THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
ACA Point out Absence of Action for Americans Abroad
American Citizens Abroad have submitted a statement for the Senate Finance Committee
The ACA (American Citizens Abroad) have submitted a statement to the Senate Finance Committee in connection with hearings held today on "Early Impressions of the New Tax Law".
The Statement, which you can read via the link at the end of this article, compares what has changed for Americans living abroad with the new tax rules, with what hasn't. The ACA point out that whilst some universal changes relating to rates and provisions will have an impact on US Citizens residing outside of the United States, there are a number of issues which remain unaddressed. The ACA note the continued use of Citizenship Based Taxation (CBT) as opposed to Residency Based Taxation (RBT), and also highlight the absence of a same country exemption from the FATCA rules.
Regular readers of The American magazine will note that towards the end of 2017, the issue of CBT/RBT and FATCA were being raised by several senior politicians including Congressman George Holding, Senator Rand Paul and Congressman Kevin Brady, yet ACA's Statement indicates that despite the difficulties faced by Americans living abroad receiving headlines, little has changed in terms of legislation.
As we also recently reported, a challenge to FATCA failed at the Supreme Court in early April, 2018.
Although CBT/RBT and FATCA have received welcome attention, the success of campaigns to make actual change will depend upon legislative alterations. Marylouise Serrato, ACA Executive Director, said "With the passage of territorial taxation for corporations, it should have been a natural for Congress to adopt a residency-based approach for Americans living and working overseas, essentially territorial taxation for individuals". ACA Legal Counsel Charles Bruce also noted that among those changes that have been made are complicated rules which "will be a nightmare for small American business owners overseas to comply with".
In other news, NBC have also drawn attention to the CBT problem by highlighting the growing campaign in France to support "Accidental Americans" (see here for the NBC Article).
With growing media attention and awareness of the difficulties which FATCA and CBT pose to Americans abroad, coupled with diligent input from groups like ACA, the hope must be that actual change starts to be enacted.
You can read ACA's Statement by visiting this link to their website.
