AARO - Living Overseas and U.S. Elections

ONE - VOTE

If you are a U.S. citizen living overseas, you CAN and SHOULD vote. It's a little different from voting when you live in the U.S.

• The law allows you to vote in FEDERAL elections. Of course, that includes mid-terms, because all of the House and 1/3 of the Senate seats are up for election.
• You have to send in your ballot request EVERY YEAR. Why? Because, I think, you have to keep your election board apprised of your living abroad every year. And because you never know when there might be a special election because someone resigned or died.
• There are two websites for overseas voters that I recommend:
• Overseasvotefoundation.org is a non-partisan, non-government organization.
• fvap.gov is a non-partisan, government site run by the Department of Defense.

TWO - Find out who your candidates are.

• You need to know what district you're voting address is in: https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/CandidateFinder.htm
• Ballotpedia.org is a good source for finding the candidates. 

THREE - Connect to your candidates!

AARO is running a "Connect to your Overseas Constituents" campaign: https://www.aaro.org/election-2018-candidate-statements-for-expat-americans  We are asking three questions pertaining to U.S. citizens living overseas to all the candidates in the general election.

• If you live in one of the states AARO is highlighting, check the responses from your state and then go to: https://www.aaro.org/advocacy/voting/729-help-connecting-to-the-candidates  to see our recommendations for contacting your candidates.
• Even if you do not live in one of these states, you can contact your candidates, just to let them know you exist and what some of your issues are as U.S. citizens in a foreign country.

 For those who are not familiar with my involvement with AARO, I am a former board member and still active volunteer. AARO is the Association of Americans Resident Overseas. www.aaro.org

Meetings, meetings, meetings

My nature is to volunteer. I do. I left the AARO board, but not the committees and I'm still organizing most of the Paris events, but I insist that others find the topic and the speakers and let me just handle the logistics.
Nothing was scheduled in April. That didn't bother me after a busy March. But then, an urgent meeting came up -- to present the new repatriation (transition) and GILTI taxes imposed on U.S. shareholders of foreign corporations. The motivation for those was the money hoarded abroad by U.S. corporations in their foreign subsidiaries. It also affects the Americans who live abroad and has a (small) company, like a restaurant, hair salon, or a service company, who have no intention of "repatriating" the profits to the U.S. because they don't live in the U.S. No more about that. I'll post the link to the report when available for anyone really interested.
The meeting was decided just as we were on our way to the south of France, in the second week of April. Paul was driving and I was trying to reserve a conference venue by phone. As soon as we would go over a hill, I'd lose the signal and have to start over. The meeting was scheduled for May 2. The month of May, in France, is a difficult month. May 1 and May 8 are fixed holidays; Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Monday are floating holidays. When these days are close to one another or close to weekends (Tuesday or Thursday) you get what are called "ponts". People bridge over the workday (Monday or Friday) to create a 4-day weekend. When they are all close together, people manage to get a whole 10 vacation with only a few work days in the count. Now, add in the two days of train strikes in every 5-day period! May 2 was not a strike day, but May 3 was and that could have impeded people needing to leave on May 3 from coming, at all. There was no availability at Reid Hall, so we held the meeting at FIAP Jean Monnet, which is, in my opinion, a fine conference center. The speakers agreed.
All of the May mess makes any hope of people showing up for a hastily scheduled meeting a risky hope. May 1 was Tuesday, so many for many of the expected professional audience, May 2 would be the start of their week. I was overly optimistic, but we were not too far from breaking even. oof.
The next meeting, coming up, is May 7 -- yikes! That's the Monday before May 8, in the bridge! It's the meeting dealing with how to declare your French taxes -- generally speaking and your U.S. income, specifically. We couldn't get the big room at Reid Hall for this, so we settled for a smaller room and it's sold out. The original date for this meeting was May 23, but people who are filing in France for the first time have a May 17 deadline, so we had to push it up. The deadlines for filing online are different, depending on what "département" you live in. In the Parisian area, we are lucky, having until mid-June.
There have also been committee meetings: a communications project and further advocacy on this repatriation and GILTI tax issue. But at least I had nothing to do with the scheduling.
Once the French tax meeting is over, Paul and I will be off on another excursion. More about that, later.

Thoughts

I think I may be closer to renunciation. I need to have a long discussion with the kids. Those of you who know me know that this has been on my mind for several years. It comes in waves.
That said, I'm still an American resident overseas and a member of AARO and I still support AARO and think it is a good association. I encourage Americans residing overseas, or thinking of it, to become members of AARO. I especially encourage young adults, even those Americans born abroad to be become members.
To take my mind off such matters, I've been knitting. My aim is to reduce the stash of yarn I have. Some of it has been stashed since we moved to this house in 1985. Some, most, is more recent because I got over-enthusiastic in my purchases since bringing my machine out of hibernation. I've since added more machines, but I only work on one project at a time.

On Sunday morning, before going out, I experimented and made a poppy. I based it on Safia Addnan's YouTube demonstration of a five-petal flower. It only took a few minutes to make. Of course, in England and other Commonwealth countries, the sale of poppies goes to support veterans and if you can, you should contribute, even if you wear this nice knitted poppy. I wore it the other day and got compliments.
In France, the symbolic flower for WWI is a cornflower, not a poppy. I haven't figured out how to knit that. They don't make such a big thing of it, here. If there is a charity to donate to for this, specifically, I don't know what it is. Here's the story and the poem behind it and in English. Looking at the picture on the wikipedia page, it looks like it could be done: two five petal flowers, where you create slits (cast off and cast on again) to avoid the rolling. One larger than the other. I'll try it out. In the evening, hand-knitting. I'm on socks, again.

