PREP Podcaster - ”Success Favours The PREPared Mind”

Looking For Mr. FBAR - A New Sighting - ”exercised control over and had access to the account”

May 22, 2022 - Participants include:

Virginia La Torre Jeker - @VLJeker

John Richardson - @ExpatriationLaw

 

On May 19, 2022 Virginia La Torre Jeker published a post about Paul Manafort and his adventures with Mr. FBAR.  Mr. Manafort was on the receiving end of three million in FBAR penalties. Because he had not paid, the US government began a  lawsuit to convert the FBAR penalty to a legally enforceable judgment. To understand the complete context of Mr. Manafort's meeting with Mr. FBAR, I refer you to Virginia's post. 

 

In relevant part her post included:

"Regardless, of the fact that others technically owned and operated some of the accounts, Manafort still exercised control over, and had access to, each of the accounts.  This means he had a “financial interest” in the accounts for purposes of the Bank Secrecy Act, and relevant regulations which includes in the definition of “financial interest” the case when “[t]he owner of record or holder of legal title is a person acting as an agent, nominee, attorney, or a person acting on behalf of the United States person with respect to the account.”

Interestingly paragraph 17 of the government's compliant included:

"17. Regardless, Manafort still exercised control over, and had access to, each of the accounts."

In this podcast we go back to the basics and discuss who exactly is required to file an FBAR and why. Our discussion analyzes the FinCEN FBAR instructions.

 

It all starts here. The instructions state that:

 

"Who Must File an FBAR. A United States person that has a financial interest in or signature authority over foreign financial accounts must file an FBAR if the aggregate value of the foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year. See General Definitions, to determine who is a United States person."

Our concern - starting at the 32 minute mark of the discussion - is with "FBAR application creep". How long will it take before the test of "exercised control over" and/or "had access to" will be applied to the most pedestrian of situations?

In other words: First, Mr. Manafort. Now, the average person living abroad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Janine Seymour AKA MI’AZHIKWAN - Lawyer, Educator, Advocate and Mentor

May 14, 2022 - Participants include:

Janine Rachel Seymour -@MiAzhikwan

John Richardson - @Independents

On June 2, 2022, Ontario residents will vote for a new government. In addition to the mainstream parties the election includes a number of independent candidates.

This podcast is an interview with Janine Rachel Seymour who is running as an independent candidate. She is a member of a minority group that has experienced unprecedented discrimination in Canada.

Ms. Seymour is the kind of candidate who makes a difference simply by running!

(For more interviews with independent candidates go here.)

 

 

Thinking About Getting A Green Card? What You Need To Know, But Didn’t Know To Ask

May 11, 2022 - Participants include:

 

Dr. Karen Alpert - @FixTheTaxTreaty

Dr. Laura Snyder - @TapInternation

Keith Redmond - @Keith__Redmond

John Richardson - @ExpatriationLaw

In this podcast four of SEAT's founding members discuss how the US tax system (if properly understood) should impact the decision of whether to get a US "immigrant visa" AKA Green Card.

Emigrating from one country to another is a major life decision. But, for those with significant non-US assets the decision is more difficult.

One you become a US resident you are subject to the US system of US worldwide taxation, reporting and penalties.

These considerations impact:

1. Life before getting a Green Card

2. Life in the USA with a Green Card

3. Exiting the USA and moving back to your country of birth.

In this podcast we discuss many issues including how to seek the kind of assistance you will need!

 

 

For Good And Evil: The Teaching Of Charles Adams Lesson 20

May 2, 2022 - Participants include:

 

John Richardson - @Expatriationlaw

Jimmy Sexton - @JimmySextonLLM

 

Continuing our podcast series:

For Good And Evil Podcast 1 - October 25, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 2 - November 1, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 3 - November 8, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 4 - November 15, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 5 - November 22, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 6 - November 29, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 7 - December 7, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 8 - January 10, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 9 - January 17, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 10 - January 24, 2002

For Good And Evil Podcast 11 - January 31, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 12 - February 7, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 13 - February 14, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 14 - March 7, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 15 - March 14, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 16 - March 20, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 17 - March 20, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 18 - April 18, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 19 - April 25, 2022

 

In this episode we continue the teaching of Charles Adams - Lesson 20:

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20. "People tend to resist heavy taxation in the following ways: First, lawful avoidance; second, if avoidance fails, then either evasion or a flight to avoid tax; third, rebellion; and finally, when there is no other alternative, they have accepted the serfdom when it offered the only relief from outrageous taxation."

