Costa Rica, 46 countries commit to automatic exchange of tax, financial info

My comments earlier this morning discussing this on Facebook were:

“Big Brother now firmly entrenched in Costa Rica as country agrees to automatically share banking and tax information. “….we are determined to tackle cross-border tax fraud and tax evasion and to promote international tax compliance through mutual administrative assistance in tax matters and a level playing field…”

See the [url=http://www.oecd.org/mcm/MCM-2014-Declaration-Tax.pdf]May 6th 2014 OECD document here.[/url]

A little country like Costa Rica – which needs to be able to trabsfer US dollars through the international system – really has no power to stand up against the U.S. financial authorities if it wants to be able to continue to move dollars…

[quote=”davidd”]the only way to do this is to go the extra mile and set up in places like Hong Kong..

and just draw a salary

[quote=”Scott”]My comments earlier this morning discussing this on Facebook were:

“Big Brother now firmly entrenched in Costa Rica as country agrees to automatically share banking and tax information. “….we are determined to tackle cross-border tax fraud and tax evasion and to promote international tax compliance through mutual administrative assistance in tax matters and a level playing field…”

See the [url=http://www.oecd.org/mcm/MCM-2014-Declaration-Tax.pdf]May 6th 2014 OECD document here.[/url]

A little country like Costa Rica – which needs to be able to trabsfer US dollars through the international system – really has no power to stand up against the U.S. financial authorities if it wants to be able to continue to move dollars…
[/quote][/quote]

Well my friend…Hong Kong is out now, they complied…..https://www.kpmg.com/cn/en/services/tax/us-corporate-tax/foreign-account-tax-compliance-act/pages/default.aspx

I also read that Switzerland also caved, the only places are the likes of Iran, Russia and some other not so nice countries. I wonder if Fiji jumped on as well?

Onto some good news though, Costa Rica was named #9 out of 10 best places to survive during WWIII, which may be just around the corner, war is good for boosting economies (so I’ve heard). Ok sarcasm off now….

[quote=”sweikert925″]If I incur a debt to you for $100.00 and I refuse to pay that debt, I have stolen $100.00 from you. That would be no different than if I took $100.00 out of your wallet while you weren’t looking. Some people seem to have a hard time grasping that concept.

And if someone found a way to cheat out of paying his legally due taxes, that is no different than someone who cheats to gain some government benefit – say Social Security Disability. Those 2 people are both cheats and thieves. Some people seem to have a hard time grasping that concept too.

So this news that governments are finally cracking down on thieves and cheats should be welcome news to honest taxpayers. I certainly feel that way. I only hope some of the worst offenders are sent to prison as well as being forced to surrender their ill-gotten gains.

I find it puzzling that some of you are on the side of the cheats and thieves. Unless…..[/quote]

Big difference between being a “cheat” and being treated like a cow ripe for the milking. Governments all over the world are now resorting to whatever means necessary to take from the productive people to pay for the promises they made to folks to buy their votes.

Think about Social Securty TAX for a moment. Not a DIME of money was the government’s. I pay 6.2% and my employer pays 6.2%… and for all the years there was a surplus Uncle Sam SPENT EVERY LAST DIME of it on who knows what and left the participants with “Special Bonds” that have no market or exchange value. And when the plan comes crashing down… what then… more “taxes” to fix the last scam? Take the time to read the 2013 SS annual report. It’s a real eye opener! Can’t wait until 2016 when the SSDI fund is depleted. What “New” taxes will come into play then to fix that plan. It’s truly the biggest PONZI SCHEME EVER!!!

I’m guessing you have an Apple product or two in your life… are they tax cheats? Seems they have it all figured out as to how to “minimize” their US tax responsible. Are you then supporting a tax cheat by buying an Apple product?

Taking action to avoid taxes isn’t illegal. Structuring your life to minimize your tax exposure is no different then what every business does out there… and completely legal.

Governments aren’t taking action with these new regulations to crack down on tax cheats…. there are numerous existing laws to do that, that have been used quite successfully to catch some of the largest, wealthiest, and best represented cheats in recent years. They are putting these new requirements in place to make it more difficult for the rest of us to get out of the system! Very soon the ability to use and transfer retirement funds (a big target governments are eyeing) for any purpose that might make it less accessible to Uncle Sam’s grasp will be restricted or revoked.

