31–40 of 110 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The airline is unlikely to let you board, so there's that.
But that's between you and this private company :) Plus, I think at least part of the reason why airlines would be reluctant to board you is exactly that - knowing that the destination country wouldn't be happy with them dropping you at their doorstep with no passport in hand. What would they care otherwise?
When FATCA was passed, it flipped a switch that automatically made tens of thousands of people around the world who have never set foot in the US into criminals by default since they'd never filed US taxes (the US has the only global taxation system in the world).
It sounds like those people who haven't spent the ridiculous sums of money on accounts/lawyers/etc needed to become compliant during the grace period will likely now have the threat of their passport being revoked held over their head.
I'm sure we'll see the already record-high numbers of people renouncing their US citizenship accelerate. BTW, the US also has the highest fee to renounce citizenship in the entire world, it costs $2,350 to not be a US citizen.
The absurdity of it all would be funny if it weren't so cruel.
I've had 2 instances where the IRS erroneously concluded that I owe them large tax bills. It took a few months of back and forth paperwork and phone calls to resolve, and have the IRS note on paper that I owe them nothing. With this law, an erroneous IRS decision can limit passport issuance and international travel. Three letter agencies are probably salivating at the prospect of 'errors' in possible suspects. This j…
I've had a couple run ins with the IRS as well where they thought I retired (nope) or did something I didn't do. It was pretty easy to resolve by paper for me, couple letters back and forth, but yeah it takes a while. Fortunately the IRS was good about it all. I wonder though if they're still investigating (sending me letters and I am responding) if it counts as owing them as far as this law goes? From what I remembe…
Ignore them? They drop the hammer pretty quickly.
Another (non-paywalled) article [0] on this says they're only denying/not renewing passports for people with at least $51,000 in tax debt. As such, this isn't exactly "picking on the little guy", and should probably be considered in that light. If you have an outstanding tax bill on the order of 1.5x (or more ) than the median per capita income — if you owe more in taxes than most people make — that's kinda on you, a…
This is yet another reason Americans would benefit from international human rights.
For everyone freaking out about this consider that half the country doesn’t owe the irs any money because they make too little. So poor people are by definition unaffected. In addition, not paying taxes is literally illegal so not sure why you should be able to blow money on vacations to europe when you are breaking the law and owe the people of the united states money.
45% of tax filers owe no income tax. That's not the same as owing nothing. Independent contractors don't have FICA deducted from their paychecks, and with the rise of gig jobs, there are quite a lot of "poor" people who owe 15% of their income at the end of the year.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
America is one of I believe only 2 countries that demand tax on income from its citizens who live and earn abroad (and who have almost certainly already paid tax on that income to the country in which they are living). My understanding is that they won't always even accept a renunciation of citizenship if they believe you're doing it to avoid paying them taxes. It's no surprise to me that there are significant number…
You're aware that foreign tax can be taken as a credit or deduction, yes? Further not only are you incorrect about the whole "won't accept" thing, they have a whole process for exactly how you do it. Importantly, that process only applies to well-off expats (multiple years at $150k+ or >$2m in net worth) and anyone else who wants out can get out quickly and cheaply. This whole flap isn't about"can't pay", it's about…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The airline is unlikely to let you board, so there's that.
But that's between you and this private company :) Plus, I think at least part of the reason why airlines would be reluctant to board you is exactly that - knowing that the destination country wouldn't be happy with them dropping you at their doorstep with no passport in hand. What would they care otherwise?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not a huge chance of that occurring though. Not that many people do that and have the appropriate tax issue for 51k or more...
Of the two or three dozen Americans I have met working overseas for an extended period over the last 25-or-so years, I don't think I know of one that hasn't had it happen at least once... Most end up hiring KPMG (or some such firm -- which is not cheap) to end up doing the filings and follow-up, just so it never (ever) falls through the cracks again... EDIT: There are about 5M Americans working overseas. At an error…
I noted in another comment that I've had my run ins with the IRS before. Provided you respond to them in a timely fashion (they give a lot of time) they consider it is in one phase.
If you don't respond, then it is another phase.
I'm wondering if we're talking about situations where the situation is in a particular phase. Not just the IRS asking, but if you already chose not to respond....
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The airline is unlikely to let you board, so there's that.
But that's between you and this private company :) Plus, I think at least part of the reason why airlines would be reluctant to board you is exactly that - knowing that the destination country wouldn't be happy with them dropping you at their doorstep with no passport in hand. What would they care otherwise?
My wife used to work as an air stewardess, and one of her longer flights was a 16 hour non-stop flight from Dubai to Brazil. This involved a 3 day layover, and on the inbound flight she saw some (rather tired) passengers who had been on the outbound flight.
Apparently they were denied entry, however it was too late for them to go back on the same aircraft, so they had to wait in the airport (airside) for the next flight.