As a non-partisan organization representing the interests of all overseas Americans, FAWCO supports all efforts to eliminate or alleviate the damaging effects of FATCA. Since the very early days of FATCA, FAWCO has supported the “safe harbor” concept, which would eliminate from FATCA reporting the accounts held by overseas taxpayers in the country where they are fiscally domiciled. FAWCO's concern is the financial, professional, domestic and personal well-being of people abroad who are being treated like “tax cheats” because of financial accounts they must maintain in their countries of residence.
Particularly through its participation in the annual Overseas Americans Week, FAWCO continues to work to inform US policy-makers of the harm that FATCA does to overseas Americans. To counteract this harm, FAWCO recommends the following.
- Exempt from FATCA reporting all financial accounts held in the country in which the filer is a bona fide resident (as recommended by the National Taxpayer Advocate and the recently introduced H.R. 2136).
- Adopt, as an alternative to FATCA, the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and now adopted in 100 jurisdictions.
- Eliminate duplicative reporting as recommended by the National Taxpayer Advocate by developing a single reporting form, which satisfies the needs of all the relevant compliance organizations.
- Rethink the penalties related to FATCA reporting requirements, including both the 30% withholding imposed on Foreign Financial Institutions and the punitive fees imposed on individuals.
- Meet financial reporting obligations on Foreign Financial Institutions with the submission of 1099s that comply with US tax reporting standards.