Contact Suggestions

Parliament House
Parliament House

Please use the comments here to suggest MPs, Senators, and others who would might be particularly interested in this issue because:

  • Their position is relevant to our issues
  • They have a US connection

Eventually this part of the website will probably be replaced by a wiki so everyone can contribute to the content. Until then, comments will have to suffice.

22 thoughts on “Contact Suggestions”

  1. I note that Canadian Prof. Arthur Cockfield “He is a senior research fellow at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia ” according to his bio http://arthurcockfield.com/biography/

    Prof. Cockfield wrote these papers re FATCA, and appeared before the Canadian Parliament to present against the imposition of FATCA on Canadians;

    Cockfield, Arthur J., FATCA and the Erosion of Canadian Taxpayer Privacy (April 1, 2014). Report to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, April 2014. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2433198

    – with Prof. Allison Christians (McGill U, Que. Canada)
    Christians, Allison and Cockfield, Arthur J., Submission to Finance Department on Implementation of FATCA in Canada (March 10, 2014). Fulltext vailable at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2407264 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2407264

    Perhaps he might be of help, or something in his papers might also apply in principle to Australia – (ex. if your laws on privacy are similar)? I couldn’t find him in the Monash U directory, but he’s got an email at Queens U in Canada
    http://law.queensu.ca/faculty-research/faculty-directory/arthur-cockfield

    He also spoke to the media, critical of FATCA and US extraterritorial treatment of Canadians.
    http://law.queensu.ca/search/node/cockfield?page=1

  2. Parliament Office

    PO Box 6022
    House of Representatives
    Parliament House
    Canberra ACT 2600

    Telephone:
    (02) 6277 4140
    Fax:
    (02) 6277 8469

  3. Hello everyone,

    Glad to have found you..

    Can anyone provide recommendations for Australian based Legal AND accounting professionals that I can use to help me prepare for and go through the “relinquishing of my green card” (expired and invalid but …still have to do it)
    I am and Australian, married to an American citizen with have 2 American born children – all dual citizens. We have lived in Australia since 2002 and were clueless to the reporting requirements until a nasty IRS letter in 2009..
    Many dollars later and much heartbreak… we waded through the process of getting up to date- resulting in paying a fine and almost the complete destruction of my mental health and our marriage…
    I need to be free of this yearly reporting burden before it destroys me BUT I want Australian based advice. Can anyone recommend anybody??

    1. Hi Jane,
      Glad you found us. If you’re on Facebook, there’s a thread in our Facebook Group with some recommendations for US tax preparers. (The group is “closed” so you’ll have to request membership before you can read any posts). The tax treatment of green card holders by the US is unconscionable. They ought to do a better job of making sure people are aware of the tax pitfalls of becoming a US resident.

      ~Karen

  4. I suggest you contact Mark Latham Outsiders. He’s good at getting things out there in the public. He’s now also Rebel Media’s outlet in Australia.

  5. Hello,

    I was referred here by the Association of Americans Resident Overseas.

    My name is Jon-Erik. I’m an American citizen on a working holiday visa in Australia. Prior to leaving on October 2017 I was actively communicating my plans to holiday for the year with my financial adviser, though at the time I was anticipating returning to the US at the end of my working holiday visa.

    Now I am in a relationship with an Australian and we are actively pursuing a permanent residency visa for me to stay in the country. When I broke this news to my financial adviser so as to properly handle the account well ahead of any potential issues, I was suddenly being told that I would have to liquidate my retirement accounts early, which would cause me to lose a significant portion to the IRS and to unforeseen income taxes. I implored him that I wanted to keep that money invested as I do not currently need the cash, and would prefer not to lose a significant portion of my savings, but he continued to give me vague explanations as to his decision without any citations of laws or company policies. I have since reached out to a financial services firm in Australia specializing in the finances of Americans living in Australia, and according to them, it sounded like the firm was “trying to take my money.” I am panicking over the situation and feel powerless an ocean away, and have already paid lawyers a large sum to prepare my application for a permanent residency visa (though an application has not yet been submitted). These conversations between me and my financial adviser took place over the phone and I don’t know if he has recorded the conversations or not, but I have since stated in writing that I do not authorize any action to be taken on my accounts despite what I may or may not have already agreed to (though I don’t know if that carries any legal weight at this point). And if I did verbally agree to anything, I feel it was because I was misinformed or mislead due to my blind faith in his professional knowledge on the matter.

    I requested a statement in writing from my adviser with an explanation as to why they have come to the conclusion that they have so that I can give it to someone else (I don’t know who yet) to assess the validity of their reasoning. I have not received a response yet and at this point am unsure if I will. I am slated to have another phone conference with him around 20 Jul 2018, at which time I believe he intends to execute the liquidation. I am in a bit of a time crunch to save my retirement savings and don’t know what resources are at my disposal or what I should do. I’m not in the greatest financial position to be hiring more lawyers or advisers but I’m desperate for answers and options.

    Thank you for taking the time to read this, I hope to get a meaningful and useful response.

    Jon-Erik

    1. Hi Jon-Erik –
      How awful. The ability to move without affecting existing retirement accounts is essential if our governments want to promote labour mobility. This is a major hole in current international tax agreements.

      If you do end up moving your US retirement accounts, be aware that the ATO may treat a rollover as a taxable distribution (there are two incompatible sets of tax law to deal with here, don’t lose sight of either one).

  6. Hello, I am an “accidental” US citizen having left the US when 4 yoa. I am also an Australian citizen and have never worked in the US or intend to work there. I have no US based assets.

    I was made aware of my US tax filing requirements last year and note the compliance and control requirements alone (ie the time-cost and accounting fees etc) are steep – and a factor that has me considering renouncing my US citizenship.

    The US-Aust tax treaty as I understand it is onerous – however, I would think that it does not compel the Australian govt to enforce US law. Is this correct?

    1. Welcome Sean,
      No, Australia does not necessarily enforce US law and the IRS will have great difficulty collecting from Australian assets as long as you are not physically in the US. The ATO will not collect for the IRS – there is no mutual collection clause in the treaty and the US opted out of the collection side of the multilateral convention on tax information sharing and collection. The IRS could attempt to enforce a US judgement in the Australian courts, but the Revenue Rule would make it unlikely that an Australian court would cooperate.

  7. I just wrote to Treasurer Jim Chalmers via this link.

    https://treasury.gov.au/the-department/contact-us/ministerial-correspondence

    I have been working in the US on the E3 visa since Covid ruined my career as a pilot in Australia. Had I realised the draconian effect this would have on my SMSF/property assets, I would almost certainly never have come to America. Double taxation. Remarkably punitive treatment by the IRS. Was this laziness on Australia’s part or unbridled zealotry by the US? Perhaps both…

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