Spring Update

It's no surprise; I don't feel like writing much these days. Looking back, though, over the past 3 or 4 months, I haven't been sitting, watching the world go by.
We went to the UK at the end of February for a lovely visit with the family, there. No, we didn't do much -- just appreciated the family! That's enough for us. On my birthday, the very day, at the beginning of February, I found just the knitting machine I'd been on the lookout for -- a brother "bulky" machine with its ribber. It was my birthday. I figured it was meant for me, so I arranged to buy it from the very nice lady in Bedford -- not far from Northampton, really. I asked G. if he could pick it up for me, pay the lady in cash.... And he did. So, when we arrived at the end of the month, by car, it was waiting for me and all I had to do was pay G. back.
I managed to set the machine up just before leaving for the US in mid-March. I even managed to make a scarf for T. for his birthday! There were a few sloppy patches -- dropped stitches in the Fisherman's Rib -- that I had to repair by hand, but nothing catastrophic. I also made a scarf for my high school friend in Florida, T.
This leads to the trip to the US -- first a night in Philly with M. T. and her husband. Very enjoyable evening with these old, old family friends (our grandparents were close friends, already) and then into Philly in the morning for an agreeable meeting with the Commissioner for Elections at the Election Board to discuss some of the glitches in the absentee system -- between the Board of Elections and the pavoter site.
After the meeting, I took the train to the airport and caught my flight down to DC, where I got a new metro card and hopped onto the metro to go out to T. and B.'s. Friday evening was T' 90th birthday party! Earlier that day, I had a cup of coffee with K. and talked about what was happening as far as our overseas Americans issues were concerned. He's been working with the Republicans Overseas on their tax proposal, which promotes territorial taxation. He's also been involved with setting up a Congressional hearing on FATCA, to be held later this month. He's also very homesick for France. When I got back to the house, I saw my cousin T. and R. for a little while, before we all went off to get ready for the party. It was a wonderful family reunion. Cousins not seen for a long, long time. Family never met before. My brother, J., and T, of course, down from Pittsburgh. Lively conversation. A successful party!
Sunday, I moved out of their house to go to the airbnb room I had rented in DC. It was simply a room this time, not a whole apartment, as I had no one to share with. The apartment belongs to a charming young engineer. We didn't run into each other very much. The only complaint I could have was the spotty wifi connection. I could connect if I was in the living room sitting in front of the box, but as soon as I went back to my room, the connection was gone. It was not far from the U-street station and just a little farther to the Dupont Circle station.
On a map, nothing looks far. I got off the metro at Dupont Circle and walked down to the Staples at 19th and L to pick up the printing of our position papers that I had ordered on line. It was a bit longer walk than I had thought it would be, but since I stopped for lunch on the way, it was a nice walk. On the way to my room though, it was a much longer walk, even if I didn't go back up to Dupont Circle, and dragging my suitcase and the printing was not pleasant. The room was on 15th, between R and S.
Early in the evening, I walked over to Dupont Circle -- the others were staying close by. We met at the Cosmos Club, which is just behind the Phillips Collection. I arrived early enough to spend a little while at the Phillips. They had a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit on. My back gave out after only half an hour, so I wandered off to the Cosmos and ran into N. just as I entered the building. I distributed our position papers to the others.
We had some interesting meetings both on and off the Hill. I've written my reports and talked about it since coming back and do not want to dwell on it, here. For me, the week was over after the meeting at the State Department on Friday. I went back to my room to collect my suitcase and then took the metro to the airport.
There was a big P family gathering in Orlando to celebrate Roger. BIG. On Saturday, 18 of us went to the New Smyrna for a day at the beach. I fell asleep and the back of my legs got a bit burnt. In the evening, there was a big dinner party for family and then more people came as dessert time for the celebration of his life. G. has published a wonderful book of his musings, poetry, and artwork, which I was able to pick up before leaving. Sunday morning, we all gathered at the house for brunch. It was ever so pleasant to be with the clan. The day went on and we had scrumptious leftovers and not just leftovers. After the week in DC, I felt relaxed, at last.
Monday, I took off, on my own, to visit T and her husband on the west coast of Florida. First, I left the road to go to a yarn shop in Winter Haven, Four Purls. They couldn't have been nicer, but they did not have the kind of inexpensive cotton I was looking for. They had plenty of other beautiful yarns and if any Floridians who knit or crochet are reading this, I recommend the place. Then it was back roads through rural Florida -- horse farms, mostly -- to T's. And we gabbed and gabbed and gabbed and watched a movie (Lion) and gabbed and gabbed. I must compliment her husband on his patience with us. They treated me to a great buffet style restaurant -- nothing special, just plain good food.
I guess I wasn't as relaxed and back to my normal state as I thought I was. I managed to convince myself that my flight back was on Tuesday, so instead of spending the day and another night at T's, I ended up rushing back to Orlando, picked up the book from G., and rushed to the airport. There, I discovered I didn't have my passports and French wallet. I had left them in the safe at the hotel in Orlando on Monday morning! Panic. Calls to the hotel and finally the receptionist on the phone with me got into her car to bring them to me. Then, the realization that my ticket was for Wednesday, not Tuesday. I was so upset. I gave the receptionist a nice tip and thanked her but did not mention the date mixup! I couldn't. All this had taken quite some time. I would have missed my flight had it really been for Tuesday. I was still upset at having gotten all mixed up. I went to find an inexpensive hotel near the airport with shuttle service (I had turned in the car, of course.), ordered a pizza, and watched TV until I fell asleep. The next morning, I spent about an hour by the pool and took the shuttle back to the airport with lots and lots of time before my flight, so I managed to get off my thank you notes and have a nice lunch.
Back to France and departure almost immediately for four days in Valencia with our Pierwige friends. Not all of them. This time we were a group of 3 couples. Valencia is a beautiful city. The architecture is grandiose and each building is different. It's a change from the Haussmann uniformity of Paris. Different colors, different styles. This was a pleasant break. M. had done all the organizing, so kudos to her, and I just relaxed and got over my jetlag.
Upon return to France, this time, we had the AARO annual general meeting on March 31, which I had had the responsibility of organizing. It went off well. A. had gotten us our guest speaker, Jim Bittermann, who was exceptional. He spoke on the state of the media. It was a refreshing subject -- not American-centric, not Paris or French-centric. The following week, it was the Tax 202 seminar (Tax 101 was on March 6) and I had had the responsibility of that one, too. During that week, we also had a 5-year-old grandson staying with us. We had done some gardening in the gorgeous Spring weather and my back was killing me on Thursday. It still is, in fact.
The first week of Spring break, then, we had S. with us and this past week, he and sister and mother have been at her parents'. It was A's birthday, this week. We went to the Al Thani jewel exhibit at the Grand Palais.
I've done some knitting, but can't sit for long periods because of my back. Writing this has taken me to the limit, today.

