Join Democrats Abroad as expat tax expert Nathalie Goldstein MsC, EA, and CEO of  MyExpatTaxes discusses the implications of the CARES Act legislation for Americans living abroad, how to go about requesting your stimulus check(s) if you haven't received them, and other Expat 101 tax basics.

WHEN: Saturday, March 6th, 2021 at 5:00 PM KST/JST (1:30 pm IST, 3:00 pm ICT, 4:00 pm CST/HKT/PHT/SGT, 7:00 pm AEDT, 9:00 pm NZDT, 3:00 am EST, 9:00 am CET)

WHERE: Online/WebEx call - please RSVP for link

While there is no donation requirement to attend, we hope you’ll consider a donation of $10 to help Democrats Abroad, an all-volunteer organization that relies solely on donations to do our work around issues advocacy and GOTV.

IMPORTANT:  Democrats Abroad does not provide personal tax advice or recommendations.  We recommend that you engage a qualified, professional tax adviser to address questions related to your personal financial situation.

The IRS announced on 16 February 2021 that all first and second round Economic Impact Payments (EIP) have now been issued.*  Get My Payment, the online IRS platform for taxpayers to track EIPs, was last updated on Jan. 29, 2021, to reflect the final payments and will not be updated again for EIP1 or EIP2. 

What if you are still waiting for your payment?

Democrats Abroad Australia Annual General Meeting (DAAU AGM)

It's that time of year for our AGM!

We've had a tremendous result from our efforts over the past two years. We acted in solidarity and unity with our fellow Americans back home to Get Out The Vote from down under to ensure that we had a new direction for our country.

In this process, we saw an incredible amount of volunteer interest and new Americans joining DAAU.

This year, we'll be celebrating that as we elect a new National leadership for DAAU. Details will be released soon by the Nominating Committee for the process for nominating and how elections will occur.

We will hold this meeting online due to the uncertainty of the border situation in Australia. This is to ensure that there is equity in the election process and accessibility for attendance.

Our draft agenda will include:

• The Chair (and Vice-Chair) Report
• The Treasurer’s Report and approval of the accounts
• Secretary’s and Membership Report
• Election of New Officers
• Any Other Business

Please register below if you plan to attend, details will be released soon about how to join!

Further to the publication of our October research into the experience of Americans abroad access the aid in the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act Democrats Abroad has scheduled a series of meetings with lawmakers in a position to help us implement our recommendations to improve the delivery of aid such as the economic impact payments.  

We have also written to the U.S. Treasury Secretary Mnuchin, IRS Commissioner Rettig, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Americans Abroad Caucus co-chair Carolyn Maloney, Senate Finance Committee Chair Grassley, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Neal, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Brady to share the research findings and recommendations.  Download the correspondence here.

We will report out on our meetings after next week.

DEMOCRATS ABROAD TAXATION TASK FORCE

THANK YOU to all who made submissions to this research into the experience of Americans abroad accessing the aid in the CARES Act.  A mighty 4,363 Americans abroad participated in the research, which will result in robust findings.  Democrats Abroad will publish a report on the research by mid November then use it to support our recommendations for improving access to the aid in a future COVID pandemic aid package for Americans abroad.

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This year the Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force has addressed the concerns of thousands of Americans abroad related to the financial aid available to eligible U.S. citizens under the COVID pandemic stimulus bill passed in March.  Our experience indicates the resources of the IRS fell far short of serving the needs of eligible Americans abroad.  (This fact is particularly vexing today, 15 October, the IRS extension deadline for U.S. tax filing and foreign financial account reporting.) 

Today we are launching an Americans Abroad and the CARES Act research project to compile data to describe your experience accessing the aid and make recommendations to the IRS for improving the delivery of the next aid package.

Please take the survey yourself.  Please share the survey with other Americans abroad and please post it on your social media platforms.  It will be open for submissions from 15 to 31 October 2020.  We expect to publish our findings in mid-November.

More than ten weeks have passed since Congress passed the CARES Act, providing, among other things, aid to low income Americans to supplement their household income during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. According the House Ways and Means Committee the IRS has sent out nearly 160 million Economic Impact Payments (EIPs) – some by direct deposit (120 million), some by check sent by traditional mail, (35 million) and some by mailed Visa debit card (4 million).

If you are eligible for an EIP but have not received it, it might still be coming.

