Accidental Americans
Posts on the Topic of Accidental Americans
July 2017
24: Fabien Lehagre on France’s TV5
12: THE TERM “ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN [Citizen]” SHOULD NOT BE USED BECAUSE THE TERM IS NOT ACCURATE
11: Refreshing: @SophieintVeld calls EU answer to plight of #AccidentalAmericans “bullshit”
January 2017
19: Accidental Americans (And Others): Do Nothing!
July 2016
11: Allison’s “Tina” Presentation and What do you think this guy means?
January 2016
21: UPDATE for Solving US Citizenship Problems: Accidental Americans Sat Jan 23 2016
November 2015
13: Looking for Stories from Accidental Americans
October 2015
August 2015
28: The ACCIDENTAL AMERICAN is now a subject of interest at Wikipedia…
February 2015
11: More analysis on the U.S. proposal to provide relief for certain Accidental Dual Citizens
September 2014
Robert Wood: “Canadians Attack U.S. Expat Rules, Decrying ‘Accidental Americans’ ”
10: For a change of pace — and, Would Stuart McLean consider a show about “Accidental Americans”?
August 2014
08: Premier of British Virgin Islands offers assistance to local accidentals affected by FATCA
July 2014
30: Barrie McKenna, “PwC suggests a check to see if you are an ‘accidental American’”
19: “Accidental American” identified as a “US citizen” in world headlines…
April 2014
21: Ne Exeat Republica — The Next IRS Tactic vs. Expats and Accidental Americans?
March 2014
July 2013
June 2013
01: Accidental US Citizenship — does it stay with you for life?
April 2013
12: MUST WATCH VIDEO on Accidental Americans in Canada (including Mark Matthews)
June 2012
30: Meet Accidental American Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
May 2012
10: Today’s New York Times article re the very innocent and appropriately named “Accidental Americans”
Mike Pence portrayed ironically as an “Accidental Atlanticist”,
https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/pence-munich-transatlantic-relationship-by-mark-leonard-2019-02
“In 2017, European financial institutions received a two-year reprieve from the US Treasury Department to comply with the legislation, but that deadline will expire Dec. 31, 2019. ”
https://www.dw.com/en/europeans-scramble-for-bank-access-due-to-us-threats/a-51136862
Surprise, surprise, that reprieve was extended by another three years apparently. Neither banks nor accounts will turn into pumpkins at midnight this coming December 31st.
Asking for a friend who is warning accidentals to get in line with the IRS and won’t believe what I am telling him…
Situation: UK/US accidental left the US forty years ago as a baby, now working in Switzerland.
Question – What’s going to happen to him if he does not go to the IRS and get up to date on his taxes and he gets caught because of FATCA??
Question – I am going to assume this responsible many has a UK tax free ISA, UK mutual funds. I’m also going to assume he has Swiss equivalents. I tax compliance likely to be difficult or expensive and will there be any actual taxes?
Jeez, mangled that. Still, you get the picture.
S/he/you cannot renounce anyway currently due to Corona at consulates, so wait for the end of year to see the outcome of Jenny’s case before the European Court of Justice. Afterwards Brexit would cut Jenny off.
@Mike
Worst thing that could happen to your friend is that Swiss and UK financial institutions will cause trouble for him due to his US birthplace, if they become aware. Refuse to open accounts or restrict the type of services offered, that sort of thing. The only cure for this problem is to renounce and produce a CLN.
As yet we have no evidence that the US has used FATCA data to identify or contact non-compliant US citizens. In theory the IRS has no reach to touch someone’s assets in the UK or even Switzerland, though of course back 10+ years ago they certainly did when they went after US residents stashing money in Swiss banks.
Tax compliance for your friend could be pretty straightforward (though expensive if he hires someone to do the work) or more complicated with investments or incorporated businesses etc. Typically tax would not be owed if it’s just “normal” employment income, since he’s living in higher-tax countries, but there are always exceptions – certain investment types not treated the same by the US, gains from sale of a house even if it’s a primary residence, etc.
Your friend could renounce (when that is possible again) if the US birthplace made banking onerous. No need to file anything, just renounce. Or he could ignore the situation if the banks are unaware or being reasonable. However, I’m beginning to think that fear of the IRS is a bit like QAnon – once people get sucked into believing something, it’s awfully hard to talk them out of it. At very least tell your friend that he can do what he likes but please don’t run around trying to convince other accidentals that they need to start filing US taxes or the big, bad IRS will get them. Remind him that global compliance rates are 5 to 10 percent, and enforcement essentially non-existent (legally difficult if not impossible, no ROI and no resources to do it with) as long as there are no US assets to seize.
Mike Ron has it exactly right. Accidentals have nothing to fear from the IRS. There is bugger all the IRS can possibly do.
His Swiss bank may well give him grief. Advise your friend to renounce when it becomes possible but under no circumstances should he file anything. Nada, rien. Not now not after renouncing never. The IRS can only chase after those who were misled into entering the system.
As others on this site know, I renounced in 2108 and never filed anything. All of my financial life is in the UK. I’ve never heard from the IRS and I don’t expect to.
Thank you all. I pointed him to this thread.
Oh look, someone finally got around to making a few much-needed additions and corrections to this page:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_American