Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
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Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#2So are they policing all the corporations with this law too? Or just Average Joe?
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#3As a citizen of Uruguay I find the last paragraph very funny:
“I feel about the same obligation to file US tax papers as you would if the supreme court of Uruguay all of a sudden decided you were a citizen and had to file a tax return there,” he tells the Guardian.
By the way, Uruguayan citizenship is VERY easy to acquire. American expatriates (and dollars :) ) welcome here :)
Edit: easy as in requirements. There's a lot of paperwork involved.
http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/03/09/top-5-best-second-resi...
http://flagtheory.com/citizenship-in-uruguay/
"It will take approximately 3 years for a married couple, with a good amount of time spent in country. For singles, it will take 5 years – with a similar amount of time in country. This makes Uruguay more attractive for married couples rather than a single applicant.
Uruguay wants you to prove your residence by documentation – sometimes odd documents such as a doctor’s appointment slip, a library card. The idea is that they really want you to prove you are actually living in the country. This documentation is again, not always what you might expect – so document everything and when in doubt – shoe box it.
After you have received permanent residency, you should talk to an abogado about citizenship and travel document options. Again, permanent residency is required to be able to receive any kind of travel documents. Further, a cedula is somewhat considered a travel document as well and can allow you to get around South America in many instances.
Strong Travel Document
A Uruguayan passport is one of the strongest in the world. Under this passport, you can visit Europe visa free, and most Uruguayans have a 10 year American visa."
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#4So are they policing all the corporations with this law too? Or just Average Joe?
They are being more stringent with foreign banks that deal with Americans.
The foreign banks respond: "Ok, we won't deal with any Americans", which makes life harder for Average Joe Expat
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#5So are they policing all the corporations with this law too? Or just Average Joe?
If I understand correctly, the law is aimed at banks to disclose assets of americans with more than 50k in savings, the banks are overreacting and not handling accounts of any americans as a result. So I wouldn't say the law targets the average Joe (I know very few average Joes with $5k in savings, let alone $50k), but the banks are. Perhaps its a calculated move to get people upset with the IRS/Treasury to create backlash. I have no idea whether the root law impacts US corps.
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#6So are they policing all the corporations with this law too? Or just Average Joe?
It's part of a broad government push to repatriate American funds into American banks. There are similar regs coming (proposed?) related to Americans owning foreign corporations. All the same playbook; just keep funds on-shore, in this case by making life miserable for foreign companies that deal with American money.
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#7Note that if you are a green card holder, you are subject to the same rules, and face the same denial of service by the financial institutions.
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#8Random question:
If you had dual citizenship (e.g. Canadian + US), do you even need to tell a bank about your US citizenship when opening an account?
Can't you just open it as if you were a Canadian only? Even your US SSN wouldn't be associated with it, so for all the US G and the bank know you're just someone with the same name and birthday.
As a random aside: The US Gov is practically the only country in the world who tries to collect income tax from US citizens living abroad. The fact that Americans who move away have to file US tax returns for the remainder of their life is bonkers.
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#9[deleted]
Re: Americans abroad are giving up their citizenship as banks shut down accounts
#10So are they policing all the corporations with this law too? Or just Average Joe?
If I understand correctly, the law is aimed at banks to disclose assets of americans with more than 50k in savings, the banks are overreacting and not handling accounts of any americans as a result. So I wouldn't say the law targets the average Joe (I know very few average Joes with $5k in savings, let alone $50k), but the banks are. Perhaps its a calculated move to get people upset with the IRS/Treasury to create ba…
It's 50k in "financial accounts", which includes retirement funds, and the financial institutions expose themselves to enormous penalties if they fail to report a single customer.