Overseas Americans ramp up bid for tax relief http://t.co/DnK4gkvh2V – the anti CBT and anti #FATCA movements are getting traction
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) May 6, 2015
The post referenced in the above tweet references another interesting article on the blog at the Hill. Excellent opportunity for comments.
It begins with:
Organizations representing millions of Americans who work abroad are storming Capitol Hill in a push for tweaks to tax and banking policy.
American Chambers of Commerce (AmChams) operating in various countries all over the world collectively represent about 6.5 million U.S. citizens living outside the country.
Some, such as the AmCham Abu Dhabi, are stepping up their Washington advocacy, visiting with business groups, lawmakers and administration officials, just as Congress grapples with tax reform.
Their message: Well-meaning policies aimed at stopping money laundering and offshore tax evasion have translated into unworkable realities for Americans overseas.
“Our intention coming onto the Hill was to educate and present our case — what we’re facing, in terms of challenges in living abroad,” said Sharief Fahmy, chairman of AmCham’s public affairs committee for the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates.
Coming attractions? During the Boston Bomber penalty phase trial today, they had a witness testify via videolink from a US Embassy abroad in the Federal Courthouse in Boston.
Could we see foreign governments compelling its citizens to testify by videolink or they would be subject to contempt of court in either the US or the foreign country involved?
Please remember the US Government may try to invoked MLAT agreements already in place and claim process applies. If it doesn’t in future the US may re-negotiate treaties to achieve this.
It may seem a little Hollywood today, but soon it may be standard practice.
Allies we never imagined! MORE MORE!
Re: “a push for tweaks to tax and banking policy.” “Well-meaning policies aimed at stopping money laundering and offshore tax evasion have translated into unworkable realities for Americans overseas.”
Just like well-meaning developers of DDT came up with unworkable realities in a pesticide,
Tweaks to DDT were not the answer. And tweaks to CBT/FATCA won’t work either.
Maybe we should hire a Washington lobbying firm too…
Bubblebustin:
Not a bad idea. Or once the FATCA suit is funded we can start raising money for a CBT suit. Maybe we don’t have to do it by ourselves. Maybe we should try and form partnerships with other similar minded expat groups and we can raise the money together. I have seen people on other sites discussing this recently and I totally agree, that if we don’t capitalize now on the recent small uproar regarding the implementation of FATCA, we may never get this opportunity again. We need to strike while the iron is hot. Once two or three years go by, many people will be starting to adjust to post FATCA life and begrudgingly accept it. I think the small window we are in now is really our best shot at ever getting rid of CBT. FATCA is the reason there has been all the articles in the papers and websites. That will eventually start fading away and people will not care as much.
@Phil
I don’t think any nation’s citizens could get used to CBT or FATCA. They both create barriers for ALL Americans, in or outside the US. Unless everyone can get used to never permanently leaving the US while remaining a US citizen and diminishing representation overseas, it’s only going to get worse. If the US’s intention is to keep people in, then they should find some legitimate way of doing it. Not this half-baked, sadistic way.
@Bubblebustin – FATCA is about tracking assets not tax evasion. The US is preparing for the day soon when China’s currency become reserve status. That even could potentially cause capital flight out of the dollar and the US is trying to put in measures to make that more difficult.
Worth a read, and another reminder that the US will stop at nothing in terms of overreach and arrogance;
“…An appeal now under consideration by the Second Circuit arising out of a drug investigation may have substantial consequences for the government’s general ability to obtain evidence stored abroad – and such consequences certainly would extend to the continuing efforts by the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service to gather evidence of undisclosed foreign assets held by U.S. taxpayers. The appeal illustrates how increasingly sophisticated technology may curb the government’s investigative options or, alternatively, how creative and aggressive legal claims by the government may allow it to obtain foreign evidence through domestic courts, including emails generated by individuals who do not reside within the U.S….”
http://federaltaxcrimes.blogspot.ca/2015/04/guest-blog-on-stored-communications-act.html
‘www.getrichslowly.org’ has an article May 6 about expat taxes – might be good place for comments.
Badger: this reminds me of a Belgian mail server that specifically advertises that the servers are in Europe and only subject to search upon order from a Belgian court. It seems that US companies have lost some of the market to clients preferring a non-US based service.
“Confidentialité
L’hébergement sur nos serveurs, localisés en Europe et gérés par une société européenne, met vos données à l’abri des autorités et agences de renseignement américaines (“Patriot Act” et PRISM).
Vos données et leurs sauvegardes sont hébergées exclusivement sur des serveurs localisés en Europe. Ils sont dès lors soumis aux législations européenne et belge, notamment en ce qui concerne la protection de vos données.
…
Nous exigeons un ordre signé par un juge ayant autorité sur nous avant de transmettre la moindre de vos données.”
Great to see AmCham involved, since they have clout in Washington.