As those following FATCA would expect, a great deal has happened this month – and it is not over yet.  This is due largely to (what we were treating as – see below!) the looming September 30 2015 deadline for the first transfer of the financial account information of US Persons to the IRS under the terms of the FATCA legislation, regulation and intergovernmental agreements.

Democrats Abroad has submitted our Delegate Selection Plan to the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee.  

The Delegate Selection Plan governs the process by which members of Democrats Abroad have a voice in the selection of the Democratic Presidential nominee. It also provides Democrats living outside of the United States the opportunity to represent Democrats Abroad as delegates at the Democratic National Convention from July 25-28, 2016 in Philadelphia.  

The proposed plan includes holding a Global Presidential Primary from March 1-8, 2016 in which votes may be cast in person, by regular mail, by fax, or by email. The plan also calls for Regional Caucuses in April or May and a Global Convention in mid-May.

More details to follow.

Update on our Grassroots Campaign in support of the FATCA Same Country Safe Harbor for Americans Abroad

It’s been a tremendously busy month for the FBAR/FATCA Task Force.  I’ll try to keep this account of our work succinct:

• As you know from last month’s report, the co-chairs of the Americans Abroad Caucus, Rep Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Rep Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), have drafted a letter from Congress to the Treasury and the IRS asking for them to urgently implement the FATCA Same Country Safe Harbor for Americans abroad.[1]  Representatives Maloney and Mulvaney circulated the letter on Capitol Hill with a covering letter asking their Congressional colleagues to sign on.
• Democrats Abroad launched our grassroots campaign shortly thereafter, asking Americans abroad to message their members of Congress urging them to sign on to the letter.  Our goal was 1,000 messages.
• At the end of the first week more than 5,200 individuals participated in the campaign.

Another step forward for FATCA Reform: Americans Abroad Caucus Chairs circulating FATCA reform “sign on letter” through the House.

This month Democrats Abroad and all those campaigning for relief from FATCA reporting for Americans living abroad hit a milestone in our advocacy campaign.

SPECIAL REPORT

Please note that the Task Force published a Special Update earlier this week on the publication in the New York Times of a nefarious Op-Ed suggesting that Democrats Abroad has neglected the interests of Americans abroad in the matter of FATCA.  Democrats Abroad has responded with a Letter to the Editor of the New York Times refuting the claim by demonstrating that the Same Country Safe Harbor provision that we and the non-partisan organisations of Americans Abroad are working for have a far greater probability of providing urgent relief from the FATCA burdens than a repeal bill or constitutional challenge.  We will notify members of the publication of our Letter to the Editor by the New York Times. 

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS FROM RESEARCH ON FINANCIAL ACCOUNT CLOSURES

Many thanks to all who responded to our request for help with the next phase in our FATCA Reform research and advocacy work.  We asked that Americans abroad impacted by FATCA-related financial account closures send to the FBAR/FATCA Task Force redacted copies of any bank documents - letters, emails, policy statements, other - that demonstrate a connection between FATCA compliance and a denial of financial service.

 Yesterday the New York Times published an Op-Ed about FATCA entitled “An American Tax Nightmare.”   The piece is a fairly accurate portrayal of the problems FATCA has created for ordinary Americans living abroad.

The piece goes on from there with less accuracy and a measure of speculation dressed up as fact.  Importantly, the piece suggests that Democrats Abroad and the Democratic National Committee have neglected the interests of Americans abroad where FATCA is concerned. 

As you know, Democrats Abroad established the FBAR/FATCA Task force in 2011 and has been working to reform FATCA for the last four years.  Our recommended FATCA reform is the Americans Abroad Safe Harbor.  This provision would exempt from FATCA reporting the accounts of American citizens who are legally resident in the country in which the account is held.  The non-partisan organisations representing Americans abroad[1] also support the Safe Harbor reform and are actively advocating for it.  Further, the Democratic National Committee demonstrated its support for FATCA reform with a resolution passed at its meeting in August 2014.

Democrats Abroad responded to this invitation from the Senate Finance Committee to provide input and ideas on reforming the US tax code to one or more of five Tax Reform Working Groups.  Democrats Abroad made a submission to the Individual Income Tax Reform Working Group and the International Tax Reform Working Group promoting our recommendation to reform FATCA, the FATCA Safe Harbor for Americans Abroad.  Our submissions and attachments to the papers are attached herewith.

During the week starting Monday February 23, 2015 Democrats Abroad was part of a "delegation" of representatives** from the following organisations representing Americans living outside the US which had a series of meetings in Washington DC about FATCA:

• American Citizens Abroad (ACA)
• Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO), 
• Democrats Abroad (DemsAbroad), and
• Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas (FAWCO) and FAWCO Alumni USA (FAUSA).

Subgroups of the members of the delegation conducted 35 meetings across the five days** with the offices of these officials and discussed 1) the adverse impact FATCA is having on Americans abroad[1] and 2) reforming the FATCA implementation rules to create a Safe Harbor from FATCA reporting for Americans abroad[2] and the banks and brokerage houses they have accounts with.

The Democrats Abroad FBAR/FATCA Task Force has some interesting developments to report, starting with the addition to the Task Force of two new members:  DeeDee Gierow of DA Sweden and Jim Black, formerly of DA Germany, now living in the Washington DC area.   We also provide herein a briefing on the FATCA Congressional “door knock” happening the last week in February and on an Obama administration proposal to provide tax relief to “accidental Americans” seeking to renounce their US citizenship.

51 COUNTRIES AGREE TO COLLECT FINANCIAL ACCOUNT INFORMATION FROM FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS FOR EXCHANGE WITH OTHER SIGNATORY COUNTRIES

In the course of our work advocating for reforms to FATCA the Democrats Abroad FBAR/FATCA Task Force also tries to keep an eye on efforts being employed elsewhere to address the problem of illegal tax avoidance.  More nations are recognising that in an increasingly globalized world, it is correspondingly easier for taxpayers to move assets into offshore financial institutions in order to potentially evade tax.  The Organisation for Economic Coordination and Development (OECD) has responded to long-standing concerns about the use of offshore accounts to hide assessable earnings from tax authorities by developing a coordinated, world-wide program to crackdown on tax evasion.