The annual trek to Washington

Before going to Washington, I had a nice birthday party the Sunday before, at home. Then, my actual birthday; Paul and I went out to eat after attending an interesting book presentation at the American Library in Paris (Forgotten: the Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes....) On Claire's birthday, I left -- but not straight to DC. I flew to Orlando to visit the cousins, there. The flight to Philly was an hour late and the line to get through immigration a bit long, but since I only had carry-on, I managed to run to the other terminal and catch the flight to Orlando. The plan was that I would rent a car, but when I took out my licence I took a look and discovered Paul's licence! So, no car rental for me and this meant that Paul must be driving with my licence. I caught a cab and went to Maitland for a very agreeable weekend -- an art show, a visit to an orchid farm, a great dinner at home with littler cousins, dinner out, brunch, a movie (Hail Caesar) and then a Sunday flight to DC.
In DC, I had reserved the same airbnb apartment V. and I had shared two years ago in the Adams Morgan section between the Woodley Park and Columbia Heights metro stations. I arrived by about 3 and my roommate, CLF, arrived at about 10 at night. I had time to go to the supermarket, eat, and take a nap. When CLF arrived, we started talking like old friends, already, and sat down to work, assembling the handouts.
I posted blurbs about our days on facebook, only about meetings that I was able to attend:
"Today, we start our rounds of Overseas Americans Week -- AARO and FAWCO. In fact, this year, we have two delegations: this week's and another to follow at the end of the month."
"First meeting done -- my Congressman's office. The Legislative assistant we met with this year seemed more aware of our issues. She had researched FATCA, for example, so my remarks were not new. This year, though, although we present our overall goals, we are concentrating a one issue, which is the passport revocation business in the FAST Act. She acknowledged that the office had received the letter from the Americans Abroad Caucus heads and would see that the Congressman considered signing it."
"Second meeting -- in Mick Mulvaney's office. He's a co-chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus. What I had not realized before was that the bills go to the Representatives' offices until about 36 hours before the vote. They are parsed among office staff for a quick read through. This explains why everything is a reaction to a passed bill rather than proactive. So we, the organizations, are the ones to alert the caucus to the problems, not the other way around."
"After that, the group spllit and I went to my Senators' offices, first Senator Casey, then Senator Toomey. In both cases, very good meetings. In Senator Casey's office, I met with two people, one legislative aide who was very aware of the FATCA issue and "I brought up the passport revocation business and also expressed my disappointment that the Senator was associated with the idea of not allowing people who had renounced (ostensibly for tax reasons) to re-enter the US. She was accompanied by an aide, more an intern, from Australia, who immediately understood the absurdity of citizenship-based-taxation.
"Immediately after that meeting, I rushed off to Senator Toomey's office. He wasn't around in 2010 for the HIREAct, but he is against FATCA. His aide was very interested in the implications of the passport revocation part of the FAST Act and has bookmarked it in order to keep an eye on it...."
"Then a meeting, very nice, in Carolyn Maloney's office and we talked about the letter that is being drafted and should be ready before we leave (fingers crossed) and how to target Representative's offices with high vollume of voters residing overseas."
"After all that, we all met with H. D. P. -- a very good meeting of the minds." This was particularly interesting, as he is an American living in the DC area who had been thinking of moving, which is how he got interested in the issues of living overseas. He's become a real expert, very helpful in the facebook group, always informative, not inflammatory, and he's even drafted comments and testified at Congressional committee meetings.
"Second day -- my first meeting was in Congressman McGovern's office. He is a member of the Americans Abroad Caucus and the meeting went very well. His staffer was aware of our issues and said she would have the Congressman take another look at the bill on the creation of a commission for his sponsorship. And she'll be looking out for the letter from the Caucus co-chairs on the passport revocation issue."
"Second appointment in Representative Carson's office (IN). He is also a member of the Americans Abroad Caucus and the staffer working with the caucus is the legislative director -- a good thing. He told me that he's heard from many constituents abroad about FATCA and other issues. Proof that your letters count.  Write to your representatives even if they sometimes seem unresponsive, volume will make them sit up and listen, eventually."
"We all got to Representative Beyer's office. He's the former ambassador to Switzerland and now the representative in northern Virginia, around Washington. He's very aware of the problems faced by those of us abroad and or constituents relocating from the US."
"In the afternoon, we had back to back meetings in Senator Rand Paul's and Senator  Ted Cruz's offices. Good meetings.Yes, Keith, we mentioned the conversation you had about the social taxes on income. We found out where Gray, Paul's tax expert from last year went (to a think tank); we had a very good discussion with Cruz's deputy legislative director, who is very much aware of all the tax issues we have and the discussions going on about territorial taxation for corporations and equivalent resident-based-taxation for individuals. He is also aware of the passport revocation implications for US citizens who live abroad."
"Third day -- Meeting 1 done at the Tax Foundation, where good questions were asked and they were truly interested in the individual taxpayer's situation."
".... The meeting at the Tax Foundation was good and concise, so we didn't have to rush to the next meeting in Senator Rubio's office. His aide told us that the Senator was firmly in the "RBT" group. Good to know. He was also concerned about the passport revocation punishment in the FAST Act."
"Then, we all headed to a meeting in Senator Crapo's office, where the implications of citizenship-based-taxation on home-based businesses was not lost.The Senator is in favor of territorial taxation for corporations and the jump to residence-based-taxation for individuals is a tiny step.
After lunch, we headed to the American Banker's Association for another good exchange. Of course, they have no influence over foreign institutions, but since US banks have been clearing out US citizens with foreign addresses, it is good to have these exchanges to see what we can do to help the US banks see the market potential of having us as customers rather than leaving us without accounts."
"Okay, sorry for the lack of updates today, but we were on the move all day.
We started with caucus members' offices: Reps.Capuano (MA), Davis (CA), and Doyle (PA). Again, they all emphasized how important it is to have contituents writing to them. Even if you think they are brushing you off and sending you replies that have nothing to do the subject, keep it up."
"We had time before the next scheduled meeting, so we stopped by Mia Love's office. In this (Facebook) group, earlier this week, someone had posted the article about her proposing a bill that would make bills stick to a single subject. It's a laudable idea, but one that will not really get far, since every expense requires a "pay for", and that guarantees unrelated subjects getting into a bill. However, it seemed to us that perhaps she might be interested in the Americans Abroad Caucus -- that she would see how these other subjects tend to affect us. Her chief of staff came out and was very, very interested."
"Then we stopped by Steven Russell's office, on the suggestion of T.M., and again had a most interesting meeting."
"Then, it was time for a brisk walk over the hill to Senator Hatch's office, where the two staffers we met with asked very pertinent questions. We wanted to visit that office because he was instrumental in the FAST Act. They couldn't tell us who, precisely, came up with the passport revocation provision and they were suitably appalled at the effect it could have on non-US residents. They asked lots of questions."
"Our last meeting on the hill was with Senator Sanders staffer on the budget committee and again, he truly wanted to understand the difficulties due to FATCA, due to our system of taxation. He asked good questions and will talk to the boss."
"Our last meeting on the hill was with Senator Sanders' staffer on the budget committee and again, he truly wanted to understand the difficulties due to FATCA, due to our system of taxation. He asked good questions and will talk to the boss."
"The day ended meeting with our old friend who has become a commissioner on the Election Assistance Commission. Discussion of voting, rather than taxes, for a change!"
"This morning (Friday) -- light schedule -- we had an appointment at Rep.Connolly's office and had a very constructive meeting with suggestions how to be more effective, how to, perhaps, change the language of the position paper on the passport revocation, address committee staffers of upcoming bills... We need  to better monitor upcoming bills."
"We stopped in to "report" back to Reps.Maloney and Mulvaney's offices. And then, we had time to stop at Rep. Perlmutter's office because over in the Americans Expatriates group, one of his constituents had mentioned whom to contact. I've finished for this week. Off to see my aunt and uncle in Bethesda and then return home tomorrow. It's been a good week. Please write to your representatives. Be polite, and diplomatic, and be to the point. Inform them. We can't see them all, although we hope next year, with a new Congressional Session starting, we will be a larger delegation to visit more offices."
There were only three of us for this Overseas Americans Week, so two more are going this weekend for three days of meetings next week. I spent some time preparing those appointments, too. And I still have to do my thank you notes for all the meetings I was in. Oof!

