Shadow Raider brought this to our attention in a comment he made on the Ways and Means Committee Highlighting International Apsects of Tax Reform thread today.
Shadow Raider writes:
“The tax reform working groups of the Ways and Means Committee are discussing tax reform at full speed now, with hearings almost every day (nothing on international aspects yet, other than a hearing about trade with India). The committee announced that it is accepting formal comments from the public until April 15, and that those comments will be included in the final report by the Joint Committee on Taxation on May 6. The committee is even posting the comments on its website as they are sent (the only comment sent to the international group so far is about corporations). If many of us send comments about citizenship-based taxation, FATCA, FBAR etc., the subject should catch their attention.
Instructions:
Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit comments can email tax.reform@mail.house.gov.
In the subject line of the email, please indicate “Comments: (name of) Tax Reform Working Group” (in our case, International Tax Reform Working Group).
Attach your submission as a Word document.
In addition to the Word document attachment, please include in the body of the email a contact name, physical address, phone number and email address.“
Thanks to Mark Twain for pointing out this should be prominently featured as a new thread of its own.
Pingback: The Isaac Brock Society
http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2013/03/16/corporations-record-huge-returns-from-tax-lobbying-gridlock-congress-stalls-reform/omgZvDPa37DNlSqi0G95YK/story.html
‘Tax lobbyists help businesses reap windfalls
While Congress fights over ways to cut spending and the deficit, generous breaks for corporations pass with little notice’
By Christopher Rowland
| Globe Staff
….”By investing just $1.8 million over two years in payments for Washington lobbyists, Whirlpool secured the renewal of lucrative energy tax credits for making high-efficiency appliances that it estimates will be worth a combined $120 million for 2012 and 2013. Such breaks have helped the company keep its total tax expenses below zero in recent years.
The return on that lobbying investment: about 6,700 percent.”……
March 17, 2013
It looks like the ACA has motivated more people to write to the Ways and Means Committee. Thanks to Buzatu, Lawall, McCreighton and Perkins for your excellent submissions — if you happen to drop by here. Also Anne Hornung-Soukup of the ACA made a personal submission.
Tuesday (March 26th) was a good day for submissions to the Ways and Means Committee. ACA inspired contributors included: Cox, Drasnin, Hernandez, Herr, Knapp, Leullier, Shapiro, Williams and Wright (hope I didn’t miss anyone). Thanks to all of you for daring to put your name out there and making your position known regarding citizenship-based taxation and FATCA.
Here’s an excerpt that caught my eye and I thought I wonder if this person knows about the 25 and over accounts check box on the FBAR. It’s just another example of trying to fit the square pegs of one system into the round holes of another.
“The FBAR and form 8938 have failed to take into account certain peculiarities of European
banking system. For example, if I have an account in a bank, EACH AND EVERY DEPOSIT I
MAKE HAS A SEPARATE ACCOUNT NUMBER. So if you make 10 different deposits in one
year (as you receive income from your work, for example), you have 10 different accounts to
declare on the FBAR (each perhaps of only $1000 or less dollars). It would make much more
sense to ask each person – if the unfair FBAR is still required of an American citizen with
permanent residence in another country – to declare the amounts they have in each bank or
financial site without having to declare each and every deposit at that bank (for example: 10
deposits and savings accounts for the total amount of $10000 at bankia). You would still have
the same control of the amounts because this would be linked to a certain bank and client.”
Wow, sorry about that formatting … wish I could fix it. I should have copy and pasted to a WP doc, checked it and then put it in my comment.
“The FBAR and form 8938 have failed to take into account certain peculiarities of European
banking system. For example, if I have an account in a bank, EACH AND EVERY DEPOSIT I
MAKE HAS A SEPARATE ACCOUNT NUMBER. “
I don’t know which European country the author of this quote is referring to, but that is certainly not common practice everywhere in Europe.
I have Heard of it being true from a person in Sweden regarding Mutual funds.
@ notamused
The author of that quote (Shapiro) is from Spain. (Thanks to someone for cleaning up the formatting for me.)
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/taxreform/workinggroups.htm
Today (March 27th) there are 2 new submissions (not of the ACA type) — Kent and Renzema. Surely these pleas from Americans living overseas cannot be ignored as their numbers grow. ACA certainly motivated people to write in and I applaud them for that.
This is interesting … overseas USCs are roughly 2% of the total number of USCs and so far they have submitted over 20% of the total submissions to the Ways and Means Committee on Tax Reform. 🙂
@Em,
Good observation — the overseas USC’s are more awake and paying more attention to what is going on regarding erosion of what should be those democratic and precious rights of US people.
We do need every one of us awake and paying attention to what is happening.
April Fools Day was no joke for the Ways and Means Committee. There were 9 overseas submissions (Albright, Bettschen, Chellas, Fletcher, Greenwood, Tillman, Vora, Ward, Wicki). I’m pleased to see people are still contributing to the tax education of Ways and Means.
