The FBAR/FATCA Task Force has closely followed the progress of the FATCA lawsuit (Mark Crawford et al vs US Department of Treasury et al) filed by Sen Rand Paul and others seeking to stop FATCA.  Yesterday, April 26, the case was thrown out of court.  This was, in many respects, expected after the judge denied the plaintiffs' request for a preliminary injunction to stop the enforcement of the Act last September. The plaintiffs then added four plaintiffs, but the judge has found that the plaintiffs still fail to demonstrate standing to sue and the violation of a protected interest.*

The plaintiffs can, of course, appeal the judge's decisions.  We continue to follow this case and will keep you up to date with any further developments.

And we continue the work to promote our recommended reform to FATCA, the Same Country Safe Harbor for Americans Abroad, which would exempt the accounts of Americans abroad in their legal country of residence from FATCA disclosure.

Please contact the FBAR/FATCA Task Force at any time with questions: [email protected]

*This is from the court order terminating the case:  "...the Court finds that none of the Plaintiffs has standing to sue Defendants. No individual Plaintiff has suffered an invasion of a legally protected interest, which is concrete and particularized, and actual or imminent, not conjectural or hypothetical. Moreover, no alleged injury is fairly traceable to the actions of the Defendants, but rather, the actions of an independent third party. Finally, there are no allegations that it is likely that the alleged injury will be redressed by a favorable decision."