Rick Mercer makes fun of FATCA

The Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act may not seem like a topic ripe for comedy, but satirist Rick Mercer shows us anything is possible on Rick Mercer Report.

FATCA’s unclear implications for Canadians were the subject of one of Mercer’s parody public service announcements. Mercer plays a family man trying to decipher, with his wife’s help, whether or not they’ll be subject to FATCA.

Read: Gov’t needs to be clear about FATCA

The scene opens on a cozy Canadian living room. Mercer is reading a newspaper.

“Here’s another story about a Canadian bank sharing their customers’ information with the United States because the person is allegedly American,” says Mercer.

“Well, that could cost them thousands of dollars. Are we vulnerable to that sort of thing?” replies his wife, looking up from her needlepoint.

“I don’t think so? We’re not American, are we?” he says.

Read: Who’s on the hook for FATCA?

They’re “pretty sure” they won’t be vulnerable to American taxes, but a recent trip south of the border gives them pause.

“We did go to the American side of the falls that time,” says his wife.

“Well they can’t paint us with that brush, we just hit the outlet mall,” he replies.

Adds his wife: “I’d better call the bank to be sure.”

Read: New deal to expose more U.S. tax evaders

Later in the sketch, Mercer’s son asks if his American hockey allegiance could put the family in jeopardy. “Can I still cheer for the Penguins?” asks his son.

Mercer whispers, “Quietly.”

A voice over comes on at the end “The Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act: Have you or anyone in your family ever been an American? It’s time to double-check.”