The DemsAbroad Tax Team had another productive week of meetings with Congressional tax writers in Washington DC the week commencing 16 September 2019.  We are continuously reminded about the importance of turning up in person to present the serious personal and financial problems that U.S. tax, banking, securities and other laws cause Americans abroad.  Not only have we - the many dedicated individuals and organizations advocating on behalf of Americans abroad - built important relationships with the members who are championing our cause (Maloney (D-NY), Holding (R-NC), Titus (D-NV), Raskin (D-MD) and Beyer (D-VA)), but we’ve firmed up our relationship with the House Ways and Means Committee (W&MC) which is so critical to progressing a bill to enact Residency Based Taxation (RBT).

RBT Bill 

We had a very interesting discussion with the W&MC team working on expat taxation legislation.  While we expected their work to be farther advanced than it is, we now have a clearer understanding of their approach to shaping the bill which has as its foundation the administration of the law once it is in place.  Their emphasis is on ensuring the law can work for the many categories of Americans abroad:  short to medium to decades-long expats; short term corporate placements; love exiles; aid workers; retirees; students of all kinds; healthcare exiles; adventurers; pensioners; and more.  We were pleased to offer our on-going advice and feedback on the design elements of the RBT bill and we are determined to keep pushing the work along.

Outreach to Congress

Aside from the in-the-weeds work on the bill, there is of course more work to be done educating members on the problems we need addressed.  As you know, our focus is on persuading members in the all-important W&MC that our problems are serious and urgent.  Aside from the five members noted earlier, we also met in the office of these W&MC members: Rep Larson (D-CT), Rep Murphy (D-FL); Rep Walorski (R-IN), Rep Pascrell (D-NJ) and Rep Westrup (R-OH).  We door-knocked 25 other W&MC members and passed our Leave Behind Pack to the legislative staff.  Our meetings on the Senate side included Sen Brown (D-OH) and Sen Portman (R-OH), both serving on the Senate Finance Committee, as well as Sen Paul (R-KY), known for his determination to block reforms to U.S. tax treaties critical to our experience navigating the intersection of U.S. and residence country taxation.

We find that the most compelling cases we present are those that profile the constituents of the offices we visit navigating these challenges: the enormous complexity and cost of U.S. tax compliance; bank lockouts; double-taxation of pensions; the obstacles to ordinary investing; and the existential threat the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act “transition taxes” pose for small to medium sized business owners. 

To that end, we continue to encourage all Americans abroad suffering from the burdens of U.S. taxation to call and/or write to your elected representatives about your experience.  Use our language or use your own.  If there’s any chance you can get to Capitol Hill yourself, then deliver your message in person!  The Senate and House offices are open to all – take advantage of it!  Find your members’ office address, walk right in (after passing through ground-floor metal detectors), introduce yourself, ask for an aide who has time to speak to a constituent for 10 minutes and then tell your story.

What's Next

You can be sure that we will be back on Capitol Hill at least one more time before the end of the calendar year, working in concert with all the other Americans abroad organizations to make the case for a switch to RBT and for other legislative remedies that address the serious discrimination we suffer as non-resident citizens.

Please send comments and questions to [email protected].

Democratically yours,

Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force

On Tuesday 17 September Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY12) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) introduced two bills to provide support and relief to Americans Abroad.  They are the Commission on Americans Living Overseas Act and the Overseas Americans Financial Access Act.  Democrats Abroad endorses these bills and thanks Rep. Maloney and Rep. Beyer for their on-going interest in and support for the Americans abroad community.

Commission on Americans Abroad Act

The Commission on Americans Abroad Act, first introduced by Rep. Maloney and former New York Rep. Charlie Rangel in the 113^th Congress, would create a commission to establish the impact of U.S. laws and regulations on Americans living abroad and make reform recommendations.  You can read about it here.

Overseas Americans Financial Access Act

The Overseas Americans Financial Access Act, first introduced by Rep. Maloney in the last Congress, provides an exemption for Americans abroad from all Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) reporting for the accounts we hold in the countries where we live.  FATCA was created to discourage and apprehend Americans using foreign financial accounts to hide money from the IRS; it was never intended to track the accounts we use in the places where we live to pay our bills and save for the future.  You can read about it here.

Democrats Abroad is in Washington DC this week (18-20 September) for more talks about expat tax reform and will be discussing these bills in our meetings.  Expat tax reform activists are encouraged to participate in our Congressional CallStorm this week to tell our elected representatives that we need relief from the unjust burden that the U.S. tax code and other laws and regulations place on Americans abroad.