For Good And Evil: The Teaching Of Charles Adams Lesson 19

April 25, 2022 - Participants include:

 

John Richardson - @Expatriationlaw

Jimmy Sexton - @JimmySextonLLM

 

Continuing our podcast series:

For Good And Evil Podcast 1 - October 25, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 2 - November 1, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 3 - November 8, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 4 - November 15, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 5 - November 22, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 6 - November 29, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 7 - December 7, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 8 - January 10, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 9 - January 17, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 10 - January 24, 2002

For Good And Evil Podcast 11 - January 31, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 12 - February 7, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 13 - February 14, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 14 - March 7, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 15 - March 14, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 16 - March 20, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 17 - March 20, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 18 - April 18, 2022

In this episode we continue the teaching of Charles Adams - Lesson 19:

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19. "The income tax is a bastardized form of wealth taxation, because the more a taxpayer possesses, the easier it is to avoid taxable income. A person's wealth and ability to pay do not necessarily bear any relation to taxable income."

For Good And Evil: The Teaching Of Charles Adams Lesson 18

April 18, 2022 - Participants include:

 

John Richardson - @Expatriationlaw

Jimmy Sexton - @JimmySextonLLM

 

Continuing our podcast series:

For Good And Evil Podcast 1 - October 25, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 2 - November 1, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 3 - November 8, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 4 - November 15, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 5 - November 22, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 6 - November 29, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 7 - December 7, 2021

For Good And Evil Podcast 8 - January 10, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 9 - January 17, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 10 - January 24, 2002

For Good And Evil Podcast 11 - January 31, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 12 - February 7, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 13 - February 14, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 14 - March 7, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 15 - March 14, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 16 - March 20, 2022

For Good And Evil Podcast 17 - March 20, 2022

In this episode we continue the teaching of Charles Adams - Lesson 18:

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18. "Great wealth, as if by magic, disappears when governments adopt taxation to "soak the rich". The rich have always had the means to escape heavy taxation."

Rethinking Taxation: Continuing the The ”Fair Tax” Discussion With Jim Bennett and Steve Hayes

April 13, 2022 - Participants Include:

Jim Bennett- Fair Tax

Steven Hayes Fair Tax

Joe Howard - @EndCBTNow

John Richardson - @ExpatriationLaw

 

On March 27, 2022 I hosted Jim Bennett of "Fair Tax" and learned about the "Fair Tax Proposal". Today, Jim Bennet returned as a guest and was joined by Steve Hayes and Joe Howard.

Mr. Hayes and Mr. Bennett are the primary movers and creators of H.R. 25 "The Fair Tax Act of 2021" which can be viewed here.

At the risk of oversimplification, H.R. 25 proposes to replace Subtitle A (Income Tax), Subtitle B (Estate and Gift Tax) and Subtitle C (Employment Tax) of Title 26 (The Internal Revenue Code)  with one comprehensive consumption tax.

If enacted the "Fair Tax" would create a U.S. tax system that:

-  was a territorial (tax imposed on activity in the US only) based on a consumption tax (tax imposed on consumption and not income)

- allowed certain low income people to apply for tax abatements

- made the U.S. a more attractive location for foreign investment and business activities

- ended the tax filing requirement for individual taxpayers (and therefore ended the "Regulatory Oppression" experienced by individuals in general and Americans abroad in particular)

- ending the relevance of "tax residency" because taxation would be based on spending only

- solved the problems of citizenship tax as experienced by US emigrants and accidental Americans

The adoption of the "Fair Tax" would result in a major change in US society. As the great tax historian Charles W. Adams taught:

As goes taxation, so goes civilization!