Memorial Day weekend, 2015

End of ceremony -- all the flowers laid

It was my honor and privilege to represent AARO at the Memorial Day ceremony at the Escadrille Lafayette Memorial in Marnes-La-Coquette. This was my third visit. I could almost insert photos from last year or the year before, but I won't. That would be cheating. Besides, the sky was different each time.
AARO did not present a flower piece this year; we made a contribution to the association for the restoration of the monument. Mr. Blumrosen, president of the association announced that this restoration will be completed by April, 2016, in time for the 100th anniversary of the Escadrille. Not only will the monument be cleaned up on the outside, the crypt will also have some work done on it. The Memorial is not just the monument; it's the whole park, and there will be other work done on the site. (For more on the history of the Escadrille, see wikipedia, in English, or in French.)
It's always a moving ceremony. Some parts are always the same: the military bands playing behind the monument where you can't see them; the same, excellent, master of ceremony; the flyover, which we could see this year since it wasn't raining and the cloud cover was high; many of the same speakers, including the mayor of Marnes-la-Coquette, who, each year, delivers a different speech in French and in English, and each one is pertinent and moving; the generals; the person from the US embassy, the Deputy Chief of Mission this year and who spoke in French. As much as it is always the same, it is not boring, at all; it's moving. This year, with current events in Africa and the Middle East being what they are, I found the speeches even more moving; the speakers brought together the motivations and actions of the volunteers of 1916 and those of our military forces today.