Please send comments and questions to [email protected]

Democrats Abroad is back on Capitol Hill again next week to talk to Congress about Residency Based Taxation, FATCA reform, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act fixes and other recommendations aimed at reducing the burden U.S. taxation places uniquely on Americans living abroad.   We especially look forward to meetings we have scheduled with the Ways and Means Committee for updates on their work on legislation to enact a switch from Citizenship Based Taxation to Residency Based Taxation.

Please help us demonstrate the enormous support that exists across the Americans abroad community for these critical reforms by reaching out to your elected representatives some time between 16 and 20 September.  This campaign guide has all you need to call or write your members of Congress.

Democrats Abroad UK is hosting a Webinar on 17 September for those who would like a tutorial about how to contact their members of Congress.  Click here for more information and to register.

As usual,  in the follow-up to next week's expat tax reform meetings we will publish a report on what we learned.  Please send comments or questions to [email protected]

DEMOCRATS ABROAD TAXATION TASK FORCE

Happy Fourth of July!

Best wishes for glorious celebrations of our nation's 243rd birthday, filled with delicious BBQs, refreshing beverages and fabulous fireworks.

And when the celebrations are over if you are interested in turning your mind to work by Democrats Abroad and the rest of the expat tax reform coalition to persuade Congress to enact a switch from our current system of Citizenship-based Taxation to Residency-based Taxation (RBT), then you might want to see our RBT Frequently Asked Questions doc.  We have updated it for progress achieved through June of 2019 and are hereby publishing it for your reference.  

Please send comments or questions - or FURTHER questions for us to add to this document! - to [email protected]

DEMOCRATS ABROAD TAXATION TASK FORCE

Thanks to all who participated in the Congressional CallStorm organized by Democrats Abroad to mark the 2019 International Tax Filing Day. With the help of all you expat tax activists we continue to build the profile of Americans abroad struggling to comply with double taxation and to bring our problems to the attention of members of Congress in both parties and across both chambers. We need the support of all those interested in expat tax reform in order to make it happen. Thanks again for your support.

Tax Treaties at last on the Congressional agenda

You may be aware that since Senator Rand Paul took office in 2006 he has blocked all tax treaties from coming to the floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote.  During this time tax treaties between the U.S and Hungary, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Chile, Spain, Poland, Japan and Portugal (at least) have been stuck in limbo, not to mention reforms made to the Model U.S. tax treaty. We recommend that all Americans abroad who vote in Kentucky to contact Sen. Paul and urge him to lift his holds on these treaties.

This week the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to begin consideration of the treaties with Hungary, Chile, Spain, Japan and Portugal. Double taxation treaties address a range of matters that impact U.S. citizens living abroad, most especially the treatment of savings and retirement plans that receive beneficial tax treatment in our countries of residence but no favorable treatment under the U.S. tax system. When U.S. tax treaties are silent on this matter they leave payments made from foreign pensions, including those to which we may be legally mandated to contribute, subjected to double taxation.

It’s perhaps too early to anticipate those eight treaties moving closer to a floor vote in the Senate, but reporting suggests Sen. Paul is meeting with Treasury Sec. Steven Mnuchin to discuss his privacy concerns. We are following this issue and look forward to reporting back.

Americans abroad on Capitol Hill

Democrats Abroad gives an enormous shout out to our colleagues at Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO) and Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) for their amazing week of meetings on Capitol Hill about expat tax reform. DA’s Tax Task Force was pleased to brief some members of their delegation and share with them an extensive list of members of Congress for them to meet (including names of key aides to speak to). We have since de-briefed with them and, to put it very briefly, they learned that: a) our concerns and recommendations are getting through to Congressional tax writers, and b) there remain a few outliers who either CONTINUE to harbor major misunderstandings about the demographics of Americans abroad or have concerns that RBT will open the flood gates to mass exploitation by wealthy Americans using real or faux off-shore residency to move assessable income to low-tax or no-tax countries.

Yes, we’ve heard it all before but at least these prejudices are well outside the mainstream.

Big, big THANK YOU to AARO and FAWCO for hitting it hard and fighting the good fight for a switch from citizenship-based taxation to residency-based taxation, financial account reporting reform and more. Heroic work by excellent colleagues (who, like us, are volunteers and) who share our goal of persuading Congress to fix the Internal Revenue Code and other laws and regulations that cause serious personal and financial harm to Americans living abroad.

Treasury announces more changes to GILTI regs

It’s been almost 18 months since Americans who own companies registered abroad were shocked to learn of two new taxes in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) that could destroy not only their businesses but also their life savings. Regulations implementing the Repatriation Tax and GILTI Tax announced last year failed to provide material relief to Americans abroad. Last Friday June 14th Treasury issued “final regulations” on GILTI, Subpart F income and tax credits. You can read about them here (IRS and Treasury advice) or here (The Tax Adviser tax blog).

