Expat Americans are giving up their passports

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

> Begin forwarded message:
>
> From: deva seetharam <deva.seetharam () gmail com>
> Subject: Expat Americans are giving up their passports
> Date: February 10, 2016 13:21:03 JST
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
>
> hi Dave, 
> for IP, if you think it is appropriate. (pls. keep me ANONYMOUS.)
>
> http://www.bbc.com/news/35383435 <http://www.bbc.com/news/35383435>
>
>
> ---snip---
> Reasons for giving up your US citizenship aren't officially listed, but one of the main reasons cited is Fatca - a 
> 2012 law designed to target overseas accounts held by wealthy Americans.
> The United States is one of only two countries in the world that has citizenship-based taxation (the other is 
> Eritrea). 
> As a US citizen you must file a tax return, no matter where you live, and often pay US taxes on top of the tax you 
> already pay in your country of residence - so-called double taxation. 
> This has been the case in the US since the Civil War in the 19th Century and until recently really only affected the 
> rich. Americans abroad are given a yearly allowance of $106,000 (£73,000) before double taxation kicks in. 
> But Fatca expands the scope of what can be taxed, and places a burden on foreign banks to identify US citizens among 
> their customers to US tax authorities. The penalty for failing to do so can be as high as 30% of all a bank's 
> dealings with the USA.
> ---snip---
>
>
> as a US citizen living in India, i have similar experiences as filing (filing has no allowance. every adult citizen 
> must file.) taxes in two places is not easy for the following reason:
> 1. financial years are not synchronised. financial years for the US and India end on December 31st and on March 31st 
> respectively.
> 2. Indian organisations don't issue documents such as W9 that help file taxes
> 3. Indian banks are not well-versed with the US banking laws and they are reluctant to support US citizens
> 4. every bank account that i am authorised to operate must be reported while filing taxes. for instance,  a bank 
> account of an ACM conference that i co-chaired has to be reported even though i cannot use a single penny of it. 
>
> oh well....
>
> -- 
> best regards,
> Deva P. Seetharam




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