Reposted from the RenouceUSCitizenship blog:
Have you either considered stopping working because of U.S. policies toward Americans abroad? Have you stopped working? Have you given up attempting to plan for your retirement?
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"the FATCA/FBAR situation influenced my decision to close the businesses down and retire early in July of 2014." https://t.co/q4liJxJuMM
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) December 26, 2015
Updated and continued on January 8, 2015 …
Meanwhile back on the Homeland Front …
Survey results released by @ACAVoice confirm #Americansabroad believe #FATCA and #CBT and #FBAR make 4 hard lives. https://t.co/SQiO7E44d2
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) January 8, 2016
As the above tweet confirms:
Yes, it’s true! Americans abroad are damaged by FATCA, FBAR and CBT. Who could have known? Of course the “FATCA Retirement” is only one form of damage. What follows is the message forwarded from ACA and rerouted to me:
For immediate release
Survey results on consequences of FATCA for Americans living overseas
University of Nevada, Reno and American Citizens Global Foundation offer report on impacts of tax legislationAmericans Abroad Global Foundation (ACAGF), in conjunction with the University of Nevada, Reno released results today on a new study finding that most Americans overseas feel the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) negatively impacts their professional pursuits and that compliance is over burdensome. The majority of respondents’ perception was consistent with the sentiment that the U.S. government is not concerned about the impact of FATCA on its citizens living abroad.
Since the United States taxes U.S. taxpayers on worldwide income (citizenship-based taxation, CBT), Americans living overseas have always had to comply with various special provisions, such as the foreign earned income exclusion (FEIE), foreign tax credit, housing provisions, and disclosure requirements. FATCA is a part of the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) act, signed into law in March 2010. FATCA is a means to increase compliance by U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts.
The survey was conducted between June 16 and Aug. 15, 2015, with 684 useable responses collected. The survey was deployed using a web-based approach among a cross section of adults ages 18 and older, living in more than 60 countries. Some key findings:
- Of the respondents, 64 percent voted in the 2012 Presidential Elections significantly higher than the turn out rate of the average American voting stateside
- Seventy-eight percent (78) of respondents felt having to comply with U.S. tax law puts them at a professional disadvantage compared to others working in their country of residence
- Eighty-six percent (86) of respondents said that FATCA needs to be reworked to allow Americans overseas access to banking services and include a “Same Country exemption” provision (i.e., no reporting requirement for accounts held in the same country of residence)
- Overseas Americans generally felt the IRS was not keeping them informed about how to comply with evolving tax laws
“The consensus from this sample of Americans abroad feels that the U.S. government does not recognize how the FATCA legislation is negatively impacting them, limiting their ability to maintain legitimate banking and financial relationships and, that in many respects, simply does not care how the legislation is affecting a community of law-abiding citizens who have chosen to live overseas for work or personal reasons,” Sonja Pippin, Associate Professor in Accounting at the University, said.
“These survey results are important,” Charles Bruce, ACAGF Chairman, said. “They will be used as a baseline for informing the public, creating educational programs and advocating for legislative changes to address the issues of Americans abroad. Survey results indicate that Americans want to comply with tax laws but want sensible simplification of the rules, including a “Same Country” provision, outreach from the IRS on how to comply, and want to vote for representatives who understand their issues.”
For full report see: http://www.unr.edu/business/research-and-outreach/accounting-research
Media Contact:
Sonja Pippin, Ph.D., CPA, Associate Professor, UNR, 775-784-1337, sonjap@unr.edu
Charles Bruce, ACAGF Chairman, 202 476-0741, cmb@ilf.ch
Marylouise Serrato, ACA, Inc. Executive Director, 202 322 8441, info@americansabroad.org
I am curious about how people were chosen to participate.Was this a general/open invitation?I vaguely remember hearinng about it but since I am not American figured I would be ineligible. I find it difficult to believe that 86% are in support of Same Country Exception. It doesn’t solve the problem for everyone. No one has ever asked the financial institutions if they would support it. And who could expect them to after being forced to shoulder all the implementation of FATCA. And then there is the issue of those who are unfairly caught up in this net-accidentals, green card holders who neglected to do the I-407. It seems a bit too easy and that no one really cares about anybody except those who are already compliant.
@ Tricia,
An open invitation, as I recall. There were some comments about the Univ of Nevada survey last June. I forget which thread/s but I put the links from the comments on the Surveys page.
If there is only one question asked, with yes or not, then the respondents will only answer that question.
The benefactors of the study only wanted that one question asked.
Charles Bruce is a lawyer with a mission in ACA.
hmmm
If not for the Same Country bs it would have been a great tool.
@Mark Twain….I am what some would say “Cautious Same Country Exemption.”
To be honest when I emigrated a decade ago, I went to the local tax office and was told that because of the Dual Tax Treaty between _____ and USA that my obligations were according to where I was resident. At that point, the examiner at the office showed me the tie breaker rules in the actual treaty.
I was then all signed up to start filing at home. 🙂
Actually to this day as I have re-read the treaty, it is easy to come to the conclusion that you are done with the US,
Too bad they didn’t ask respondents if FATCA should be repealed.
Interesting if anyone remembers the 21st Century Taxation of Americans Abroad: CBT vs. RBT Toronto May 2, 2014 seminar put on by (some of) the same people.
http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=44149a71417b0518f29267eba&id=31d3c6e4b1&e=37e8dfc529
ACA Global Foundation
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/03/02/aca-video-from-may-2-2014-toronto/ (obviously purposely sanitized!)
Comment from Stephen: http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2015/03/02/aca-video-from-may-2-2014-toronto/comment-page-1/#comment-5669198
http://us9.campaign-archive1.com/?u=44149a71417b0518f29267eba&id=31d3c6e4b1&e=37e8dfc529
Americans Abroad Global Foundation (ACAGF), in conjunction with the University of Nevada, Reno released results today on a new study finding that most Americans overseas feel the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) negatively impacts their professional pursuits and that compliance is over burdensome. The majority of respondents’ perception was consistent with the sentiment that the U.S. government is not concerned about the impact of FATCA on its citizens living abroad.
It doesn’t matter what way the ACA chooses to wangle FATCA or what strength of FATCA is acceptable, the ACA should be out there putting together the talent necessary to defeat FATCA/IGA in the European Courts and forget about its original mandate to protect US citizenship rights.
How many times does the US Congress need to slap the ACA across the face for them to wake up? FATCA, US Passport Revocation, or perhaps Mutual Collection Agreements forcing ‘US Persons’ abroad to pay up via the local tax collection system or dealing with debt collection agencies at the non US door step?
The time to put together this team is NOW, not when the US Government moves to the next step.
@George: well it all depends on one’s birthplace, essentially. Like you I read the treaty for my country of residence in the EU and thought I was home free. But of course I was misled and someone pointed out that in it you can find that the US has an exception for US citizens, which makes one wonder WTF is the point of writing the treaty if a bunch of people are pointedly excluded. I don’t owe taxes anyway (to the US) but still consider that the treaties don’t protect from double taxation.
I made the choice to start filing again, because I wanted to be ahead of them in case banks “found me out”. (I bank with my EU passport, but cannot hide the birthplace). Just a yearly feeding of data now for the USG… a costly pain in the a…
@Fred, the tax authority officer in my country of nationality/residence in “explaining” the treaty to me said that in ______ I am _______. (Master Nationality Rule)
As one thinks about it, its absurd to consider an EU Citizen to be ANYTHING else whilst in the EU!!!
As a note, I relinquished, I have USG documents confirming they consider me to have lost USC, just not a CLN. My birthplace is also fortunately ambiguous.