Disclaimer:

Democrats Abroad does not provide personal advice on tax matters.

Tax advice should be obtained from a qualified tax professional (accountant, lawyer, adviser or return preparer) who understands both the U.S. tax system and the tax system of the country where the taxpayer lives (including any applicable tax treaty). 

If you need tax advice Democrats Abroad recommends the Tax Return Preparer Directory published by our colleagues in expat tax advocacy, American Citizens Abroad. Click here to reference their directory.

Please send comments or questions to [email protected].

DEMOCRATS ABROAD TAXATION TASK FORCE

The 2019 deadline for U.S. citizens living abroad to file their taxes is Monday June 17 (as the usual international tax filing deadline of June 15 falls on a Saturday this year).  

In order to draw attention to International Tax Filing Day Democrats Abroad is hosting a Congressional CallStorm.  We invite  U.S. citizens who support expat tax reform to participate in this campaign on Thursday June 13 (neither Friday June 14th nor Monday June 17th are House and Senate sitting days) and call their members of Congress asking for relief.

Everything you need to participate in the CallStorm is in this guide for campaign participants.

Date for calls:  Thursday June 13, 2019

Date for written and electronic messages:  Through the month of June

Who to contact:  your two Senators and your member of the House of Representatives.  If you don't know who they are advice for finding them and their contact details are in the guide.

What to say:  scripts for calls and sample language for emails, letters and postcards are in the guide. If you can add your personal story about why expat tax reform is important to you that would be even better.   Specifically, we are asking for -

• A switch from our current system of citizenship based taxation to residency based taxation, in which we’d still be required to report US-based income to the IRS, but not the income we make in and pay tax on abroad 

• the Overseas Americans Financial Access Act, which would exempt us  from disclosures of the  financial accounts we hold in our countries of residence which we use to pay bills and save for the future  

Further details on our tax advocacy ideals, strategy and asks are in the guide.

Thanks in advance for your support.  As noted in the guide, our work with the House tax writing subcommittee is making serious progress, but we need to build support for expat tax reform right across Congress.  To do that we need all who are seeking relief from the burden of complying with two tax jurisdictions to call your elected representatives and ask for it.

Please send questions or comments to [email protected]

Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force 

Democrats Abroad is enormously grateful for the long-standing support that Rep. Dina Titus has extended to the Americans abroad community.  She's always in our corner and never refuses an opportunity to show her concern for our problems - with the U.S. tax system and otherwise - and to push for common-sense reforms to address them.  

In response to our outreach about the Ways and Means Members Day Hearing, Rep. Titus has published this statement calling upon the Ways & Means Committee to ease the financial burdens placed upon Americans abroad by the U.S. citizenship-based taxation system.  Thank you, Rep. Titus, for noting that Americans abroad have been for too long neglected by Congress and for calling upon Congress to work together to provide us with relief.

Please also see this statement from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD08) telling the Ways & Means Committee we need a switch from citizenship-based taxation to residency-based taxation.

It's not too late for rank and file members of Congress to join their voices to those of Reps Raskin and Titus in raising with the Ways and Means Committee the serious problems facing Americans abroad in complying with the filing obligations of two tax jurisdictions.  Please reach out to your representative and ask him/her to contact Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richie Neal and Ranking Member Kevin Brady about the urgent need for expat tax reform.  This guide will help you do so.

Please contact us at [email protected] with comments or questions.

Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force

Further to our report from last week, we are delighted that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD08), a former member of Democrats Abroad-France, has responded to our request to provide a submission to the June 4 House Ways & Means Committee Members' Day Hearing about the urgent need for expat tax reform.   We send our sincere thanks to the Congressman for his on-going support for our community and for legislation to address the serious personal and financial harm we suffer due to citizenship-based taxation.  Click here to read Rep. Raskin's submission.

As you will know from DA's previous tax advocacy reports, we now have a bi-partisan team from the House Ways and Means Committee working on the development of a proposal to enact residency-based taxation.  But there's much more work to do to persuade the other 40 members of that committee that this reform is urgently needed and can be sensibly implemented.  We continue our outreach to those important members, educating them on the harm citizenship based taxation causes ordinary, middle-class American families and persuading them to act urgently on our behalf.

We are counting on all Americans abroad supporting residency-based taxation to reach out to their elected representatives and reinforce our work.   Please call, write or message your members in Congress and tell your personal story about why a switch to residency based taxation is so important to you.   If you have trouble getting started then please refer to this guide to find your representatives and to add your voice to the cause.  It's imperative that members across Congress, in both houses, on all committees and of all political stripes hear from their overseas constituents about the urgent need for a switch to residency based taxation.

