Overseas Voters Are Not Impressed

‘….All the impassioned pleas to the party faithful, the stump speeches and attack ads back home can leave Expat Man feeling a bit flat. Like Bill Clinton of old, they may be “mad as hell,” but today’s overseas Americans are looking for more than just a ballot; they want a say.’

Continue reading at BloombergView

Americans Giving Up Citizenship in Record Numbers (2016)

‘The prospect of mogul Donald Trump sitting in the Oval Office has driven celebrities and commonfolk alike to contemplate moving to Canada — or any other country that is not America. Actress Lena Dunham is interested. Samuel L. Jackson is considering South Africa. Jon Stewart wants to leave the entire planet. Google reported a spike in searches for “move to Canada” after the Donald swept the Super Tuesday primaries in March.

And indeed, government statistics show record numbers of people are renouncing their U.S. citizenship. But it’s not Trump that has persuaded them to go. It’s taxes.’

Continue reading at The Washington Post.

Protecting Israeli Religious Charities from US Tax Authorities

‘The heads of charity organizations in the ultra-Orthodox society, commonly known as Gemachim, received at least a temporary measure of relief from the Knesset Finance Committee, chaired by MK Moshe Gafni (UTJ), ahead of a new amendment of the Income Tax Act that takes effect in September and compels Israeli financial institutions to report through the local tax authorities on the Israeli financial affairs of US citizens.’

Continue reading at the Jewish Press.

Only the US and Eritrea Do This Appalling Thing

‘This story may unnerve you…

It’s the story of how Eritrea, a tiny, mostly unheard-of country in East Africa, and the United States, do the same awful thing.’

Continue reading at International Man.

Fight for Taxpayers Draws Fire

‘The United States, through its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), has adopted the view that simply investing overseas, or being among the millions of American ex-pats who simply wish to bank where they also live and work, is reason enough to be suspected of tax evasion and treated accordingly. We reject the notion that overseas investing should result in a surrender of due process protections.’

Continue Reading at The Hill

FATCA Fall Out Closes A Million US Bank Accounts

Around a million of the 6 million US expats living overseas have had bank accounts closed due to Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), says a new survey.

Read the full article here.

Why Obama’s FATCA Law Is A Threat To Business Growth

One of the tax increases buried in Obamacare was an onerous and intrusive “1099″ scheme that would have required businesses to collect tax identification numbers for just about any vendor and then send paperwork to the IRS whenever they did more than $600 of business.

Read the full article here.