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Have you come across anyone who has been fined under this law? I have not and know many people who are rubbish at filing on time or even in the same year. I've
by robk 11y ago
Have you come across anyone who has been fined under this law? I have not and know many people who are rubbish at filing on time or even in the same year. I've not seen any enforcement commensurate with $20k fines willy nilly. Not that I like the law, I've just not seen it enforced.
- mpweiher 11y agoNon-enforcement of draconian laws is the problem. Especially if actually following those laws is difficult to impossible. It means that your fate is not decided by the law, but by arbitrary decisions of random officials. It is the opposite of rule of law.
- Chathamization 11y agoThis is a pretty huge problem in the US, though it doesn't get talked about much. The people who do suffer the penalties often get smeared so that people think this isn't a problem and couldn't happen to them ("It's like having Al Capone go to jail for tax evasion.").
- dalke 11y agoFor FBAR? There's an amnesty program in place which was introduced during the summer of 2014, which is better than then fines possible under the voluntary disclosure program. See http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/06/18/irs-announces-better-offshore-amnesty-program/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2014/06/18/irs-announ... . That reduced the outrage some. Before then, http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-taxes-foreign-idUSTRE7B723920111208 http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-taxes-foreign-idUSTRE7... reports that after 26 months of work, and at one time with a likely penalty of $172,000, the final penalty was $25,000 total. Does that count as "come across"? Even without paying the fine, http://www.thelocal.se/20120306/39522 http://www.thelocal.se/20120306/39522 reports "while Pamela may no longer be facing a seven-figure penalty, she's already racked up a bill of $40,000 in accountants' and lawyers' fees." Most of the cases I've heard of (the Reuters piece includes more) are of people who paid penalties under the voluntary disclosure program or had to spend a lot on accountant fees to get things straightened out. And there's still the stress of worrying if a minor mistake out of ignorance when I send the information to my accountant might still end up with huge penalties in the future.
- TheOtherHobbes 11y agoHow does the US enforce this? What happens if someone with no plans to visit the US and no income from the US that could be garnished says "So - come and get it if you want it"?
- dalke 11y agoWell, obviously they can't. This is especially so for American citizens who are citizen by blood, have never set foot in the US, and have no family to visit. But notice how they've been working on new rules like FATCA that go after the citizen's bank, assuming the bank does any sort of business in the US? For all I know, in 10 years the IRS will force the bank to extract penalties directly from someone's account.
- gcb0 11y agothe founder of a big french game studio filled for ipo two years after giving up his green card (not even citizenship). the irs got the french gov to freeze all his assets claiming he was giving up citizenship to evade taxes.
- fapjacks 11y agoSeriously fuck the government.