to do so. The very big stick the US wielded was access to the US financial system and the world’s premier reserve currency." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Shocking Real Reason for FATCA, and What Comes Next

U.S. Gov. Gets $2.6 Billion In Credit Suisse ‘Money Laundering’ Case

"Credit Suisse is the largest financial company to plead guilty to the non-crime of 'money laundering' in 20 years. The plea marks the end of an era. One of the shell entities implicated, according to the government, dated back a century – or just after the creation of the federal tax code and the income tax. Of the $2.6 billion fine, The Department of Justice will receive $1.8 billion and New York State's top financial regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, will receive $715 million of the stolen loot. With the FATCA coming into full effect on January 1, 2016, and the US government actively prosecuting banks, only savvy Americans will be able to find financial institutions abroad to service them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Gov. Gets $2.6 Billion In Credit Suisse ‘Money Laundering’ Case

Jeff Berwick: Bitcoin Is Equivalent to the Internet in 1993

"Perception of Bitcoin now is like of the Internet in 1993. Mt Gox, Tesla and the free market. US government pressuring foreign governments making it harder to get foreign citizenship. Staggering fraud in the banking sector and banker suicides. Crazy Keynsian thinking. Russia and China more free market than the West. Disaster brewing for the West. The move into precious metals stocks." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJeff Berwick: Bitcoin Is Equivalent to the Internet in 1993