Tag Archive for citizen based taxation

Part 1: South Africa And The USA—Citizenship-Based Taxation

There have been a number of suggestions in various blogs that South Africa is somehow taxing on the basis of citizenship. American citizens (whether by accident or design) are most sensitive to any discussion of “citizenship-based taxation”. After all, U.S. tax policies combined with FATCA (which is part of the Internal Revenue Code) are destroying the lives of those who have entered the U.S. tax system.

I recently received an email that asked:

They’re talking about SA expats, people who no longer live in SA, being taxed by SA. Like us, these people are residents and earners in countries other than their country of origin (and, I would assume, citizenship). http://www.internationalinvestment.net/regions/south-african-expats-hit-tax-exemption-removal-plans/ If this is not CBT, on what basis are they being taxed? If SA is just wanting to expand its definition of tax residency on what basis do they feel they can apply this to someone who no longer lives in their country? Read More

Written by | Posted in Citizenship

Why Is The U.S. Imposing Full Taxation On Canadians?

Why is the United States imposing full U.S. taxation on the Canadian incomes of Canadian citizens living in Canada?

The Internal Revenue Code mandates that ALL “individuals”, EXCEPT “non-resident aliens”, are subject to full taxation, on their WORLDWIDE income, under the Internal Revenue Code. The word “individuals” includes U.S. citizens regardless of where they live and regardless of whether they are citizens and residents of other countries where they also pay tax. This means that, by its plain terms, the United States imposes full taxation on the citizens and residents of other nations, because they are also (according to U.S. definitions) U.S. citizens. The United States is the only country in the world that has a definition of “tax residency that mandates full taxation based ONLY on citizenship. Read More

Written by | Posted in International

U.S. Expat Mistakes: Part I

Manasa Nadig

United States is one of the few countries in the world in its Citizen-Based-Taxation format. This means that no matter where you live, you need to be current on your U.S. tax filing if you are a U.S. Citizen or Green Card Holder. You are known as an Expatriate or Expat (for short) if you are a U.S. citizen or green card holder living outside the United States.   Read More

Written by | Posted in Expatriate

Open Letter On Tax Reform To Administration And Congress

Kat Jennings

Open Letter to President Trump, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, House Speaker Paul Ryan, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch

The United States taxes individuals on the basis of citizenship. In other words, it taxes American citizens on their worldwide income regardless where they reside, the source of their income, whether they are or ever have been present in the US – in short, regardless of anything.

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Written by | Posted in Citizenship

US Tax Laws Pushing Americans to Expatriate; OVDI “Arbitrary and Capricious” – An Interview With Bill Yates – Former Attorney, Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), IRS, continued…

TaxConnections Picture - Statue Liberty and FlagToday’s blog post completes the interview with Willard (Bill) Yates, who recently retired from the Office of Associate Chief Counsel (International), Internal Revenue Service after 31 years of service. During his tenure as a Chief Counsel Attorney, Bill was the recipient of 10 awards, including the Albert Gallatin Award, Treasury’s highest career service award. The Gallatin is awarded only to select federal employees who served twenty or more years in the Department and whose record reflects fidelity to duty. Bill received the Gallatin award for his work throughout his IRS career, including his work on implementation of some of the compliance requirements of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Most of Bill’s career at IRS focused on offshore compliance, including his participation in a massive overhaul of outdated foreign trust reporting requirements Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts and Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust with a U.S. Owner). Bill was the principal drafter of the regulations under section 679, Foreign trusts having one or more United States beneficiaries, Notice 2003-75, RRSP and RRIF Information Reporting and Notice 2009-85, Guidance for Expatriates Under Section 877A.

Our focus for this series will be on Bill’s comments on the American Citizens Abroad working paper titled, RBT, Residence Based Taxation: A Necessary and Urgent Tax Reform (RBT Proposal), which recently was submitted to the International Tax Reform Working Group of the House Ways and Means Committee. Read More

Written by | Posted in Expatriate • International • IRS • OVDP