Defense Bill Amendment Would Offer FATCA Same-Country Exception

Defense Bill Amendment Would Offer FATCA Same-Country Exception by Andrew Velarde

 

 

'An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act offered by a high-ranking House Democrat would provide a long-sought-after same-country exception from the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, though questions remain on practical implementation.'

 

'House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., offered an amendment to the mustpass legislation sometime after July 5. If included in the legislation, it would modify sections 1471(d) (1) (withholding to a foreign financial institution) and 6038D (information reporting) to provide an exception for some individuals living abroad.'

 

'Maloney has been pushing for some relief from FATCA for overseas Americans for years. In 2015 she and several other lawmakers asked the IRS to provide an exception from FATCA reporting for financial accounts from countries where U.S. citizens are bona fide residents.'

'Charles M. Bruce, counsel for American Citizens Abroad, said that his organization was in strong support of and grateful for the amendment.
'A same-country exemption was inches away, in late 2016, from being put in the FATCA regulations but exasperatingly fell out,' Bruce said. 'The problem is ‘lockout’ of Americans abroad from their local foreign financial institutions — banks and the like. This does what should've been done years ago. There should be no controversy here.''