I strongly suggest that Americans abroad support the "Fair Tax" movement!

 

 

 

Biden Green Book Proposes Income Taxation Of Gifts And Bequests In Addition To Existing Estate and Gift Tax Regime

April 12, 2022 - Participants Include:

Virginia La Torre Jeker - @VLJeker

John Richardson - @ExpatriationLaw

Note: This podcast is based on a blog post published today here.

 

The Biden Administration recently released its Green Book of tax proposals. Although not likely to become law soon, the Green Book often provides advance notice of major changes in the US tax system. On page 31, the administration proposes to completely change how gifts are taxed. This change is introduced with the title:

"Treat transfers of appreciated property by gift or on death as realization events"

 

The basic idea is to follow Canada and Australia and treat gifts/bequests as "deemed sales" made at the time of the gift. The gift would take place at fair market value. In other words, an ordinary gift might generate a taxable capital gain.

In this podcast Virginia and I discuss:

 

- how this creates a  new and additional tax on gifts and bequests

- how the new tax would work

- how this might interact with the existing Estate and Gift tax regime

- why this might be a particular problem for Americans abroad

- why Americans abroad considering making gifts might consider making those gifts sooner rather than later.

 

 

 

 

UK Non-dom Status: An Island Of Territorial Taxation In An Ocean Of Worldwide Taxation

April 11, 2022 - Participants Include:

Jimmy Sexton, Esquire Group - @JimmySextonLLM

John Richardson - @ExpatriationLaw

The recent public disclosure that Rushi Sunack's wife Akshata Murthy  has elected UK "non-dom" status has drawn attention to UK "non-dom" status as a tax planning opportunity.

This is the second podcast where I have explored the entitlement to and workings of non-dom status. Interestingly the claim of entitlement to "non-dom" status appears to be based on the fact that she is NOT a British citizen but a citizen of India. The public outrage seems to be rooted in the observation that "citizenship" is neither relevant not determinative of either citizenship or domicile. If citizenship is not relevant for the purposes of taxation, then one wonders why the United States continues it's citizenship tax regime.

In this discussion, Jimmy and I explore the "inner workings" of the "non-dom" system. We discuss this from both a tax and immigration perspective.

In addition we explore their status as Green Card holders and how this may or may not interact with the claim of UK "non-dom" status.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rishi Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty claim of UK non-dom status shines light on US citizenship tax

April 9, 2022 - Participants Include:

Diane Gelon - Diane@DianeGelon.com

John Richardson - @ExpatriationLaw

An earlier podcast with Diane Gelon is here.

In the 21st Century The Most Interesting Thing About A Person Is His Tax Residency!

The recent story of the Uk Chancellor Of The Exchequer Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty are evidence of this. The last week has featured story after story describing  how Ms. Murty was legally able to elect UK "non-dom status" to avoid paying UK tax on certain income sourced outside the UK. Apparently her claim of entitlement to her non-dom status has been based on the fact that she is a citizen of India and not a British citizen (and that she eventually plans to return to India). Predictably this has led to outrage - described here - from the general public.

The difficulties were compounded by the revelation that both Rishi Sunak and Askshata Murty are reported to have been US tax residents because they had Green Cards. Although it is not clear when the Green Cards were abandoned, it appears that Rishi Sunak held a Green Card when and after his UK political career began.

I have attempted to identify and describe a number of the issues in the following twitter thread:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1512035483919998981.html

In this podcast I am again joined by UK based US lawyer Diane Gelon. In this episode we discuss:

- how the non-dom regime works and how it can benefit people (include US citizens) who wish to immigrate to the UK

- how and where Ms. Murty's non UK income might be taxed under the rules of international tax

- the effect of having the US Green Card and why that means that Mr. Sunak and Ms. Murty were also US tax residents (although apparently they used a tax treaty tie breaker to be treated as nonresidents from a US tax perspective)

- why the debate over Ms. Murty's non-dom status is really a public referendum on US citizenship taxation.

In the 21st Century the most interesting thing about a person is his/her tax residency, actual residence, citizenship and domicile!