J-banks are ratting the Americans out to the IRS

[havill]

Looks like the Japanese banks are getting quickly into compliance with U.S. FATCA.

(TL;DR: The U.S. is making foreign banks rat out the Americans with accounts if those banks want to play ball in the U.S. marketplace. The purpose is to find out who has been hiding money / not declaring their income stashed overseas via F-BARs and yearly 1040s)

This is a screenshot from e-Bank aka Rakuten Bank's setting screen. Somehow, they knew I was Japanese and not American. Either that or a lucky guess.
(for the Japanese challenged: it says:

Self Declaration/Oath for the U.S. FATCA Law:

For U.S. Citizens and/or those who live in the U.S.:

• __ I am a American
• __ I am not a American

Regarding FATCA, click here

Mr. American: that Canadian flag affixed to your backpack isn't fooling anyone.

[matsuki]

Mr. American: that Canadian flag affixed your backpack isn't fooling anyone.

....but the hockey sticks are

Fun stuff, though I wonder how far back they will search if they find out you haven't been reporting. Also, how does this work with all those smaller banks and credits unions that still print your name across the whole card in katakana? I somehow doubt they are FACTA compliant.

[IparryU]

This is happening everywhere... one by one Uncle Sam will get you... one by one...

[havill]

Fun stuff, though I wonder how far back they will search if they find out you haven't been reporting. Also, how does this work with all those smaller banks and credits unions that still print your name across the whole card in katakana? I somehow doubt they are FACTA compliant.

Basically, how the U.S.-gov is twisting foreign banks to play ball is by saying "if you want to play ball in the U.S. financial markets, you have to do this.

So I guess that banks that have absolutely no interest in ever trading any kind of security or financial product or money with the U.S. (extremely unlikely) wouldn't need to do this... unless the arm twisting came from a higher level of the government.

And here's the "arm twist" that brings almost everybody into compliance:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/1471

U.S. payors making payments to non-compliant foreign financial institutions are required to withhold 30% of the gross payments.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Mr. American: that Canadian flag affixed your backpack isn't fooling anyone.

....but the hockey sticks are

Fun stuff, though I wonder how far back they will search if they find out you haven't been reporting. Also, how does this work with all those smaller banks and credits unions that still print your name across the whole card in katakana? I somehow doubt they are FACTA compliant.

What's The FBAR Statute Of Limitations?

FBARs are those annoying foreign account reporting forms that are now so important. Fail to file one–especially if you also fail to report income on your tax return–and you can be liable for more than the account balance in penalties. You can even go to jail.

You may want a better fix than just waiting for the statute of limitations to run. Still, just how long do you have to worry? The IRS says 6 years, judged from when the FBAR was due. That’s June 30 following the calendar year being reported. For instance, the 2012 FBAR was due June 30, 2013, and the statute runs on June 30, 2019.

But could the feds use another date? Maybe. According to 31 U.S.C. 5321(b), the statute of limitations is 6 years from the “transaction.” There is no authoritative interpretation when a transaction occurs, but the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) says it’s the FBAR due date.

[matsuki]

Fun stuff, though I wonder how far back they will search if they find out you haven't been reporting. Also, how does this work with all those smaller banks and credits unions that still print your name across the whole card in katakana? I somehow doubt they are FACTA compliant.

Basically, how the U.S.-gov is twisting foreign banks to play ball is by saying "if you want to play ball in the U.S. financial markets, you have to do this.

So I guess that banks that have absolutely no interest in ever trading any kind of security or financial product or money with the U.S. (extremely unlikely) wouldn't need to do this... unless the arm twisting came from a higher level of the government.

And here's the "arm twist" that brings almost everybody into compliance:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/1471

U.S. payors making payments to non-compliant foreign financial institutions are required to withhold 30% of the gross payments.

Soooo the credit union of Takahashi of bumfuck Aichi is likely connected?

What's The FBAR Statute Of Limitations?

FBARs are those annoying foreign account reporting forms that are now so important. Fail to file one–especially if you also fail to report income on your tax return–and you can be liable for more than the account balance in penalties. You can even go to jail.

You may want a better fix than just waiting for the statute of limitations to run. Still, just how long do you have to worry? The IRS says 6 years, judged from when the FBAR was due. That’s June 30 following the calendar year being reported. For instance, the 2012 FBAR was due June 30, 2013, and the statute runs on June 30, 2019.

But could the feds use another date? Maybe. According to 31 U.S.C. 5321(b), the statute of limitations is 6 years from the “transaction.” There is no authoritative interpretation when a transaction occurs, but the Internal Revenue Manual (IRM) says it’s the FBAR due date.

