In line with the Democrats Abroad 2020 outreach to Treasury Sec Mnuchin and IRS Commissioner Rettig regarding the delivery of pandemic relief to Americans abroad, and with the American Rescue Plan with its $1,400 pandemic aid payment expected to be signed by President Biden later this week, Democrats Abroad has written to Biden-Harris Treasury Sec Janet Yellen requesting changes to improve both aid delivery efficiency and agency engagement with the Americans abroad community.
Click here to download our letter of March 3, 2021.
In brief we are seeking:
- access for Americans abroad to the IRS.gov online tools and taxpayer accounts;
- the option to have aid paid by direct deposit into our local (non-U.S.) bank accounts;
- a mechanism for reporting lost/missing aid checks;
- expanded IRS support telephone lines and online helpdesk for addressing the unique matters confronted by Americans abroad;
- a mandate that FreeFile system providers fully accommodate the needs of Americans abroad;
- IRS free, basic tax return preparation programs for low income filers (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance or VITA) and the elderly (Tax Counseling for the Elderly or TCE) expanded to include Americans abroad
- IRS-DOS collaboration in distributing tax information to Americans abroad; and
- a mechanism for organizations representing Americans abroad to maintain a direct and on-going dialogue with Treasury and the IRS to address the needs of the Americans abroad community.
We are pushing hard to see that our recommendations are embraced.
For information about accessing pandemic aid see this recent (March) posting.
DEMOCRATS ABROAD TAXATION TASK FORCE