# American Citizens Abroad

American Citizens Abroad, Inc. (ACA) is a 501(c)(4) non-profit, non-partisan organization, organized as a Delaware corporation. Its sister organization, American Citizens Abroad Global Foundation (ACAGF), is a 501(c)(3) non-profit non-partisan charitable organization focused on education and research. ACA is a leading representative of American citizens residing outside the USA.
ACA was founded in 1978 by the late Andy Sundberg and several other American citizens residing in Geneva Switzerland and neighboring France. In 2014 the principal offices were relocated to Washington D.C.
ACA maintains close contacts with the Americans Abroad Caucus, a caucus within the U.S. Congress originally established in 2007 under the direction of former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, currently chaired by Congresswoman Dina Titus. ACA interfaces with U.S. government administrations and other agencies to educate these offices on the effects of U.S. legislation and regulations on U.S. citizens living and working overseas. ACA publishes regular news items for its members with information on new legislation, rules and events which affect U.S. citizens, whether living overseas or in the USA.
ACA's web site also contains information on issues of concern to Americans overseas, including transmission of citizenship to children born abroad, taxation and voting. On taxation, ACA has written various pieces in its ongoing efforts to preserve the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE), which is vital for Americans living and working overseas to avoid full double taxation.
ACA endorses adoption of Residence-based taxation (RBT) to alleviate the compliance and double taxation issues arising from the current system of Citizenship-based taxation (CBT). ACA has published a side-by-side comparative study of how changes in the current tax regime could be made to move to an RBT system of taxation.
ACA played a significant role in improving the ballot request form used for absentee voting. Banking is another area of current activity to counteract the disadvantages felt by Americans residing abroad, who often cannot open new bank accounts, neither in the USA because they have no address there needed to satisfy the Patriot Act, nor overseas because of the extra paperwork requirements imposed by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). ACA endorses a Same Country Exception (SCE) for FATCA reporting for U.S. citizens living and working overseas whose in-country financial accounts should not be considered "foreign."
ACA works with U.S. embassies and other groups in a bipartisan manner on issues of common concern; it has co-organized town meetings around the world. In 2012, ACA founder the late Andy Sundberg produced a 10-page report "Issues of Concern for U.S. Citizens Working Abroad."
In July 2024 ACA officially registered as a lobbyist. ACA will lobby for residence-based taxation (RBT) and related tax bills in both chambers of the U.S. Congress. Americans living abroad want the U.S. tax code to be changed from citizenship-based taxation to residence-based taxation as is the case for most of the world's expats (persons living in a country of which they are not a citizen).
In order to finance this lobbying activity, ACA created a political action committee – the American Citizens Abroad, Inc. PAC (ACA-PAC). This PAC, in addition to support for lobbying, will be used to fund educational efforts such as presentations, conferences and hearings. Financial contributions to the PAC are accepted from members of ACA who are U.S. citizens.
ACA (along with other organizations representing Americans abroad) was a strong advocate for the "Social Security Fairness Act," which removes the Social Security provisions known as the "Windfall Elimination Provision" (WEP) and the "Social Security Government Pension Offset" (GPO). This bill was passed by the Senate on December 20, 2024 after previous House approval. WEP reduced Social Security benefits for individuals who were receiving pension and disability benefits from employment when they did not pay Social Security payroll taxes during a part of their career. Teachers, firefighters and many other state and local workers as well as individuals receiving foreign pension benefits, were affected by the WEP reduction in Social Security benefits for decades. It is estimated that these provisions (WEP and GPO) affected an estimated 3 million individuals.
The bill went to the President's desk, was signed on January 5, 2025 and is now law. ACA is pleased to have advocated for this legislation alongside other organizations representing the individuals affected by these provisions. ACA has long heard from members and supporters who have been negatively affected by the WEP provision and it has long been a platform issue of the organization. ACA continues to advocate for the removal of other provisions which negatively affect Americans residing abroad.