The Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force will once again be in Washington, DC, from October 20 to 24, meeting face-to-face with Members of Congress to fight for the interests of Americans living abroad. As part of this advocacy, we want to hand-deliver your personal tax and financial access horror stories directly to congressional staff and lawmakers.
Click here to share your horror story
Your experiences are powerful tools in showing Congress the real impact of outdated and unjust US tax policies on overseas Americans. We are especially interested in stories related to: residence-based taxation, FBAR and FATCA reporting, PFICs, small business issues, and problems saving for retirement.
By sharing your story, you help strengthen our voice in Washington and make the challenges facing overseas Americans impossible to ignore.
Share your story here and follow these three easy steps:
- Tell us your House Representative's name. (If you’re not sure, click here and search for your last US address or your US voting address, or—if you have never lived in the US—use your parents’ last US address.)
- Share your tax and/or financial access story. Tell them about the challenges you’ve faced. No detail is too small, and every story helps. Even if you’ve told it before, please tell it again. As with all political messaging, repetition is key to success.
- Grant us permission to share your contact details with your representative. Some congressional offices may follow up with you directly—an opportunity that makes your voice even more powerful in Washington.
Here are two simple examples (you can make yours as detailed or brief as you want):
- Name and Location: Carol Waters in Singapore
- House Rep's Name: Dan Goldman (NY10)
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Story: I've run a bakery for over a decade and set up my business as a local Singapore company. In 2018, I got hit with the Repatriation Tax, and now I have to pay the GILTI tax, so I can't afford it. This is incredibly unfair to a small business like mine. How am I to keep up with these complicated tax filings when I have a business to run?
- Name and Location: Mark Ellis in France
- House Rep's Name: Jamie Raskin (MD8)
- Story: I’ve lived in France for 15 years, pay French taxes, and receive no US services. Yet every year, I have to file a US tax return as if I still lived there. The rules are so complicated that I have to hire a specialized accountant, costing me over $2,000 annually (about one month of my salary) just to prove I don’t owe any US tax. Citizen-based taxation feels like double taxation in practice, and it punishes ordinary Americans like me who simply live and work abroad.
Only by standing together—and in large numbers—can we build the powerful voice needed to make Congress act on the tax and financial access challenges faced by Americans abroad.
So speak up today and tell it like it is—your voice matters!
P.S.: Please share this page with friends or family members who might also want to tell their story.