Normally, I wouldn’t bring up the topic of politics here, but since it was so bad, I wanted to know your opinion on this. I first saw this information as an advertisement while I was on dictionary.com (I was at a computer located at a tutoring room at the time.)
Apparently, Title V of this bill is supposed to go into effect on July 1, 2014, which will result in the collapse of the U.S. Dollar, which I’ve been told will make millions of Americans poorer overnight. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that most Americans don’t know this bill.
Read the rest of the Snopes article - it’s just a sensationalist scarefest put out by a sketchy investment advisory firm. The SEC brought forth a successful case against these scammers for similar tactics in 2003.
H.R. 2847 was passed to close a loophole allowing citizens to avoid paying taxes by hiding their assets in undisclosed tax havens overseas. The only criticism of the bill is remote speculation at best. There had been some worry coming from a select number of individuals that foreign investors in US assets would turn away from the cost of implementing the new, more stringent reporting requirements and simply invest elsewhere. However, considering that this bill was passed 4 years ago, any damage that could’ve been caused has already been done. Aside from a few European banks closing brokerage accounts for US customers, I don’t see any.
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Starting July 1, 2014, FATCA will require foreign financial institutions 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.
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The full implementation of FATCA may, as some critics have maintained, ultimately prove more harmful to U.S. business interests and U.S. citizens living and working abroad than its benefits will merit. But no credible source that isn't an investment firm trying to scare potential customers into forking over money for a newsletter subscription is seriously maintaining that a law passed four years ago will, within the next few months, collapse the entire U.S. economic system, destroy the American way of life, and lead to the imposition of martial law.
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