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Back in 1970, Congress enacted a law that became known as the Bank Secrecy Act, or BSA. But like the PATRIOT Act, the USA Freedom Act, and many other opaquely named laws Congress enacts, the BSA had nothing to do with encouraging bank secrecy.
Talk about a comeuppance. Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert, who helped force through Congress stricter laws against anonymous cash transactions, now faces financial ruin – and an extended jail sentence – thanks to the very same laws.
I got a good laugh earlier this month when a federal appeals court ruled that the National Security Agency (NSA) could no longer collect the phone records of all US persons – and then store them in a massive database.
Cash has never been a popular asset with the totalitarian set. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to trace. Cash makes it possible to do business “off the books.”
With an annual budget now approaching $4 trillion, it’s not surprising that the US government has quite a few departments that most of us know nothing about.
One of the most important services that I think I provide our consulting clients is to say “no†to some of their harebrained ideas. Over the last year or so, the scheme that I’ve said “no†to more than anything else involves Puerto Rico.
US citizens who expatriate – those who give up their citizenship and passport – don’t get a lot of respect.Take Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, for instance. When the Brazilian-born Saverin gave up US citizenship in 2011, it led to a political witch-hunt.
It’s bad enough to have the IRS or another government agency after you. But when Uncle Sam – or even a state or local government – hires a collection agency to chase after you, things can go downhill fast.
One of the assumptions of the eurozone – those 19 countries in Europe that use the euro as their national currencies – is that if any country left the zone, economic disaster would follow in its wake.
I’ve written frequently about FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. This one-sided law forces other countries to enforce US tax laws. If they fail to do so, they’re effectively locked out of US markets and the US dollar – the world’s reserve currency (at least for now).
One of the departing initiatives taken by retiring US Attorney General Eric Holder was to impose limits on a legal process called “adoption.” This is not the kind of adoption in which you add a child to your family.
FATCA, otherwise known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, is one of the most arrogant and one-sided laws ever passed by Congress. I first wrote about it in this essay.
Every so often, I read an article predicting that the US and other major countries are about to force nations that offer “citizenship by investment programs” (CIPs) to shut them down.
One of the recurring questions I get from our US readers and clients is, “Since the IRS has to know everything you do ‘offshore’ anyway, why should you even bother?”
In case you missed the announcement, Cyprus-style bail-ins are coming to a bank near you. On November 16, leaders of the G20 Group of Nations – the 20 largest economies – made an important decision.
The intrepid bureaucrats at the Internal Revenue Service have done a superb job of making us fear them. We dutifully file our 1040s, FBARs, and all manner of other forms...
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, just became the unlikely spokesperson for the 8 million or so US citizens living abroad. Boris is an “accidental” US citizen. Although his parents were British, he was born in the US.
Expats and foreign investors are among the easiest marks for fraud – one of the dangers of international investing that promoters don’t like to talk about. Fraudulent real estate deals are rife.
My recent essay debunking a Puerto Rican tax incentive sparked a heated reaction from one of its most ardent backers.
Indulge yourself for a moment and imagine you're back in 1986. You’re listening to “Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer on the radio and on your way to the movie theater to watch Aliens, starring Sigourney Weaver.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve had close to 30 consultations with Nestmann Group clients. And one of their top concerns is that Barack Obama or some future US president will find a way to confiscate the money in their IRAs or 401(k) plans.
Unlike many other advisory services, we take a historical perspective when it comes to supposedly fresh and new ideas. And it’s for that reason that I’ve been skeptical of the tax incentives for individuals that Puerto Rico enacted in 2012 ...
In my nearly 30 years of helping Americans “internationalize” themselves, there are four giant obstacles I have watched my clients overcome before finally taking action: Inertia, fear, complacence, and hopelessness.
Recently, The Economist reported that Chase Bank closed the accounts of hundreds of porn stars. Among them was blond bombshell Teagan Presley, star of Just Over 18 #10 and more than 70 other porn videos.
What’s the most hazardous financial activity that you can engage in? It’s not investing in penny stocks. It’s not buying foreign currencies. It’s not even playing futures and options, as risky as they may be.
In my consulting practice, I’m often asked about my own “Plan B” – what I plan to do when the s**t hits the fan (SHTF) in the good ol’ US of A. And of course, why I chose that plan.
In the last 50 years, an amazing transformation has taken place. The result? A country rife with contradictions… and opportunity.
I recently spent a week in Hong Kong, the Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, just off the Mainland’s southeastern coast.
This week, I’m writing to you from the departure lounge of the Vienna International Airport. I lived in Austria from 2003-2005. I returned not only to renew old friendships, but to see firsthand the latest developments in this small country, which only a century ago dominated much of Europe.
I’m in Panama City, Panama, conducting some boots-on-the-ground research and due diligence on this remarkable country’s legal and financial infrastructure.