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A Letter from Monte Silver

Americans against the Repatriation/GILTI taxes – within striking distance of winning and you can help! And what to do with the October 15 filing deadline?

On August 1, 2018, the Treasury issued proposed regulations that interpret the Repatriation tax law – a 250 page very complicated document. I discovered that in issuing the document, Treasury seriously violated numerous Federal laws and procedures. This gives us tremendous leverage in negotiating for an exemption from the Repatriation & GILTI laws. It is not unreasonable to expect that this battle may be won by December 15, 2018. As you many have an October 15, 2018 filing deadline, I attach a relevant portion of an IRS publication stating that you may be able to extend the filing date until December 15, 2018. I suggest that you discuss this with your US CPA specialist to see if this applies to you.

What can you do to help win the battle? Easy! We need impacted Americans abroad and in the US to send in a few short paragraphs (as outlined below) – by October 7! See below for instructions. If you or people you know are impacted by these laws, lets take care of business!

The same text is available at www.americansabroadfortaxfairness.org

We are within reach. Lets do it.

Monte

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Instructions

1. Do not include any identifying information about you or your business. Do not even say whether you live in the U.S. or abroad.
2. You need to customize the letter where marked in red!!!
3. Do not discuss anything but the Repatriation tax, and 962 if relevant for you.
4. Submitting your comment: You can submit directly at www.regulations.gov/comment?D=IRS-2018-0019-0001. This Federal site does not require you to identify yourself.
5. If you want to remain 100% anonymous, send the comment to me and I will submit it in an anonymous batch with others. To see other comments, including my own, click “Open Docket Folder” on the above link.

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Template comment

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Subject: Comment on the proposed 965/962 rules

To the US Treasury:

I am a U.S. Person with an interest in a small business. As a result of the Repatriation tax, and now these Proposed Rules, 2018 has, and the foreseeable future will continue to be, a nightmare for me, my business and my family.

I am unable to understand the 250-page document at all. My comment is only limited to two issues:

(i)The 5-hour estimate you state that it will take me to comply with this proposed rule in totally unrealistic, and
(ii)The Repatriation tax and this proposed regulation have and will continue to devastate my small business.

Issue 1: Countless hours I have spent and still have to spend trying to deal with the Repatriation tax.

PUT YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE HERE. In one or two paragraphs, detail all the time you have had to spend on the Repatriation tax. Include everything, from initially reading about the tax and talking to friends, to contacting your US and non-CPA CPA, to doing more research on what the tax is and means to you, how to comply, contacting your Congresspeople to complain and demand action, , to gathering documents and tax information, to joining groups and forums to discuss this matter and learn what to do. If your current CPA is not sufficiently knowledgeable about this tax and you had to speak to other tax professionals and pay then, state that. Put an estimate as to the number of hours you have spent on the Repatriation tax and what you have no idea how many hours it will take for you to understand the comply with the 250 page proposed regulations

Issue 2: How the Repatriation tax has devastated my small business.

PUT YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE HERE. In one or two paragraphs, state things like:

• how the cost of compliance is so significant that it will threaten the existence of your business. The cost can be
• (i) money – paying tax professionals, taking money needed for the business out of the business to pay the tax.
• (ii) Time wasted on this and how that impacts your business. Add that this cost does not include the cost of future compliance for the proposed regulations which you cannot even begin to estimate
• how you are unable to compete with non-us businesses as they do not have to comply
• how you do not have the money needed to pay the tax and will need to take out loans, liquidate an asset, or take out pension money at a huge penalty
• Taking money out of the company to pay this tax is harmful to the growth of your business
• if you are making the 8-year payment plan or the 962 election, this rule will impact you for years to come
• you have no idea whether the proposed rules mean that you have to amend returns, which will double the cost of compliance and headache.
• as a result of the significant impact on business, you or others you know have debated whether to simply refuse to comply and become a tax evader
• Non-Americans do not want to co-found businesses or have you as an investor, given the headache of Repatriation/GILTI taxes involved.

Based on the above, I respectfully request that Americans with small businesses be exempt from the 965 tax.

Respectfully,

Your Name