Democrats Abroad is working extremely hard to get tax relief for Americans abroad into legislation being written RIGHT NOW. July was a huge month of activity and achievement in the fight for tax reform for Americans abroad.
In this update we share -
- DA’s success in getting tax writers in Congress to support a filing simplification for Americans abroad included in legislation this year
- DA’s GILTI Tax research survey NOW CLOSED for submissions by Americans abroad who own small businesses and need GILTI Tax Relief; and
- DA’s engagement with the National Taxpayer Advocate about improvements to IRS service for Americans abroad.
Details ARE below. Contact us at any time with questions: [email protected]
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Constituents of tax writers in Congress persuaded Representatives to support tax filing relief for Americans abroad! YES, YOU DID THAT!
In July we held Constituents Abroad Zoom meetings with members of Congress whose support for tax relief for Americans abroad is mission-critical. More than a hundred Americans abroad participated, and their stories helped us secure support for a filing relief for Americans abroad who owe no tax from these members of the all-important House Ways and Means Committee: Rep Don Beyer (VA08), Rep Judy Chu (CA27), Rep Suzan DelBene (WI04), Rep Brad Schneider (IL10), Rep Jimmy Panetta (CA20), Rep Mike Suozzi (NY03), Rep Mike Thompson (CA05), Rep Brendan Boyle (PA02) and Rep Danny Davis (IL07).
This is an enormous achievement and YOU CONSTITUENTS ABROAD who spoke directly to your elected representatives made it happen. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
We are also delighted to have the support of Rep Carolyn Maloney (NY12), Rep Dina Titus (NV01) and Rep Jamie Raskin (MD08). They are each greatly treasured supporters of the Americans abroad community. They are always available to us and are constant in their concern for our welfare. We are ever grateful.
Importantly, we also have the support of the House Ways and Means Committee staff who actually develop the bills. Their endorsement is very valuable. We are working with them to develop legislative language for legislative counsel who draft the bills.
Of course, we are asking for so much more for Americans abroad as well: FATCA relief, elimination of double and PUNITIVE taxation, removal of barriers to saving and investing (which exist both in our countries of residence and in the U.S.!), businesses abroad tax relief, and much more. The only remedy for ALL of the many ways the U.S. tax code discriminates against Americans abroad is for Congress to enact Residency Based Taxation. We are working with other organizations advocating for Americans abroad to progress a proposal to enact RBT.
Now that we have a small group of supporters, we need to continue to push other members of Congress to snowball support and ensure the reforms they support are reflected in policy making this year. We have meetings scheduled with Congress straight through the month of August and beyond. We’re doing everything we can on our end.
But we need you to help too. Our work through July proves that tax relief will happen when enough Americans abroad reach out to their elected representatives and ask for it. Please call or write to your own member of Congress tell them your US tax story and tell them we need tax relief in laws being written right now. Here’s how.
GILTI Tax Relief efforts – we need data THIS SURVEY IS NOW CLOSED TO PARTICIPANTS
Our discussions about GILTI Tax relief with tax writing committee staff have been productive. We now understand the serious technical obstacles to achieving the reform. They involve both tax code complexities and the IRS administration of the reform. And so we need the support of members of Congress to PUSH the W&MC staffers to find the solutions.
To persuade Congress we need more data on how the GILTI tax is impacting small to medium size businesses abroad.
If you are the owner of a company registered abroad that is being impacted by GILTI tax then we need you to tell us your story. Please click on this link to do our GILTI Tax research survey.
If you know someone who has a small to medium size business abroad, please tell them about this research and share the link with them. The more information we have, the better we will be positioned to profile the urgent need for reform.
GILTI tax changes will happen this year. There is a huge opportunity to get our reforms into the bill being written now. Your stories are essential to us persuading Congress to do that. Please do our survey now. It closes soon.
Americans Abroad Getting Help from the National Taxpayer Advocate
Taxpayer Advocate Services and the office of the National Taxpayer Advocate is a little known support agency for US taxpayers. The National Taxpayer Advocate, a position currently held by Erin Collins, publishes an annual report to Congress, known as The Purple Book. It includes recommendations for how the IRS could better serve U.S. taxpayers. There’s also a half year report published on 30 June that provides the status of matters the Advocate is monitoring.
Following the publication of the 30 June 2021 report Democrats Abroad wrote to the Advocate with a lengthy list of IRS issues relevant to Americans abroad that merit the Advocate’s attention. We also made recommendations for improvements to IRS service to our community. The letter is posted here.
In response, we have been contacted about by TAS for a meeting to present our recommendations. The meeting is happening this week. We look forward to reporting out about our discussion.
Please contact us at any time with questions: [email protected]
DEMOCRATS ABROAD TAXATION TASK FORCE