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I’ve written frequently about FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. This one-sided law forces other countries to enforce US tax laws. If they fail to do so, they’re effectively locked out of US markets and the US dollar – the world’s reserve currency (at least for now).
Each year, with great fanfare, the IRS publishes a list of what it calls the “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams.” Last month, it published its most recent list, which you can read here.
One of the departing initiatives taken by retiring US Attorney General Eric Holder was to impose limits on a legal process called “adoption.” This is not the kind of adoption in which you add a child to your family.
FATCA, otherwise known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, is one of the most arrogant and one-sided laws ever passed by Congress. I first wrote about it in this essay.
One of the highlights of my life was the nearly three years that I spent in Vienna, Austria. I was there to attend an LL.M. course in international tax law at the Wirtschaftsuniversität, the Vienna University of Economics and Business.
Every so often, I read an article predicting that the US and other major countries are about to force nations that offer “citizenship by investment programs” (CIPs) to shut them down.
One of the recurring questions I get from our US readers and clients is, “Since the IRS has to know everything you do ‘offshore’ anyway, why should you even bother?”
In case you missed the announcement, Cyprus-style bail-ins are coming to a bank near you. On November 16, leaders of the G20 Group of Nations – the 20 largest economies – made an important decision.
The intrepid bureaucrats at the Internal Revenue Service have done a superb job of making us fear them. We dutifully file our 1040s, FBARs, and all manner of other forms...
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, just became the unlikely spokesperson for the 8 million or so US citizens living abroad. Boris is an “accidental” US citizen. Although his parents were British, he was born in the US.
Expats and foreign investors are among the easiest marks for fraud – one of the dangers of international investing that promoters don’t like to talk about. Fraudulent real estate deals are rife.
Indulge yourself for a moment and imagine you're back in 1986. You’re listening to “Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer on the radio and on your way to the movie theater to watch Aliens, starring Sigourney Weaver.
FATCA and similar laws have eviscerated financial privacy in the US. And last year, thanks to whistleblower Edward Snowden, the world learned the extent of the surveillance conducted by America’s largest spy agency, the NSA.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had close to 30 consultations with Nestmann Group clients. And one of their top concerns is that Barack Obama or some future US president will find a way to confiscate the money in their IRAs or 401(k) plans.
Unlike many other advisory services, we take a historical perspective when it comes to supposedly fresh and new ideas. And it’s for that reason that I’ve been skeptical of the tax incentives for individuals that Puerto Rico enacted in 2012 ...
In my nearly 30 years of helping Americans “internationalize” themselves, there are four giant obstacles I have watched my clients overcome before finally taking action: Inertia, fear, complacence, and hopelessness.
Recently, The Economist reported that Chase Bank closed the accounts of hundreds of porn stars. Among them was blond bombshell Teagan Presley, star of Just Over 18 #10 and more than 70 other porn videos.
What’s the most hazardous financial activity that you can engage in? It’s not investing in penny stocks. It’s not buying foreign currencies. It’s not even playing futures and options, as risky as they may be.
In my consulting practice, I’m often asked about my own “Plan B” – what I plan to do when the s**t hits the fan (SHTF) in the good ol’ US of A. And of course, why I chose that plan.
In the last 50 years, an amazing transformation has taken place. The result? A country rife with contradictions… and opportunity.
I recently spent a week in Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, just off the Mainland’s southeastern coast.
This week, I’m writing to you from the departure lounge of the Vienna International Airport. I lived in Austria from 2003-2005. I returned not only to renew old friendships, but to see firsthand the latest developments in this small country, which only a century ago dominated much of Europe.
I’m in Panama City, Panama, conducting some boots-on-the-ground research and due diligence on this remarkable country’s legal and financial infrastructure.
Two weeks ago – July 1, to be exact – an obscure law called the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act,” or FATCA, came into effect.
For the third time in as many years, legislation has been introduced in Congress that would revoke the passports of US citizens with “seriously delinquent tax debts.”
Around 10 years ago, the US declared war on a select group of Americans – the nearly 8 million US persons (citizens and green card holders) living abroad.
Last July, I spent four days in Las Vegas at FreedomFest. This annual event is huge, with as many as seven presentations occurring at the same time.
Carl Zwerner, an 87-year-old resident of Florida, is the latest poster child for the IRS vendetta against offshore investments.
Just the other week, I witnessed economic imperialism at work. It came courtesy of a secretive US Treasury bureau called the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).