FATCA changing game for Chinese expats

Greetings from Canada!

I have only recently found/joined Expatblog and am discovering a whole world of interesting issues.  The main issue which brought me to Expatblog was my wish to:

(1) find out information on what other US expats around the world were having to deal with in relation to FATCA, and
(2) to inform other US expats around the world that in Canada there now is an active group which has mounted an in-the-courts federal law suit against FATCA and the IGA.

I have just posted the following on another country's forum that focuses on US Taxes/ FATCA.  Thought you folks in Belgium, might be interested to know of our work, too:

The Canadian Charter Challenge is, as far as we know, the ONLY such ongoing litigation against FATCA in THE WORLD.  Republicans Overseas have linked with a lawyer (Jim Bopp) to bring forward a Constitutional Challenge case inside the USA (since FATCA contravenes several US Citizen "inalienanable rights" from the Bill of Rights), and there have been news articles about their position, but this effort seems to be stalled awaiting more funding support before proceeding.

The Canadian lawsuit, being supported by the Alliance For The Defence of Canadian Sovereignty (adcs dash adsc dot ca) came about as an offshoot from an earlier (and still very VERY viable) grass roots blog site called the Isaacbrocksociety, The IBS has as it's motto "Liberty and Justice for All United States Persons Abroad".  It's blog site has been vigorously going for now 3 years (since the word of FATCA and more heavy-handed filing rules started to appear).  You can read about this IBS history, and about some of our accomplishments (e.g. presentations to the US Congress, to the Canadian Parliament, a UN Human Rights Complaint against CBT) by typing into Googlesearch        Synopsis; History of Isaac Brock Society.  Here you will see links to ADCS, an Archive of our daily posts and +++ other background information.

The main topic at IBS has been FATCA, but also ranting about CBT (citizen-based-taxes), the situation of Accidental Americans (born in the US but to non-US parents then brought back to their home country as an infant/young child yet the US still claims them as "taxable citizens"), answering questions from posters all over the world who are just facing their "OMG, I might have US TAX obligations" moment, plus ongoing sharing of links to print and internet news articles RE FATCA, FBAR, the increase in US renunciations, and many many other related topics.  Many of our "members" make amazingly articulate comments to these articles, raising important questions and perspectives from an Expat's point of view for folks in the "homeland" to consider/reconsider).

When the Canadian IGA was passed in late June 2014 (hidden in a 300-pg omnibus "Budget Bill", similar to how FATCA was passed hidden in the HIRE Act), IBS members were immediately ready to move into legal action.  Central members of IBS had already connected with a renowned Canadian Constitutional Lawyer and had established ADCS as a registered business entity for raising funds towards this legal action.  Since July, we have gathered 1/2 of the required $500,000.00 (Cdn$) to bring this case to the first federal court hearing; as of today, we need $42,760 more in January to make the February 1, 2015  installment of $200,000 (and $200,000 further will be needed at the beginning of May and the beginning of August).  ADCS has received donations from supporters living in many countries, not just from within Canada; we have even had donations from folks INSIDE the US who think FATCA is outrageous.

While James noted that this lawsuit is against "the Attorney-General of Canada", it is actually against the Government of Canada (now tightly led by the Conservative Party that preferred to eliminate problems for the banking industry rather than support it's citizens).  You can read the claim at the ADCS site but, basically, it is that   signing on to FATCA via the IGA contravenes various basic tenants of Canadian law as documented in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms (and numerous laws that have branched from this basic legal platform).  In short, we are arguing that foreign law (in this case US law) should not supersede sovereign Canadian law, one of which is that there shall be no discrimination in Canada based on nationality or parentage.

This post is already quite long, so I don't want to add much more except to encourage you to

(1) please check out these Canadian sites (and add your voice - - we have quite a number of posters from other countries and really want to know of your experience too) and

(2) please share this information about our legal challenge against FATCA (as noted above, the ONLY active one in the WORLD) with as many US expats as you know there (or in other countries) and

(3) please consider making a small (or not so small) supportive contribution to this historic effort.  If we cannot raise sufficient funds to go forth, all US expats will lose this opportunity and it is extremely unlikely that any such challenge against this imperialistic economic and legal invasion will ever again be attempted.  Our hope is that if we are successful, this may encourage other countries to review, reconsider, and stand up to these world-wide US's demands.

May 2015 be an amazing year for us all,
LLGM