Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man
The Commerce Department will throw you in jail for not filling out this survey
Chances are that you’ve never heard of the International Investment and Trade in Services Survey Act that was originally passed nearly 40 years ago.
And chances are you didn’t catch the November 20, 2014 edition of the ‘Federal Register’, the US government’s daily opus of new rules and regulations that ran 331 pages that day.
So, chances are, you have no idea that the Department of Commerce might just want to throw you in jail right now. I’ll explain.
Back in 1976, Congress decided that they needed more information on US companies’ international trade activities.
So they passed a law requiring the Department of Commerce to survey the biggest businesses in America to find out more about what they were doing abroad.
These days, the survey is conducted every five years. And like most surveys it’s a bunch of useless bureaucratic drivel that only wastes the time of the poor souls who have to fill it out.
Now it’s something that can get you thrown in jail.
Late last year the Commerce Department quietly published a new ‘rule’ in the Federal Register requiring every American with certain investments abroad to fill out their survey, regardless of whether or not they were notified.
In other words, you’re just supposed to know that you have to fill out this form.
And if you don’t, the penalties are severe.
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