US FATCA explained for US Persons
Must Comply – Sam Elahee
I have been getting questions from US Persons living in Canada. Most of them are not updated with the US tax law changes in the last five years.
First there was OVDI. Come clean or IRS will take 50% of your assets. File FBAR with your personal financial asset information. FBAR can only be filed through a secure online form. No more paper filing of FBAR.
Now FATCA is in place. Its a wide net of IRS tax laws affecting every country and their financial institution to collect tax revenue from US Persons. Its forcing foreign entities to work as an agent of IRS, with the threat that if they don’t comply, 30% of their revenue sourced in USA will be held by IRS. This is a complex process.
If you a US Person don’t report your off shore account information under FBAR and your bank reports it to IRS under FATCA, all your financial holding is in risk of getting frozen or seized by your foreign bank under the FATCA laws of IRS. Until you can settle the demand of IRS, you won’t have any access to your funds.
So, if you are a US Person, you must comply with IRS FATCA and FBAR laws. It is advised that you work with a tax professional who is expert at US tax laws.
I strongly advise to watch this informative video clip.
FATCA EXPLAINED – Sam Elahee, International Tax Advisor
Income Tax: UCCB
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Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) Changes in 2015
Taxes are very complex, even you might hear otherwise from tax software vendors. Here is a simple example trying to explain the changes in Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) as promised by Prime Minister coming into effect in 2015.
UCCB is a taxable benefit and you should file your taxes every year and report this benefit on your tax return.
Source of this educational video is Safe Pacific Financial
Canada Revenue Agency Income Tax
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Year End Tax Tips – Pay Less Tax in 2014
While 99% of us are busy shopping, eating and drinking and complaining about the sorry state of our finances, 1% of people (the wealthy ones) are meeting with their tax advisors and planning all out, how to minimize their taxes and maximize their after tax income. You see, in Canada for every $100 taxable income reduction by tax planning you save almost $44 in taxes. You can easily pay off your holiday shopping bill with just few simple year end tax saving strategy.
Tax planning is a year around activity. But if you ignored it, all year long, this last few days of the year, where you must take action to minimize your 2014 tax.
So, here are some ideas. more »
Income Tax
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IRS Fines Tax Payer 200% for Failure to File FBAR
The IRS has started to impose failure to file FBAR penalties, which sometimes exceed criminal fines, as a weapon in their criminal crackdown on offshore tax evasion by US citizens. Many of the more than 70 taxpayers charged since 2009 have pleaded guilty, paying an FBAR penalty of 50 percent of the high account balance in their offshore account for only one year.
The threat of such penalties has helped to drive U.S. taxpayers into an IRS amnesty program that lets holders of undeclared offshore accounts avoid prosecution. They must pay back taxes, fines and penalties and tell the IRS which banks and bankers helped them hide their money. Since 2009, more than 43,000 Americans have taken advantage of the amnesty program, paying US $6 billion to the U.S. Credit Suisse AG pleaded guilty of Americans evade taxes and agreed to pay $2.6 billion in penalties.
Other US tax payers have paid higher FBAR penalties in dollars, not as a percentage of the account. H. Ty Warner, the billionaire creator of Beanie Babies plush toys, pleaded guilty last year to evading taxes on secret Swiss accounts that held as much as $107 million. He paid an FBAR penalty of $53.6 million. more »
BC Province Canada Revenue Agency Income Tax
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Canada Revenue Agency Shut Down Tax Filing Secure Web Access
Canada Revenue Agency has shut down all access to its secure web server, effective April 8, 2014.
Secure web services affected by this shut down are CRA online services like, EFILE, NETFILE, My Account, My Business Account and Represent a Client.
CRA website state that, April 8, late afternoon, it came to their attention that the software CRA is using to make internet transmission of our data secure is vulnerable to a bug named “Heartbleed Bug” and it was affecting the secure data transmission software worldwide. As a preventive measure, CRA temporarily shut down public access to their online secure services to safeguard the integrity of the information they hold.