We could see the flyover this year --
4 Mirage 2000N

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Lost Potential

I started this post almost a month ago and then got sidetracked because I reread Phyllis's book then traveled a bit.
 Many, many years ago, back in 1961, Phyllis Michaux and a group of friends founded the A.A.W.E. At the time, US citizenship was hard to come by. By marrying a foreigner and living in the foreign country, and subsequently giving birth abroad, meant that the children might not be American if they, themselves, did not live for a prescribed time in the US. These American Wives of Europeans (The group is much less restrictive in reality -- unmarried women, men with non-European partners are welcome. It is Paris-based.) were unhappy about that. They would lose their citizenship if they took the foreign nationality, and they did not wish to do that, and they were raising their children to love the American side of their families. They worked hard to change the citizenship rules.
Phyllis wrote a book, The Unknown Ambassadors, in which she discussed all the ways we contribute to the United States. At the time, of course, Americans were a rare curiosity. Even in the 70s, when I arrived, we were called upon to explain what the US was doing in Vietnam. Why were we bombing Cambodia? What was this shooting at Kent State? What kind of system is this electoral college? It didn't matter what our own political leanings were, we explained. We still do. What was the fuss over Watergate? What was the fuss over Clinton's sex life? What's the fuss over health care? We are, whether we want to be, or not, a window to our country.
In the 60s, many US companies sent executives abroad to expand their businesses. Those expats brought American goods to foreign countries. So did we permanent Americans abroad. Our little celebrations of Halloween, Thanksgiving, even the way we celebrated childrens' birthday parties seeped into the local culture, as did our breakfast cereals, cookies, and other home delicacies. On return trips, we no longer pack our suitcases full of things we can't find, because we can find almost everything, now. Ordering a turkey for the end of November is no longer a jaw-dropping request. There are chocolate Easter bunnies with the chocolate fish and chickens. Is this a good or bad thing? I'm not going to judge. All I know is that by doing some things the way I grew up influenced my neighbors who liked what they saw and started doing it, too.
In the 70s, a washing machine that could also dry came onto the market, here, in France. It was expensive, but we bought one, because dryers simply were not available. Later, in the early 80s, we got a separate washer and dryer. My neighbor couldn't see the need for a dryer. (Well, she did have a yard, and I was in an apartment and had four young children!) After her first trip abroad, to Canada, she came home and ordered a dryer. Of course, by this time, the US was no longer exporting appliances, so it was just the concept we were importing.
Back to the children. Back in the 1960s and 70s, when Phyllis and some others created AARO the battles were to have our children become American citizens and to be able to vote: "Totally ignorant of the actual workings of the legislative process, we really believed that if Congress could be made to recognize that these young people would grow up able to work and live with ease on both sides of the Atlantic, changes in the law would inevitably follow. Our government would recognize their potential value and, ceasing to reject them, welcome them as valuable elements of the postwar generation." (Phyllis Michaux, The Unknown Ambassadors: A Saga of Citizenship, Aletheia Publications, 1996)
We learned how Congress works. Today, a child born to an American parent abroad is an American. In order to get the child a US passport, one has to report the birth of a US citizen abroad at the embassy or consulate, but even if one neglects to register the birth, never gets the passport, never travels to the US, the child is still an American. Most of us, though, were quite happy to go to the Embassy and get that first passport. We were happy and even anxious to speak English and feeling very guilty if we didn't. We took the kids to AAWE parties for American-style festivities. Many of the children went on to college in the US. They took their other language and other culture to the States, thus enriching life, there. Some fell in love and or got a job in the US; they stayed on. One could almost see a cycle of coming and going.
What is happening, now? The United States has a most unique tax system: citizenship-based taxation. That means that even if you don't live there, you must file your US tax return every year and include your worldwide income and report all foreign (non-US) accounts to the Treasury. Many non-US residents misunderstood or didn't even know about it. Some in the US conjectured that the US was missing out on a lot of income tax from overseas income, so they came up with FATCA, the foreign account tax compliance act, even though most who do file from abroad owe no tax. This requires financial institutions to ferret out all their US customers and report on them. The banks are doing it and either shutting the accounts held by the US customers or requesting them to fill out forms and such. This has alerted many who were unaware of their obligations that they do have such obligations. The penalties for non-filing are very severe, whether tax is due, or not. For many, the solution is to not be an American, to renounce. Renunciation comes at a price (a $2300 renunciation fee plus the cost of doing several years back tax returns and account reports if one hadn't done them plus a lawyer or qualified C.P.A. to help out). The ones most likely to renounce are the American children born abroad and the accidental Americans, the ones born in the US to foreign parents and who never really lived in the US. The US only sees their potential as taxpayers, none other, so the country will lose them as potential ambassadors. In addition, the country will lose those of us who followed our hearts and chose to live and work almost our entire adult lives elsewhere.

OAW - Some personal thoughts

Here we are, the week has flown.  It's really time to write an update.  Aside from seeing our own Representatives' and Senators' offices, most of our meetings were concentrated on the tax and banking staffers of the tax, finance, and banking committees. We have also seen the National Taxpayer Advocate's staff, the Joint Committee on Taxation, Treasury,  and two of the Senate Banking Committee staff.

Will there be comprehensive tax reform soon? Unlikely. Just as residence-based-taxation is a concept that certain offices find attractive,  the consensus is that its time has not come, yet. It seems ingrained in American exceptional-ism.

Will FATCA be repealed? Well, Senator Rand Paul introduced a bill on Wednesday that would repeal at least some sections of FATCA, the sections that are an invasion of privacy.  John and Lucy met with Rand Paul's FATCA expert on Tuesday and were very impressed by him. In any event, as John says, the train has left the station. Many other countries have jumped on the FATCA bandwagon, so whether you call it FATCA or something else, automatic exchange of financial information will happen worldwide and, according to the people at Treasury, the discrimination will stop.

Could FATCA be tweaked to allow the “same country exclusion”? For the first time since we started talking about this idea (this is my third year and it was on the agenda before I started coming to DC on these OAW campaigns), it has been suggested that our local banks might not agree with it as it puts a burden on them to certify our “bona fide  residence”. We need to find out.