That FBAR law is FUBAR

[wagyl]

That FBAR law is FUBAR

Write your congressperson.

Good luck getting them to listen to someone who doesn't have the sense to continue living in God's Own Country.

[matsuki]

That FBAR law is FUBAR

Write your congressperson.

Good luck getting them to listen to someone who doesn't have the sense to continue living in God's Own Country.

Heh, gods own country...starting to wonder if getting "residence" on tribal land may make life easier.

[Samurai_Jerk]

That FBAR law is FUBAR

Write your congressperson.

Good luck getting them to listen to someone who doesn't have the sense to continue living in God's Own Country.

Heh, gods own country...starting to wonder if getting "residence" on tribal land may make life easier.

You think that'll protect you from Uncle Sam and the IRS?

[wagyl]

At least choose a tribe in upstate New York so you can smuggle booze and tobacco across the border with Canada.

I mean, how else will Yanpa get his beer when he is in Ottawa for a conference?

[Mike Oxlong]

At least choose a tribe in upstate New York so you can smuggle booze and tobacco across the border with Canada.

I mean, how else will Yanpa get his beer when he is in Ottawa for a conference?

Don't forget guns. That's the main source of illegal guns there, IIRC.

[wagyl]

Ooh, I didn't think of weaponry!

The historical background.

[yanpa]

At least choose a tribe in upstate New York so you can smuggle booze and tobacco across the border with Canada.

I mean, how else will Yanpa get his beer when he is in Ottawa for a conference?

Don't forget guns. That's the main source of illegal guns there, IIRC.

There's a lot of internal bickering at these conferences, but not yet anything that would require armed intervention.

(The upcoming conference is in Madrid, if past visits to different areas of the same country are a good indication, beer should be somewhat easier to obtain).

[matsuki]

You think that'll protect you from Uncle Sam and the IRS?

No, but probably changes the rules a bit.

[Grumpy Gramps]

Where I am from (Switzerland), Americans have a hard time now to even open a simple bank account and it's nearly impossible for them to get a house loan. Lots of dual nationals there renouncing their US-citizenship to get rid of that "US-person" stigma status. And in my experience, the Japanese are even "Swissier than the Swiss" when it comes to being anal. So, as an American, I wouldn't hold my breath...

[matsuki]

At least choose a tribe in upstate New York so you can smuggle booze and tobacco across the border with Canada.

I mean, how else will Yanpa get his beer when he is in Ottawa for a conference?

Most of the tribes require you marry in or some sort of blood quantum...so maybe I should marry Iroquois? They even have their own passports...

[Coligny]

Where I am from (Switzerland), Americans have a hard time now to even open a simple bank account and it's nearly impossible for them to get a house loan. Lots of dual nationals there renouncing their US-citizenship to get rid of that "US-person" stigma status. And in my experience, the Japanese are even "Swissier than the Swiss" when it comes to being anal. So, as an American, I wouldn't hold my breath...

You are swisslandais !?

Do you sometimes have sugus craving ?

[Samurai_Jerk]

This could be relevant to anyone who's regularly sending money back to a US bank account.

Law Lets I.R.S. Seize Accounts on Suspicion, No Crime Required

For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her checking account, almost $33,000.

The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report.

[...]

Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up.

[...]

The I.R.S. is one of several federal agencies that pursue such cases and then refer them to the Justice Department. The Justice Department does not track the total number of cases pursued, the amount of money seized or how many of the cases were related to other crimes, said Peter Carr, a spokesman.

But the Institute for Justice, a Washington-based public interest law firm that is seeking to reform civil forfeiture practices, analyzed structuring data from the I.R.S., which made 639 seizures in 2012, up from 114 in 2005. Only one in five was prosecuted as a criminal structuring case.

The practice has swept up dairy farmers in Maryland, an Army sergeant in Virginia saving for his children’s college education and Ms. Hinders, 67, who has borrowed money, strained her credit cards and taken out a second mortgage to keep her restaurant going.

Their money was seized under an increasingly controversial area of law known as civil asset forfeiture, which allows law enforcement agents to take property they suspect of being tied to crime even if no criminal charges are filed. Law enforcement agencies get to keep a share of whatever is forfeited.

