Scam? Big Brother? or USA takes over the World?

EdSwippet

Cook_County wrote: »

Financial institutions are required to identify US persons; carrying a US passport is by no means the only test; a US place of birth would be an unambiguous indication of a US person.

You can be a US person without having any FATCA 'indicia'; for example, born outside the US to a qualifying US citizen parent. It is largely impossible to prove a negative, that one is not a US citizen, which is what financial institutions have to try and prove if 'indicia' are found or suspected.

A dual US/UK citizen born in the UK has no 'indicia', but should their bank ask they can produce their UK passport and keep entirely quiet about their parentage. Similar answer for naturalized US citizens, who normally have a non-US passport showing a non-US birthplace.

EdSwippet

Cook_County wrote: »

The law is not foreign law, it is UK law enacted by the UK Parliament in the 2013 Finance Act.

True, but only in the splitting hairs sense. Make no mistake, this UK law was drafted by the US.

The 2013 Finance Act imported US tax law into the UK, and did it word for word in places. Had it not, the US would have imposed a 30% tax withholding on every payment from every US bank to every UK one. The US accomplished FATCA through financial gunboat diplomacy.

Kass_Evans

I have just read about your mother receiving these forms from Saga. The same has happened to my brother.Can you tell me what the outcome was when your mother visited the Halifax Branch???

Dobbibill

https://www.sagasharedirect.co.uk/faq-item/what-information-does-saga-share-direct-report-under-fatca-legislation

https://sagasharedirect.co.uk/faq/category/fatca

A couple of links I found that may help you.

HsuH

We've just had a similar letter purporting to be from AA Services through whom we have a Birmingham Midshires account. The return envelope was addressed to Lloyds Group at a PO Box in Leeds. I have never lived or invested in the U.S. so there was no way I was going to fill in a U.S. Government form. We rang the telephone number in the letter which was the same one on the AA website. The adviser we spoke to said there was a known fraud going on and because the letter didn't have a yellow AA logo then it was most likely a fraud.
Very strange fraudster who would put a genuine phone number in the letter?

JoanH

My 99 year old mother who has lived in a nursing home for the past 5 years has recently received one of these letters from Birmingham Midshires asking her to complete a complex form plus photo copy of passport. These were to be sent to a Lloyds branch in Leeds. It stated in the letter that non return would lead to an assumption of US citizen ship/ resident and contact would be made with the US internal revenue services. Just the sort of correspondence a 99 year old wants to receive. I phoned BM and tried to find out from them why, but as I was not the account holder they could say no more except that she must have stated she had links to the USA when she opened an account with them. I replied that she is UK born and bred and had no links whatsoever with the USA. Mother then corresponded with Birmigham Midshires stating that she did not satisfy any of the criteria that the letter from them states activates a link to the USA and could not understand why she had received the letter from them.
Their fast reply apologised for the letter but stated that her address a NURSING HOME either currently or previously has a link to the USA. Because of this she must complete the form. How mad is this. A current or previous resident could have a USA link.

CKhalvashi

It's probably a legitimate letter.

OH had to fill one out after I transferred some money to the US (although interestingly, they asked for no info from me) last year.

I fail to see how a dual Armenian/British national, working on a UK contract for a British company is in any way connected to the US, but the bank obviously felt differently.

patanne

Maybe they have an American programming their computer who thinks we are the 51st state! Apologies - just couldn't resist.