The whole situation stinks. I am just so grateful that I'll be able to switch to my employer's pension sscheme and hopefully also roll over my personal stakeholder pension into it as well so I'll no longer have to worry so much about being accused of trying to set up a foreign grantor trust with all the expensive onerous form filling required. It looks better to the irs if it's being done through my employer than privately.

I am new to this forum. It seems like many of you have complied with filing. Does the accounting alone not cost a great deal to go back 6 years? What about the U.S. ambassador recently telling us to SIT TIGHT. Does that not buy us some time to see what comes of all of this mess? I for one have too much money at risk to go handing myself over prematurely.
Any comments would be appreciated.

I refuse to file FBAR on account of my Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. In order to avoid prison, therefore, I've renounced my US citizenship. If they throw me in jail, then I will become a cause-celebre of the little guy who was criminalized by unjust laws, if they try to make an example of me.

Hi there, Northof49. I am in a very similar situation as you. In fact, I too have not been a US citizen since 1984 due to my specific relinquishing acts. I have not yet gone to the Embassy and filed any papers, but I would be curious to compare notes with you a bit. When you are able to send a private message, would you mind contacting me please? I am also still trying to find qualified legal support as well, so I'm hoping that maybe you have some ideas there as well.

Thanks.

This whole thing has me sick. I am an American and I applied for Canadian citizenship (which is suppose to happen in a few months) before I ever heard of this just a few weeks ago. Now I am afraid that this will delay me getting my citizenship. I talked to my accountant who tells me he just heard of it on a course he was on 4 weeks ago. I am seriously feeling betrayed by the USA. I have not been hiding and I feel they have the responsibility in making sure I am informed! I moved here because I married a Canadian who has never lived a day in his life in the USA. However, I heard on a radio show that the IRS will expect me to report our joint accounts as well? Our retirement is income derived from HIS earnings, not mine, but the financial adviser divided some of it up in both our names and all (Canadian) taxes have been paid outside of the TFSA's. This radio show interviewed a cross border accountant who stated that the US will expect us to pay as much as 25% of our retirement funds in penalties. We have been excited about having purchased a property in April in Florida for a retirement getaway in a few years. I suspect we had better unload that soon. What a mess!!! I guess this means I will lose the social security benefits I earned before I moved here 15 years ago too if I don't give away my husband's hard earned retirement funds.

I hope the previous, more optimistic posts are more in line than those interviews were. I tried to post a link to that radio show but I guess I am too new to this site to be able to post a link.

Ugh...

I would guess that it's more likely that the irs would accept six years of back filed returns if they can prove you owed no US tax. Ditto with the fbars with a letter of explanation where you explain quite honestly that you only recently became aware of your obligation to list your non US assets to the Dept of Treasury which also begs and respectfully requests a waiver of penalties.

Omater,

Welcome to the forum.

You, like many of us are just finding out about the US draconian legislation, so don't panic. This will NOT affect your process to becoming a Canadian Citizen and has nothing to do with it (unless you have a criminal record of some sort that you have not told the Canadian Govenment, or you lied on you residency test).

Don't believe everything you hear and read, just do the right thing, find a reputable Accountant, and move forward from there.

First, it will not delay your getting Canadian citizenship--if you want protection from the IRS, Canadian citizenship is the very good, and so just show up for your Citizenship test and your Citizenship Ceremony when they tell you to. Secondly, your accountant is pretty low on the learning curve right now if he just heard about it 4 weeks ago. That's means he hasn't have time to learn what he needs to know. Heard about it at a course? Wonderful. That makes him an expert? Some of the people on this forum know a lot more than he does: just read some of the threads.

Our retirement is income derived from HIS earnings, not mine, but the financial adviser divided some of it up in both our names and all (Canadian) taxes have been paid outside of the TFSA's. This radio show interviewed a cross border accountant who stated that the US will expect us to pay as much as 25% of our retirement funds in penalties.