One was very brief but to the point. Tillman wrote only one sentence:
“I fully support the Residence-based taxation (RBT) proposal submitted by American Citizens Abroad (ACA).”
Others were much longer and one submission drove home the sheer waste of time, energy and money involved. Fletcher wrote, in part:
“I am personally affected by this. Having to cope with the two most complex tax systems in the world (the US and the UK) is both personally costly and deeply stressful. I spend thousands of each year on professional tax advice to ensure that I navigate the tax codes correctly, as the consquences of even inadvertent error could be ruinous. This is not because my financial affairs or investments are complex: they are not. I draw a modest college teaching salary, supplemented by straightforward , dividents and capital gains; but the equivalent of my wife’s entire annual (part-time) salary is consumed by tax advice and preparation fees. Effectively, she has to work just so that we can file US tax returns for me and my children. Although I already spend many hours on filing as an overseas American (including the duplicative and intrusive FATCA and FBAR), I could not cope without profeessional advice, due to the knowledge required to deal with the system of US taxation imposed on top of the system of the country in which I am resident.”
The US Chamber of Commerce, by far the largest lobbying organization in the US, has just released a statement on tax reform to the working groups. On pages 11-12, it calls for an end to taxation based on citizenship.
@Shadow Raider:
Thank you for posting the statement from the US Chamber of Commerce. Like Roger Conklin, the Chamber clearly understands the importance of Americans abroad for promoting US exports.
From their Statement:
“As with corporations, the United States has long taxed the foreign-earned income of its citizens residing abroad, resulting in double taxation and disincentivizing the hiring of U.S. citizens.
Studies have shown that U.S. expatriates employed as managers in foreign affiliates of American worldwide companies are a powerful driver of U.S. exports, so this practice significantly undermines the global competitiveness of U.S. exporters.
No other country taxes its citizens working abroad, and the any transition to a territorial tax system should take this into consideration and end this damaging practice.”
April 3rd submission from Peter Stein is an original read today.
Gotta like the Chamber of COmmerce—that is probably the most important supporter.
Great news! Since Friday (April 6th) the international submissions to the Ways and Means committee number almost 50. Among them was one from our own Brock hero, Roger Conklin, and it is excellent. This means roughly 100 submissions out of 250 (i. e. 40%) are international and most of them were encouraged and inspired by the ACA. Thanks to all and a special thank you to Roger.
I’ve just been reading through some of the latest submissions to Ways and Means and here’s an excerpt from one which I found interesting (note how Mr. Bibler makes his living).
“I have been personally affected by this situation. Due to FATCA and other US initiatives, it has been very difficult to open even a simple checking account here in Switzerland so that I pay my bills. Most banks turn away that business entirely these days. Being a US citizen here in Switzerland can feel like being persona non grata. Part of my work involves advising banks here on compliance with US law, however, merely being a “US person” means that I am not physically welcome on the premises of some of the banks we advise! I am not a high net worth individual, merely an average American seeking to earn his living abroad. Despite not having owed a dime of income tax to the US in the past 8 years, I have spent hundreds of dollars and many, many hours trying to comply with a US tax code that seems to grow more complicated each year. The burden of being an American abroad has become increasingly difficult in the past decade.?”
Hope they’ll take the time to read the excellent submission for Roger… 17 pages!
This submission is interesting.
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/albright_wg_comments.pdf
He advocates for RBT, but opposes ACA’s proposal that recommends that U.S. citizens overseas be taxed in the same manner as non-resident aliens, and explains why.
@Em
I was looking forward to reading something from Roger Conklin. He did quite a thorough job. Thank you Roger.
I wonder how long it takes for them to post a submission from when they’re received. I sent mine last Friday and it hasn’t turned up yet. Hopefully they’re having to process more now!
@All,
It’s well past time US congress people started listening to Roger Conklin. Everlasting thanks, Roger, for never giving up on this issue. You are such an asset for our cause. If they all listened to what you were saying in the first place, US Persons living in and working in other countries (and green card holders in the US itself, with the unintended consequences for the US itself) would never be in this complex, insane situation.
Hear, hear, Calgary!
It’s good that a majority of the submissions hammer on many of the same issues, making them impossible to dismiss. With the corrupt state that is Washington DC, I can’t see how they will be able to reform much, however because it would serve corporate interest to move to a territorial tax system, it may prove to be politically advantageous for some in Washington to throw themselves behind our cause, to sell it on a more human level.
A familiar voice?
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/pinheiro_wg_comments.pdf
bubblebustin,
Shameful.
The report is out:
https://www.jct.gov/publications.html?func=startdown&id=4517
A summary of what they called “numerous” comments on taxation of U.S. citizens abroad is at page 521–522.
@Eric
Would you give the report its own post? I can see a lot of valuable comments getting cast into a lot of directions without it.