On Friday November 19th, 2021 Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA08) introduced the Tax Simplification for Americans Abroad Act, a bill to greatly simplify tax filing for most Americans abroad. Download the draft here.
Democrats Abroad thanks Rep. Beyer for his leadership on this legislation and for his on-going support for the Americans abroad community. We are grateful for his determination to help us create a reform that would provide consequential tax relief for the majority of non-resident taxpayers in these complex and challenging times for creating policy.
- is for Americans abroad with income under $400,000 who owe no tax in the taxable year;
- replaces a number of IRS forms with a single form;
- also expands the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion to include foreign government social welfare, carer's leave, retirement benefits and education awards;
- has the support of the Ways and Means Committee staff, who helped conceive it;
- has the support of most Democratic members of the Ways and Means Committee, plus others in Congress;
- will simplify tax compliance by the vast majority of Americans abroad, who currently incur high compliance costs to prepare returns that indicate they owe $0 in tax;
- will expand tax compliance for those who have struggled to prepare filings on their own and cannot afford a professional to do the filing for them.
This bill is a great milestone but the provision has not been included in the House version of the Build Back Better Bill. We are working to persuade the Senate to include it in their version of the BBB Bill so that it can be enacted into law this year.
Tax reform will happen when enough Americans abroad contact their members of Congress and demand it. We encourage you to reach out to your Representative and Senators to ask for their support for this provisions and for it to be included in the Build Back Better Bill.
DEMOCRATS ABROAD TAXATION TASK FORCE