Can the threshold of the FBAR be raised? Who would be responsible for that? Treasury? Congress? It's a hot potato.

We are visiting the right offices. They appreciate our positions. They want us not to give up.

And what about bank discrimination on the part of US banks and brokerages against Americans with foreign addresses. Is it FATCA related? Does it have something to do with Dodd-Frank? The S.E.C.? We have never gotten an answer from the banks and brokerages. Can the Congressional offices get answers?

We do sometimes manage to slip in some of our other issues: raising the threshold of exclusion for social security income, for example, but this year is really dedicated to the tax and banking concerns.

What's next for AARO? We need to collect documentation that FATCA is the cause of discrimination against Americans with foreign accounts and we need to get documentation explaining the reason for US financial institutions discriminating against Americans with foreign addresses. We have the documents that show the discrimination, but very few say why. Send documents to banking@aaro.org. 

Yikes, it's been a whole month!

Last night was my birthday treat! Yes, back in February, I was given a voucher for the Joan Baez concert, the last in the series, for October 7. And we didn't forget; we didn't get the date mixed up. It was wonderful. She's wonderful. Still wonderful. The first time I saw her in concert was in Los Angeles, when I was at Pitzer. It must have been in late '68 or '69. Then, in 1980, she gave a concert in Nogent sur Marne at the Pavillon Baltard, to which I strolled over with Rosette. A few years later, Paul and I saw her at the Palais des Sports at the Porte de Versailles in Paris. And now, the Olympia.
We had to leave England after a very short weekend visit to celebrate Constance's first birthday! We drove up there on Thursday and back home on Monday. We got to see everyone, but it was too short a trip. And I've got another super trip to the States coming up in November.
On Monday morning, I missed an important AARO breakfast meeting with Senator Mike Lee and lawyer, James Bopp, who are drumming up support for the anti-FATCA litigation. This meeting was not a fund raising event, but it was to inform us about the litigation. Luckily, Victoria attended and has published her report.
Family -- I'll try get some family photos up on line and will send you the link.

Memorial Day, in France

For the second year, I represented AARO at the Memorial Day ceremony at the Esquadrille Lafayette Memorial in Marnes-la-Coquette yesterday. Why Saturday? Well, Memorial Day, the US holiday, is not celebrated here. Veterans Day, November 11, is for memorial. I spoke to an officer who was coordinating with the Mirage pilots for the flyover and he explained that Saturday was the only day that air traffic control could clear the passage for the flyover. The 4 jets did indeed fly over, at precisely 11:01, but because of the cloud cover, we didn't see anything. We could hear them, though. The rain came and went several times during the ceremony.
The speeches were excellent. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. I especially appreciated hearing the mayor of Marnes-la-Coquette, Mme. Barody-Weiss, again. As she did last year, she gave two different, but similar speeches in French and English. One is not the translation of the other. The texts she quotes from are different, but you can tell that time was spent finding texts with similar messages and composing the two speeches. The US Ambassador was represented by the excellent Chargé d'Affaires, Mr. Mark Taplin. In fact, we still do not have an ambassador, here, in France, since Mr. Rivkin left. He, Mr. Taplin, spoke movingly about 100 years ago, in May, how no one was really expecting war, but the world wasn't dormant, how quickly the young men of this group switched gears from whatever they were doing to join the French forces. Would we (or rather the young people of today, 16, 17, 18 years old) do the same? After all, we are not at war, but the world is not dormant.
There were other fine speeches and the ceremony was not boring, nor did it seem like anyone was itching to leave because of the rain.
Here are some photos from the day:

Flowers from AARO

The US Air Force color guard, arriving

After the speeches.. That's me, behind the speaker, laying down the cushion of flowers from AARO

Taps

The US Air Force color guard, departing

Overseas Americans Week 2014 Recap Video

I have neglected this blog for a month! And I'm not going to write, now. I just want you to go to the AARO website and check out the video of the recap we did last month at Joe Allen's, in Paris. I'm not embedding it because I really want to you go to the website and get a pre-rollout peek at changes. So, after the video, take a stroll through the site and send in your constructive comments.
Overseas Americans Week Recap

OAW - Day 2, Day 3, no time to write

There's the objective of keeping everyone posted on Overseas Americans Week. Then there's the reality of just not being able to sit down and write something. Forget about tweeting -- it's just not for me. Look at the logistics. If I leave the wifi on all the time on my phone, I'll wear down the battery. Plus, we don't always have decent wifi. I've got a pre-paid card (and in the US, that's not a really cheap option, just marginally less expensive than the 7-day plan I could have gotten on SFR with my French number) so I don't want to leave it on data mode, either. We don't have time to get out the computer all the time, either. I have managed to sit down, maybe once during the "work" day, each day, to connect myself, post a facebook update, or something.. But I also want to take the time to assemble my notes, so I can't spend all that time on internet.
I do want to thank the readers who have tweeted, referring their followers to my posts, and those who have shared on Facebook. My readership has spiked. My blog is not really intended for wide readership, but on these occasions, I do appreciate it.
Back to these last two days. Tuesday was a day full of meetings. We can't give the details of the talks. We have our position papers and this year we are talking a lot about banking discrimination both from the US side and the foreign side. I think we all know about the banking discrimination. I've talked about it enough; so has Victoria. And we'll continue to gripe. And when you talk about the discrimination on the part of foreign financial institutions, you talk about FATCA.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Business Traveler Card. (APEC card) is something new. The US is one of the 27 partners in APEC and the card is to allow business travelers from member economies to have streamlined immigration procedures when entering member territories. All the member economies have issued the cards except the US, which passed the law authorizing the cards in 2011. Homeland Security has not yet issued the cards, so we are asking legislators to put some pressure on. This has raised lots of eyebrows. It's something to aid commerce. US commerce.
The staff members we meet in legislators offices are very receptive to our positions. It's surprising how many of them have parents, siblings, friends living in foreign countries who have let them know already of our issues. They just didn't realize how widespread they were. Since I was privileged to have participated in this last year, it's also nice to go into some offices and see familiar faces -- we're bringing them up to date.
There are other meetings with administration representatives, like the one with Nina Olson on Monday and the one at the State Department this morning. I was at a meeting in Senator Toomey's office this morning, so I missed the State Department meeting, but I know it lasted a full hour longer than was scheduled, because I was saving seats for everyone for a long, long, long time at the Longworth cafeteria. That's always an important meeting where the citizenship questions are raised, and consular services....
I did mention spotty internet at the beginning. I interrupted this post for dinner and had no internet afterwards. So, Day 4 is dawning and I'm sending this off before we get cut off again.

