Many Expats Oppose Foreign Tax Law
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) does not get most expatriate Americans’ vote, according to a new survey of Americans living abroad conducted by deVere Group, a financial consulting firm.
Forty-eight percent of the 370 expats surveyed say they would vote for a presidential candidate who promises to repeal FATCA, a global tax law that has been in affect for a year. Twenty-nine percent say they would not vote for that candidate and 23 percent say they do not know. There are 7.6 million Americans living abroad.
FATCA is designed to thwart tax evasion by those living abroad. Opponents say it requires additional reporting requirements for those living abroad, requires substantial compliance obligations for non-American financial institutions and does little to curb tax evasion.
FATCA requires non-U.S. financial institutions to report to the IRS the financial information of Americans who have $50,000 or more in accounts.
To date more than 80 countries have signed intergovernmental FATCA agreements with the U.S. and 77,000 foreign financial institutions have signed up with the IRS. deVere Group is asking presidential candidates to make their feelings about FATCA known.
