Costa Rica Blog

All Americans Assumed to be Tax Evaders - living abroad or at home

Posted by Steve Linder on Tue, Apr, 09, 2013

All Americans Assumed to be Tax Evaders
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Many of you readers may be unaware of a few provisions that were slipped into the HIRE Act signed by President Obama back in 2010. Two key elements seem more aimed at Americans living outside the US than at jobs creation but are having sweeping effect on all foreign investment options for Americans, whether living in the US or abroad.

Under the guise of improving employment opportunities, the FBAR (the Foreign Bank Account Reporting) Act and the FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) have put tremendous international pressure on many foreign financial institutions, forcing them to become tax compliance offices of the US and IRS. Don't get me wrong, I am not a tax evader, nor a millionaire and most American citizens living abroad or simply with investments abroad are not tax evaders. The net result of these two new tools being used by the US government on every US citizen who owns any asset abroad should clearly be illegal and is a direct attack on our personal freedom as Americans. FBAR required the reporting of foreign bank account holdings, just as we all are required to report any income earned.

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Tags: Expats, FATCA, FBAR, Foreign bank account reporting, boomers abroad, Americans living overseas, Worldwide taxation