Banking

Citizenship

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The ACA Tax Return Preparer Directory

Passport revoked if you owe tax? 

On two recent occasions in 2014, Congressional Committees rejected riders permitting revocation of passports belonging to persons alleged to have over US$50,000 in unpaid tax liabilities.  Such a proposal could nevertheless be introduced in proposed legislation at any time.  ACA strongly OPPOSES the notion of revoking passports for the purpose of collecting tax debts.  Read more...

IRS Closures Worry Overseas Taxpayers

International tax observers, including ACA, Inc., are raising concerns about the IRS’s January 14th 2015, announcement that it will close the last of its civil-side enforcement offices in Frankfurt, Germany, London, and Paris.  Read more in this Tax Analysts article by Kat Lucero...

Revised FATCA Reporting Requirements

US taxpayers both in the US and abroad should be aware of the latest foreign bank account reporting requirements which are now in effect.  Read more....

Another New Tax Form for Americans Abroad

The Affordable Care Act now requires all Americans to have "essential coverage" for health care insurance.  US citizens living overseas, subject to US income tax, can be exempted from the "essential coverage" provision if they satisfy certain requirements.  Read more...

ACA worked hard to bring RBT to the attention of the legislature and the Administration.  Meeting with all members of the Americans Abroad Caucus, and the House Ways & Means and Senate Finance committees.  ACA has been asked by the committees involved in tax reform to provide our input on the tax treatment of Americans living and working overseas and the ACA proposal was most recently cited in the Senate Finance Committee’s Minority Staff report on tax reform.  Following up this, ACA has planned a series of meetings for the week of February 2nd 2015 to meet with new members of the Congress and continue our tax reform discussions with the key tax writing committees; Ways & Means and Senate Finance.  Read more...

Advocate Report Highlights Concerns for Overseas Filers

The National Taxpayer Advocate Report for 2014 highlights some serious concerns that the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) has for overseas filing requirements.  Read more...

ACA is pleased to see members of the Senate Finance Committee joining the growing chorus of supporters for Residence Based Taxation.  In a new policy paper (full report here), Republican staff of the Senate Finance Committee have proposed major changes to the way the United States taxes its citizens overseas.  According to the report, “The United States needs to rethink its taxing rules for nonresident U.S. citizens.”  Read the ACA press release dated December 19, 2014...

Why are US Mutual Fund Accounts being restricted to overseas Americans? 

For once it’s not US tax policy.  ACA Executive Committee and Board member, Jonathan Lachowitz explains why the landscape has changed for Americans overseas with US based mutual fund accounts.  Read more...

Changes in the US Tax Laws: How they impact US Citizens in the UK

The recent Town Hall Evening London was held on Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Key issues:

New US and UK tax rules: Opportunities and Pitfalls. 

US and UK pension and estate planning, key points for Americans in the UK. 

Catching up if you’re out of compliance for income tax and FBAR reporting.  What are your choices?  Is it less scary than you might think? 

ACA has released a short (90 seconds) educational video on FATCA highlighting how the legislation is affecting Americans legitimately living and working overseas.  ACA encourages all members and supporters to write to their representatives in Congress and educate them on FATCA.  Please let others know about FATCA by sharing the ACA video. 

Other Updates

The IRS has listened to ACA, the Taxpayer Advocate and tax professionals and included our suggestions and recommendations in their new Streamlined Foreign Offshore Procedures program (SFOP).  The program emphasizes simplicity over complexity and allows individuals to come into compliance without being subject to typical tax penalties (failure-to-file, failure-to-pay, accuracy-related, etc.).  This is a great step forward and shows that the IRS is aware that the community of Americans overseas are not criminal tax evaders.  This is in great part due to ACA’s efforts in Washington, DC, the Voice of Americans Overseas working to bring about positive change for Americans overseas.  See the link to our June 23, 2014, press release here . 

ACA, Inc. is a membership organization representing Americans abroad.  It is organized as a US tax-exempt social welfare organization operating under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.  Alongside it is American Citizens Abroad Global Foundation, a publicly-supported charity under section 501(c)(3).