Ok, I'm in a similar situation with my Canadian spouse being a bigger earner. I think you have grounds for taking a minimalist approach to FBAR in order to protect your Canadian spouse from FBAR. The Canadian government says that it will not collect FBAR penalties. So in my case, I'm not telling the IRS about any accounts, and they have no information if I don't give it to them. Once FATCA is implemented (if it is permitted in Canada which is doubtful under our PIPEDA), then you will have no place to hide. So you can now move your accounts to Credit Unions who don't need to be FATCA compliant. My Canadian lawyer told me to move my trading accounts into non-FATCA brokerages as well. So I moved from TD Waterhouse to a Canadian only brokerage. I waited until after I was a Canadian to do this, so that the move itself would not be a crime--as the US would interpret this as an obstruction of justice --Conrad Black is sitting in a federal jail now for being caught on video, get this: moving boxes out of his Toronto office! So the federal government in the US likes to put people in jail for doing non-crimes in another country. I remember reading somewhere that moving my accounts in order to avoid the IRS finding about them is a crime. Like I care.

Finally, the 25% that you are talking about applies to the Voluntary disclosure program of 2011. It's too late to join that, and you shouldn't have done so anyway. You can do a Quiet Disclosure, which is what a lot of people on this forum feel that they have to do. But beware that the IRS can use that information against you and that giving that information means that you are voluntarily waiving your 4th and 5th amendment rights. But the IRS says that a Quiet Disclosure--filling out the late FBARs for six years, all tax forms for three years, and a letter explaining why you have failed to do this--will get you into compliance. However, I personally do not trust this government not to give Quiet Disclosures penalties. They have been acting in bad faith--not according to me, but according to the Tax Advocate (also a branch of Federal Government). So the Tax Advocate has rebuked the IRS and they have done nothing substantially to change their approach to make it fairer. So this where we are. I don't trust the IRS--they are not giving any reasons for people to trust them. They don't get my account information. I am a Canadian now, and all my wealth is here.

Finally, if you have substantial assets in the US or a big inheritance that you are counting on, then some level of compliance is necessary to avoid seizure (filing income tax forms). The IRS can control people's assets in the US. Also, if you have to travel to the states, in the future you will probably have to do some filing to cross the border.

Thanks for all the replies, everybody... and my apologies to Mach 7 for hijacking this thread! This information has been both comforting (re: citizenship) and a little stressful.
I could not agree with you more. Unfortunately we moved to this town 2 years ago and he was the only CGA that I could find who was taking new clients. I guess this might explain it, but there is a shortage of many professions like this in the north. I think I will have to look for someone in the city, which is about 6 hours from here. It is difficult to know who I should call. If anybody has any recommendations in Alberta, I would like to hear them.
Our securities are with RBC Dominion, which are indeed busy in the US. Thank you for this information.
So there is the rub. I have to travel to the states in less than 3 weeks. I have family there, including a daughter and grandchildren. If not for them I would not care if my shadow ever landed on American soil again. My passport expires in 3 months and I was going to get it renewed while there, possibly having it expedited to a relative's address. I guess I need to find that knowledgeable accountant or attorney to help me get through this.

Again, thanks to all who commented. I have never attempted to "hide out" or defraud the US in any way. I would have thought they had the responsibility to contact us with notices that they were not receiving information they required, just like they do to Americans who live in the country. They are treating us differently, which stinks a little like discrimination.

Hi Omater, don't worry about hijacking anything. This is exactly what the expat forum is for--discussing issues that affect expats.

You should have no trouble going to the states for you are going on a US passport. The border guards may poke their nose in your tax business, but just politely answer that you are doing your best to keep up with requirements. What gets tricky is after relinquishing your citizenship, which is most easily done when you become a Canadian citizen, then you will need to have proof of your relinquishment when you travel on a Canadian passport. Furthermore, you won't be able to work or take up residence in the United States without a visa. You will have the same rights as any other Canadian. Finally, if you decide not to comply with FBAR requirements, as I myself have done and publicly stated it, then you risk being arrested at the border--however small that risk is--my point about compliance is that the need to go to the US implies a certain level of compliance in order to avoid hassles. But most of the lawyers I've chatted with at hodgen.com or federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.com, indicate that there should be little risk, and I've not heard of Canadian citizens being arrested at the border for tax crimes or FBAR violations--nor for that matter can anyone on this forum point to actual arrests of that nature.