"FATCA requires foreign financial institutions (FFI) of broad scope - banks, stock brokers, hedge funds, pension funds, insurance companies, trusts - to report directly to the IRS all clientsâ accounts owned by U.S. Citizens and U.S. persons (Green Card holders). Starting July 1, 2014, FATCA will require FFIs to provide annual reports to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on the name and address of each U.S. client, as well as the largest account balance in the year and total debits and credits of any account owned by a U.S. person." If an institution does not comply, the U.S. will impose a 30% withholding tax on all its transactions concerning U.S. securities, including the proceeds of sale of securities. http://americansabroad.org/issues/fatca/fatca-bad-america-why-it-should-be-repealed/
"But FATCAâs biggest flaw isnât its near unworkable complexity, it is simple math. Letâs start with a baseline understanding of the untenable financial position the U.S. is in. In 2011, the federal government received $2.2 trillion from all revenue sources and spent 3.8 trillion, resulting in a $1.6 trillion deficit. To put federal government spending in perspective imagine the following⦠Suppose that on January 1 the government received its revenue of $2.2 trillion and began spending. To spend $3.8 trillion in one year means the government spends at the rate of $434 million an hour, or more than $10 billion a day. With $2.2 trillion to spend, spending at a rate of $434 million an hour, the federal government runs out of money at 11:59 p.m. on July 31. Just how much time will the revenue returned to the U.S. through FATCA buy? About 2 hours per year. Thatâs right, the IRS estimates that FATCA will produce about $8 billion in tax revenue over the next 10 years. That is about $800 million per year, or referring back to our example above, enough to run the federal government for about 2 hours. So for all the burdens placed on U.S. citizens and foreign financial offices, the strain on international relations, the headaches of complexity and compliance, the gross expense of it allâ¦the big payoff is that the U.S. goes into debt at 2 a.m. August 1 instead of 2 hours before. And thatâs the BEST case scenario for the U.S. government because weâve left out one final glaring detail." I tend to agree with this, the costs are just too high compared to the benefits. When Congress and the President realize that they will shut down this nonsense. Too little money to ruin your relations with the whole world
This covers not only Americans abroad, it covers the so-called "US persons", which includes foreigners currently /previously living in US.
Wow just nuts. That trillion dollar platinum coin idea sounds more and more likely . There is a loophole in the law books to allow that to happen. Crazy times.