The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on November 19, 2012, that the US and Denmark have reached an agreement for information sharing to improve tax compliance and implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). This development fits with the Treasury’s earlier announcement that it is negotiating similar agreements with more than 50 countries. The…
DetailsThese publications do not constitute legal advice. Further information regarding this notice. As of 2009, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimated that more than 7 million US citizens live outside of the US. However, according to the IRS’s 2006 data only 669,701, a fraction of the citizen living abroad, filed tax returns claiming exclusion for…
DetailsFlott & Co. recently contacted the Department of State, suggesting that Volume 7 (Consular Affairs) of the US Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (“FAM”) be revised. Specific guidance is needed for cases when former US citizens living abroad wish to establish that they relinquished their US citizenship at a date in the past and a Consular…
DetailsThese publications do not constitute legal advise. Further information regarding this notice. Confusion at two US Consulates in Canada during recent relinquishment cases initiated by Flott & Co. clients revealed the need to develop forms and documents for use in establishing the intentional loss of US citizenship in the past. The current form, Form DS-4079,…
DetailsVolume 7 of the U.S. Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) sets out the legal basis upon which Consular Officers are to deal with the loss of U.S. citizenship. In a nutshell 7 FAM 1211 states that US citizens cannot lose their citizenship involuntarily. Instead, a US citizen must establish that he or she committed an…
DetailsFlott & Co.’s recent experience in assisting two former US citizens seeking formal documentation of their prior loss of US citizenship underscores the need for expanded guidance on the relinquishment of US citizenship in the US Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (Volume 7 – Consular Affairs) (“FAM”). In cases that appear to have been…
DetailsFlott & Co. recently contacted the Department of State, suggesting that Volume 7 (Consular Affairs) of the US Department of State Foreign Affairs Manual (“FAM”) be revised. To avoid inconsistencies in the treatment of similar cases across the world by American consulates, more specific guidance and clearer procedural rules are needed for consular officers on the subject…
DetailsBy Ji Zhang, Esq., 2012/07/26 When foreign companies work through US subsidiaries to conduct business in the US, it can bring up complicated issues of who should be held responsible for the tax, and at what rate. For example, during years 2004-2007, DeCoro Limited (Parent), a Hong Kong limited liability company, manufactured furniture in China. DeCoro USA…
DetailsIntroduction Under Guo Shui Fa (1996)(87), Guo Shui Han (2008)(952) and the revised Business Tax Law, China imposes a 4.25% outbound shiptax—consisting of 1.25% enterprise tax and 3% business tax—on foreign companies’ gross income from transporting goods and passengers out of China. Chinese ship agents are the withholding agents responsible for remitting the shiptax to…
DetailsAs part of National Small Business Week, I would like to discuss the JOBS (“Jumpstart Our Business Startups”) Act enacted on April 5th, 2012. It contains the “CROWDFUND” Act, which allows a new method of investment for start-up companies called “crowdfunding.” The term has been used colloquially for some time, usually in a charitable context,…
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