We're in Washington -- AARO!

Victoria (follow her on the Franco-American Flophouse) and I are sharing a flat, obtained via airbnb, in the Adams Morgan section of DC, right near the zoo. We walked to, and later from, the metro station at Woodley Park -- a pleasant walk across Rock Creek on the Duke Ellington Bridge. It's a neighborhood, with people going about their business and as we were walking home yesterday evening, we thought how far we were from the hill.

So, let's go to the hill, which is why we are here in DC, anyway! It's Overseas Americans Week. This year, the delegation is made up of AARO (sorry, no link because it's still the old, outdated website and I won't put up a link until the new site is up) and FAWCO, the Federation of American Women's Clubs Overseas. Our partners at ACA now have a permanent presence in Washington. The AARO Facebook page will carry regular updates. We are united in our positions and efforts to bring about change in the laws, rules and regulations that have had unintended negative consequences on we who live abroad.
To start, breakfast at the Longworth Cafeteria. It was the first chance we had for all of us to get together. Tim's not in this picture, because he's the one who took it. We got down to business as soon as we cleared away the trays. Got out schedule sorted out: who would attend which meetings. Today, Tuesday, that's especially important as we've got several simultaneous appointments.

Then, we all went off to the IRS to the Taxpayer Advocate Service, headed by Nina Olson, who has extensive knowledge of our particular issues and has worked very hard to bring about change. In fact, AARO presented her with an award for her dedication. Her key staff were also present and we all recognize that their contribution is immeasurable. We can't say too much, yet, about the content of the meeting. But our key issues are very high on their list of priorities.
Back to the hill, first to bring Carolyn Maloney's office up to date. She is the co-chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus. And on to other representatives. No need to go into details. I think that our new issue on APEC cards (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, and the card is the ABTC, Asia business travel card) is getting a lot of attention. This is a card that allows streamlined processing for business travelers belonging to the APEC economies. The US is one, so it honors the cards of business travelers from member economies, and passed a law in 2011 to establish the card for US business travelers. Homeland Security has still not issued those cards.
Must go, now. Today is a busy, busy day.

Making appointments for March

First of all, here's a picture of one of the Magnolia trees on our street, taken about 10 days ago, still at the beginning of the month! And in the States, it's still freezing! Unfortunately, that blue sky has disappeared in a haze of yellow smog. The sun comes through, but the sky is ugly. Details at any distance are blurry. The other day, from the library, just a block over from the Eiffel Tower, the tower was not clear.

High school mate, C, was in town last week and after work, she went off to tango. I accompanied her one evening, even though I don't dance; I watched the feet go by and was entranced. Another evening, she invited my friend R and me to come to the studio to observe the dubbing work. (I love that -- never get bored!) Then she and R went off to tango and I came home. They had a fair dance lesson, not great, but really hit it off and didn't end their evening of gabfest until almost midnight. 

AARO has the first of its two tax seminars during the week. I didn't need to go to 101, but because I am one of the event organizers, I did go. I always learn something, anyway. It motivated me to finish up my FBAR form, which I did just before opening the blog post. This year the FBAR must be done on the pdf form one downloads from the site. You can then fill it out on your computer, without being on line. I got out last year's FBAR so that I had all the bank info ready and I had already gotten the highest balance during the year figure onto my spreadsheet and converted into USD, so I was ready to fill it out. It still took almost an hour. Once it's filled out properly, you click on the "Home" tab of the file and it connects to the website for e-filing. You get a confirmation notice, which I printed up, as I also printed out my file. I don't know why I actually printed them -- old habits die hard -- I have the file and the confirmation saved on my hard drive. So, that's done. Next step is to try to get an estimate on my taxes, because I will owe more for 2013. I get an automatic extension for filing but still have to pay (overpay) by April 15, so I don't get stuck with a penalty.

During the week, I had to tackle the appointments for Overseas Americans Week. I was asked to hold off to start with, so I feel I got a late start. I wasn't as free as I had been earlier. I'm frustrated, because next week, it should be done -- then we go!

I'm getting excited about the trip. I won't see T&B immediately, during OAW, but will get a chance on the return leg. I'm staying an extra week in order to go up to Pittsburgh, family visit there, and then back to DC. J tells me we may get to go to the Pirates' season opening home game. I hope we can get tickets. And they've got tickets for the opera the next evening! Sounds great. 

Spring seems to be here already!

