The group, which calls itself the Americans in Switzerland Working Group, or AMISWG, has sent every member of Congress and the Obama administration a report which details how current US government policies are “negatively affecting the millions of US citizens who live abroad,” according to a statement distributed by the Geneva-based American Citizens Abroad, one of the AMISWG’s member organisations.
Others include the Overseas American Academy and the Swiss branches of both of the main US political parties, the Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad.
The report was based on information that emerged from a series of “town hall meetings” held in five Swiss cities earlier this year, the ACA statement noted.
An estimated 7 million Americans live abroad, most of whom are eligible, in theory at least, to vote in the US elections, normally by absentee ballots sent to them from the US town or city in which they last voted before moving overseas.
MaryLouise Serrato, executive director of ACA, said the report seeks to educate those running for office about the problems their overseas constituents, and other Americans living overseas, are facing as a result of such recent US legislation as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which was intended to crack down on Americans who hide assets in overseas bank accounts.
As the town hall meetings revealed, Serrato said, “many [expatriate Americans]… are finding that banks overseas are applying FATCA in a way that makes life very difficult for average, law-abiding American citizens who live and work overseas.”
She noted that marriages between Americans and non-Americans “are coming under great stress, because the non-American partner is understandably reluctant to share joint account information” with the US tax authorities.
Ed Karr, Director of Republicans Abroad in Switzerland, believes the fundamental problem lies in the “unique” American policy of citizenship-based taxation, “which has extremely adverse effects on U.S. exports and on the entire U.S. economy”.
The AMISWG report proposes a number of remedies to the problems facing expat Americans, including a proposal that the US move to a residence-based rather than citizenship-based tax system.
It also calls for direct representation for overseas citizens in Congress, so their concerns are more likely to be heard and addressed, as well as for the creation of an “Ombudsman for Americans Abroad” to “review and respond to challenges currently facing individual Americans living outside of the United States today”.
A copy of the report can be found on the web site of The Americans in Switzerland Working Group, by clicking here.
Earlier this year, the ACA wrote to both the presidential candidates to alert them to the issues facing expatriate Americans, and to urge them to support a a law recently introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), which calls for a study of how the US Government serves its citizens living outside of the country.