Thanks for your help.  Please contact us on [email protected] with comments or questions.

Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force

On Tuesday June 4th the House Ways and Means Committee will hold its Members' Day hearing enabling members of the House to comment on matters within the Committee's jurisdiction.  Democrats Abroad has reached out to members who are important friends of the Americans abroad community asking them to make submissions to the hearing about the need for Residency Based Taxation.  We have written to Rep Carolyn Maloney (D-NY-12), the Democratic co-chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus, Rep Dina Titus (D-NV-01) and Rep Jamie Raskin (D-MD-08), a former member of Democrats Abroad France.  

As we noted in our last report, we are delighted that there is now a bi-partisan team of Ways & Means Committee members working on a proposal to introduce residency based taxation.  We, in collaboration with the other organisations advocating for expat tax reform, continue to reach out to the all-important members of the Ways and Means Committee to profile the importance of this urgently needed reform.  It's great to have other members of Congress assisting us in this important work.

We will report back on the hearing.

In the mean time, it is our understand that an important meeting will take place the week of Monday 3 June between the Beyer-Holding team working on the residency based taxation proposal with legislative counsel.

Also, the week of Monday 10 June a delegation of members from Association of Americans Resident Overseas and the Federation of American Womens Clubs Overseas will be on Capitol Hill making the case for residency based taxation (as well as likely discussing other matters important to Americans abroad).  We have assisted them with their Congressional outreach and wish them the best in their meetings. 

You don't have to go all the way to Washington DC to make your views heard - on the matter of residency-based taxation or anything else that may interest you.   Advice for finding your elected representatives and calling or writing to them are included in this guide.   All (courteous and sincere) outreach is helpful.  

Please send comments and questions to [email protected]

Americans abroad who support expat tax reform have taken another step forward on the road to Residency Based Taxation (RBT).

Further to our report on the DA tax advocacy Capital Hill meetings of May 14-16, on Tuesday May 21 a group of Democrats Abroad global leaders who vote in the Virginia 8th Congressional district were scheduled to meet with Rep. Don Beyer, their member of Congress, to discuss expat tax reform (plus to a few other issues uniquely impacting Americans abroad).

Unfortunately the Congressman was called away to a briefing by Trump administration officials on the escalating tensions with Iran. But the Beyer constituents had a productive exchange with his Legislative Director and learned that the Beyer team has scheduled a meeting about RBT with the Ways and Means Committee Legislative Counsel as a forerunner to a meeting with Rep. George Holding’s team about our keynote reform.

We, in collaboration with the other organizations advocating for expat tax reform, have made the progress we were hoping for, i.e. bringing the Beyer team into active engagement with the Holding team on the development of RBT legislation. But now begins the in-the-weeds work with Beyer’s team on the Holding RBT legislative design elements. The DA Taxation Task Force, in collaboration with our colleague organizations representing Americans abroad, will continue our work with the Beyer and Holding teams on this important reform.

Next steps

As noted in our last post, we expect the Beyer and Holding teams to create, in partnership, a consensus view on draft RBT legislation, send it to the Joint Committee on Taxation to be scored and to Ways and Means Committee Legislative Counsel to be structured into a bill which we can then build support for right across both parties and both chambers. Of course, nothing related to Congressional lawmaking is as simple or as linear as that. There will be zig zags, delays and pitfalls along the way, but there are many groups advocating actively for progress on RBT and working hard to keep the process moving forward.

What can you do to progress RBT?

The best thing you can do to progress RBT is to reach out to your elected representatives to remind them of the importance of this reform to you and your family and to ask for their support. Personal stories are the most effective. Include as much detail as you feel comfortable sharing. Call, write or send electronic messages to your House member and Senators. All outreach to those counting on your electoral support is helpful. If you get a boilerplate response that scarcely relates to the message you sent, write again demanding more. If you get an interesting response that you think would be useful for us to know about in progressing our work, please end it through to us.  We will follow up with your member.

Also happening

We understand that a bill establishing a Commission on Americans Abroad and the Overseas Americans Financial Access Act, establishing an exemption from all FATCA reporting for the foreign financial accounts of Americans abroad in their countries of residence, are soon to be re-introduced in the House of Representatives. We will let you know when those bills drop and what you can do to demonstrate your support for them.

Send questions or comments to [email protected].

Democrats Abroad Taxation Task Force