Critics say this incentive has led to the creation of a law enforcement dragnet, with more than 100 multiagency task forces combing through bank reports, looking for accounts to seize. Under the Bank Secrecy Act, banks and other financial institutions must report cash deposits greater than $10,000. But since many criminals are aware of that requirement, banks also are supposed to report any suspicious transactions, including deposit patterns below $10,000. Last year, banks filed more than 700,000 suspicious activity reports. Owners who are caught up in structuring cases often cannot afford to fight. The median amount seized by the I.R.S. was $34,000, according to the Institute for Justice analysis, while legal costs can easily mount to $20,000 or more.

[...]

There are often legitimate business reasons for keeping deposits below $10,000, said Larry Salzman, a lawyer with the Institute for Justice who is representing Ms. Hinders and the Long Island family pro bono. For example, he said, a grocery store owner in Fraser, Mich., had an insurance policy that covered only up to $10,000 cash. When he neared the limit, he would make a deposit.

[...]

Banks are not permitted to advise customers that their deposit habits may be illegal or educate them about structuring unless they ask, in which case they are given a federal pamphlet, Ms. Van Steenwyk said. “We’re not allowed to tell them anything,” she said.

Still lawyers say it is not unusual for depositors to be advised by financial professionals, or even bank tellers, to keep their deposits below the reporting threshold.

[JAVGOD]

Its become quite the scam. Something like $2.3 BILLION USD last year. ALL the agencies combined. How else can buttfuck, Iowa PD go tactical?

[J.A.F.O]

[Samurai_Jerk]

Fucking depressing, isn't it.

[legion]

The UK isn't slacking when it comes to scumbags

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/o ... -customers

Payday loan brokers regularly raid bank accounts of poor customers

[matsuki]

Fucking depressing, isn't it.

It's 'merica...the cops pull this on some unbalanced fellow that has a gun stockpile and we'll have a police shootout like no other

I remember hearing about this shit as a kid and then it happened to a friend of mine. Pulled over, searched, and they took all the cash from his wallet and some other shit from his car...then told him to have a nice day....his older brother is a cop, went down to the local station, and got his shit back. (and gave him a few "business cards" to paperclip to his driver's license for the future)

[Samurai_Jerk]

Fucking depressing, isn't it.

It's 'merica...the cops pull this on some unbalanced fellow that has a gun stockpile and we'll have a police shootout like no other

I remember hearing about this shit as a kid and then it happened to a friend of mine. Pulled over, searched, and they took all the cash from his wallet and some other shit from his car...then told him to have a nice day....his older brother is a cop, went down to the local station, and got his shit back. (and gave him a few "business cards" to paperclip to his driver's license for the future)

Yeah, knowing a local pig in the US can get you out of all kinds of trouble. Also, stickers showing you've donated to the local fraternal order of police will buy you some leeway as well and the more you've donated the better off you'll be. Very third world.

[IparryU]

Yeah, knowing a local pig in the US can get you out of all kinds of trouble. Also, stickers showing you've donated to the local fraternal order of police will buy you some leeway as well and the more you've donated the better off you'll be. Very third world.

You can also go to the local police festivals in white neighborhoods and pick up bumper stickers, key chains and hats too. Just slap the bumper stickers on your bumper and put the hat in the back seat by the window. Does wonders even for Mexicans and blacks.

I even carried a USMC recruiter's business card... Got me out of a DUI.

[J.A.F.O]

I used to keep my USMC sticker and VFW sticker in the back window. Both really small and only visible if you were walking up to the drivers side from behind. Got me out of more jams than I can remember.

[Christoff]

This is happening everywhere... one by one Uncle Sam will get you... one by one...

So dont be a scum bag and pay your taxes. Sesame street aint free!

[IparryU]

This is happening everywhere... one by one Uncle Sam will get you... one by one...

So dont be a scum bag and pay your taxes. Sesame street aint free!

Exactly... sucks having to report every year, but that is the consequence of being an American.

[Coligny]

'Murika, fuck yeah...

Having lots of citizens want to leave is...embarrassing. One solution could be to review the policies leading to people to hand in their citizenship. Another would be to make the fee unaffordable, especially for people living on second- or third-world incomes. It's obvious, of course, which route the USA has chosen: It now costs $2350 to hand in your US passport; more than 20 times the international average.

http://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/12/03/0428221

[matsuki]

'Murika, fuck yeah...

Having lots of citizens want to leave is...embarrassing. One solution could be to review the policies leading to people to hand in their citizenship. Another would be to make the fee unaffordable, especially for people living on second- or third-world incomes. It's obvious, of course, which route the USA has chosen: It now costs $2350 to hand in your US passport; more than 20 times the international average.

http://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=14/12/03/0428221

Maybe dual US-JPN citizenship just became possible...as a refugee