American Citizens Abroad (ACA) webinar on how to pass Residence-Based Taxation (RBT) sparks community and Congressional interest.

Washington, DC
June 14, 2021

American Citizens Abroad (ACA) webinar on how to pass Residence-Based Taxation (RBT) sparks community and Congressional interest.

On May 25th ACA hosted a webinar on how Residence-Based Taxation (RBT) can be passed by the US Congress. ACA’s webinar covers the current landscape in Washington, DC, what work needs to be done to push RBT forward, what data and information the Congress and Administration need to achieve RBT, and how organizations like ACA and individuals can help make this happen. Click here for presentation slides.

Presenting for the organization are Charles Bruce, ACA Legal Counsel and Chairman of American Citizens Abroad Global Foundation (ACAGF), and Marylouise Serrato, ACA Executive Director. “Post-event feedback has been fantastic. Those attending appreciated the information and the update and, more importantly, have a better understanding of how organizations like ACA need to work with the processes on Capitol Hill to make RBT a reality,” said Jonathan Lachowitz, ACA Chairman.  The presentation has been shared with offices on Capitol Hill and other stakeholders.

ACA’s presentation focuses on how the organization’s knowledgebase in Washington, DC, along with its access to Congressional and Administrative offices, has been instrumental in advancing discussions on tax reform for Americans living and working overseas. The webinar also provides an overview of the Biden Administration’s various tax proposals and how Residence-Based Taxation (RBT) fits into these legislative priorities. ACA also notes the importance of revenue implications and cost to adopt RBT and stresses the critical need for good data and information on the overseas taxpayer community.

“Don’t be fooled into thinking that numbers don’t matter and that the cost to implement RBT will not be considered by the Congress and more importantly, the US Treasury Department and the IRS,” said Charles Bruce. “Also, no one on Capitol Hill wants to see legislation passed that will open the doors to criminal tax evasion. RBT as ACA proposes, won’t do that, but Congress will be sensitive to loopholes that could result in revenue loss through illegal gaming of the system,” added Bruce.

ACA highlights the research work done with District Economics Group (DEG) in 2017 to better define the size, income and investment make-up, taxation and compliance of the overseas community and ACA Global Foundation’s current fundraising campaign for a second round of research with DEG to update and refine the 2017 study. ACAGF is adding to the 2017 study that provided critical data on the community to offices working on tax reform. “As evidenced in recent Senate Finance Committee hearings, there is a lack of reliable data on overseas taxpayers and ACAGF undoubtedly has the best private-industry data,” said Marylouise Serrato, “Offices on The Hill are looking to ACAGF for more of this data and are asking ACA and ACAGF to provide it. Now is the time for the community to coalesce around a push for RBT. There is no better way to do this than to support ACA’s efforts in Washington, DC,” added Serrato.