Step by step your freedoms and rights are being taken away! Wake up!

By the way Steve…. are you looking to bail out of Chi-Town before the bill comes due? Seems between the city and Illinois there is a BIG bill coming due for the taxpayers of Chicago and the state of Illinois very soon! Should you escape before it hits are you a cheat for having enjoyed all the benefits of living there for all these years and bailing out when the bill ultimately comes due and the taxpayers are forced to pony up all that money owed on debts the politicians have been pushing off for all these years to keep buying your votes?

It’s funny… but if WE THE PEOPLE were permitted to deduct all the expenses we incur in generating taxable income (like a business does) as well as take the depreciation on our possessions (once again used to generate taxable income) I’m figuring I’d have a similar tax liability (percentage wise) to most of the major household name companies operating in the US…. or better yet a taxable loss! LOL

[quote=”Imxploring”]It’s funny… but if WE THE PEOPLE were permitted to deduct all the expenses we incur in generating taxable income (like a business does) as well as take the depreciation on our possessions (once again used to generate taxable income) I’m figuring I’d have a similar tax liability (percentage wise) to most of the major household name companies operating in the US…. or better yet a taxable loss! LOL[/quote]

Well said Imxploring……there are 2 main issues with taxes, one is legal and one is not. Tax avoidance is the art of utilizing the rules and regulations produced by the IRS, tax evasion is not legal. What they , the IRS, are doing is changing the rules to take away the provisions the IRS had to freely move your money to and from accounts worldwide. All while they spend $90 million for salmon research as folks struggle to pay their taxes.

Technically, taxes period are illegal, something about taxation without representation.

[quote=”sweikert925″][quote=”pixframe”]Those legal means are the ones that are gradually being eliminated. [/quote]

On the contrary, there are more types of tax deductions now than ever. Congress LOVES to add new ones all the time because they’re so popular. See [url=http://www.jamesdance.com/deductions.htm] here[/url]. Those are just a few, the total number is even higher than what that list contains.

[quote=”pixframe”]For example: for many (the non-critical thinking population) the USA government has convinced them it’s better to delay collecting their social security.[/quote]

I’ve never heard anyone in the federal government recommend that. There are some private investment advisers who say that but only depending on someone’s personal circumstances. Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t. The federal government takes no poisition on when someone should file for benefits. I tried to explain my thinking on that ibn a private message I sent you a while back, which I will repeat here:

[i]There is no doubt that delaying SS benefits may not be in your best interests in some circumstances, but it is not as straightforward as you seem to think. There are 2 other significant factors – when you die and how high inflation will be in the coming years.

If I die at age 66 then yes, taking SS at 62 would definitely be in my interest. But if I live to 100 then it’s a very different matter.

Let’s assume inflation remains low – averaging 3%. After 37 years my age 62 monthly benefit of $1644 would be $5054/month. If I delay til age 70 my $3006 starting benefit would amount to $7296/month.

Now if I knew for certain when I am going to die and precisely what the inflation rate will be between now and then I could know exactly when to start taking Social Security – but nether of those pieces of information is available so I will have to make a wild guess. I’m guessing that inflation will increase quite a bit in the next 20 years so delaying SS as long as possible makes sense. I’m not sure when I will take it, but will continually crunch the numbers and see what they say.[/i][/quote]

Tax breaks? For who? Seems mine (along with all the other “methods” that government have been “taxing” us with) have done nothing but go up!

As far as the SS issue Steve… I recommend you wait as long as possible to collect yours. There’s a pot of gold at the end of that rainbow my friend… go for it… roll the dice! What could go wrong! You die… the plan goes broke… benefits are cut… what are the chances! LOL 🙂

I, in the meanwhile, will be taking mine ASAP…. even if I don’t need it I’d rather get MY money back and live on it rather than spend my personal assets down which can be passed on after death. Whereas that increased SS check you’re counting on (if you live to collect it) can not! You on the other hand might not have (or care) about passing anything on to your loved ones.

Once you get your head wrapped around the fact that SS is a Ponzi scheme you might be more receptive to getting your “investment” back sooner rather then NEVER.