The challenges facing “accidental” Americans in dealing with U.S. tax regulations have once hit again the American mainstream news. Accidental Americans are generally defined as individuals who have acquired U.S. citizenship through a parent, but who have not lived in the U.S. They are still subject to the same tax regulations as Americans living in, or who grew up in the U.S.
Bloomberg has reported how accidental Americans living in France are taking legal action against the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), claiming to have been denied proper banking services because of it. FATCA requires foreign banks to report financial accounts held by U.S. citizens to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the U.S.
France’s administrative Supreme Court is due to rule around the end of the year on a case that claims the application of FATCA is unconstitutional. On April 22, the NBC Nightly News also covered the challenges accidental Americans face when it comes to dealing with the FATCA regulations.