We had our trees pruned last fall, so we don't see much of anything on the branches in our yard, but across the street, the fruit trees are in bloom. Our yard has turned to moss; I'd guess it's 80% moss, now, and I don't see the primeveres (primula), but I do spot them in the neighborhood. Forsythia is in bloom and the magnolia trees are budding. The roses have sprouted new leaves and I guess the buds will be coming, soon. My parsley didn't die this winter, and we've had fresh parsley a lot. I'm thinking I should do some preparation work on the vegetable garden boxes, but I can't help but think that a freeze could come.
Here, we had a wonderful visit by Claire, Aurelia, and Constance from England and Emma from the Tarn-et-Garonne. It was a short week, but the aunts, uncle, and cousin had a chance to meet Constance. Of course it rained a lot, so it was not great for going outside and doing things. I did take Aurelia to the library with Sacha. Aurelia got to use the umbrella and Sacha didn't complain when I put the plastic bubble on the stroller. We went to pick him up and took the long bus ride to the library, singing "The Wheels of the Bus..." and "I had a tiny turtle..." all the way, to the delight of Sacha. Then, we sang again on the ride back after the "lap-sit". The whole family gathered for a pizza party at Louis and Gwen's.
Other than that, it was a wet and windy month of very mild temperatures and not much activity.
I wanted to get rid of my US tax declaration, but many French institutions and administrations don't post their year-end statements until March or April, or even May. Some have come dribbling in, but I'm still waiting for others, so it's not worth opening the software to do only partial work. I think I can finish the FBAR, though. Get that out of the way, at least. I'll have to do it before April 15th, just to have an idea of what I may owe, so I can send in a check. I'll have to take the automatic extension (allowed to those who live abroad) to figure out the final figure, though.
AARO is having two tax seminars, again, this year. March 13, for those who are new to filing their US taxes (newcomers overseas, new to filing, or thinking of doing it yourself for the first time...) and March 17 for more experienced filers, who need to learn what's new this year or who have complicated returns. We hope a lot of new, young people will come. They are often unaware of their filing obligations because they owe no tax. If you know any Americans in or near Paris, let them know of these events.

A calmer view of FATCA

US citizenship-based taxation being what it is; FATCA, being what it is, I've been thinking more calmly on the subject of FATCA these days. For one thing, I've been compliant as far as tax filings and FBARs are concerned for a long, long time, so I don't personally have any particular problem with reporting. However, I do understand the panic over the terrible penalties others face, potentially, if they have not been compliant. Either they did not know of the FBAR requirement and since they did not owe any tax, they did not realize they still had to file their taxes. The program to bring them into compliance is not really conducive to coming it. It is also punitive and, in the case of people who would owe nothing, I think there should be a more lenient approach. And the taxpayer's side of FATCA declaration, the 8938 form, is a pain in the neck, almost the same form as the FBAR, but not quite and not with the same threshold amounts. It can be confusing. But I do it.

Another aspect of my calm is that I live in France and I think the the inter-governmental agreement (IGA) that was signed on November 14 between the US and France is fair. It doesn't answer all the questions, but it helps. It is a Model IA agreement. (Price Waterhouse has a summary of types of agreements and the particular clauses for each country, as well as how far along in the agreement process they are.) Without an agreement the IRS expects all foreign financial institutions (FFI) are expected to report on US persons who hold accounts. If they do not correctly identify all their US persons; if they make mistakes, then the FFI face terrible penalties. The cost of FFI compliance and the penalties have led many institutions to just not want to do business with US persons. That burns me up. If I lived in Switzerland, I'd be frothing at the mouth, because the discrimination would be extended to my spouse, who is not a US person. With an IGA, especially the Model II, the FFI report on US persons to their own government agency, which then reports to the IRS. Not only that, there are pages of particular rules pertaining to the country and, for France, that includes a list of types of accounts that the FFI will not have to report on, at all, and a time-table to introduce increasing amounts of information to be reported. 

In summary, from the AARO meeting last week in which John Fredenburger presented the IGA, it is set to take effect “when their necessary internal procedures for entry into force have been completed”. So, when is that? Is it a treaty that has to be ratified or does agreement mean something else? Assuming things are in place, the reported information with increase over a three year period from 2014 to 2016. The required due diligence on account ID is different below and above $1,000,000 worth. And most savings accounts, the kind with (French) tax incentives, the most common in France, including the work-related ones, are excluded from being reported by the FFI. There are still some questions about a very popular type of savings/investment account called Assurance Vie. Other accounts, like checking accounts an investment accounts, if they have above the threshold amount in them, will be reported. 

Now, the FFI in France will be reporting on some, but not all accounts. That doesn't mean that I, as the US tax-filer, will not have to report them on my FBAR and form 8938. It just means that the FFI have less reason to reject US persons as customers. I think that most Americans in France have checking accounts and maybe a few of the excluded accounts. Long-term residents, like me or the children, might have the Assurance-Vie or other investment accounts. For my part, I have made sure that I have nothing that is hard to declare on my own -- simple "mono-support" Assurance-Vie with no fund-like investments that are a major headache to declare and require the help of a tax professional. Actually, once this FATCA thing gets off the ground, we should be getting the paperwork reflecting what is reported to the IRS, so that we can fill out our tax forms more easily.

I started out saying "US citizenship-based taxation being what it is; FATCA, being what it is". What I would like is change in what is. If the US were to conform to the world-wide norm of residence-based taxation, most Americans overseas would not have to deal with filing US taxes, filing an FBAR to the US, or having FATCA-related discrimination. Only those with US source income would have to deal with US taxes. ACA, with AARO support, has proposed this change to residence-based taxation. Unfortunately, with the US Congress in such dysfunctional mode, I don't think the proposal will go anywhere, soon. There is renewed interest on the part of Republicans to push for it, but I believe such radical rethinking of US doctrine will need bi-partisan support.

What can be done in the mean time? Well, a more realistic and lenient approach to allow Americans overseas to become compliant if they haven't been, so far. The first step would be to inform Americans going overseas that, should they stay abroad, they remain US taxpayers and must file..... They could put a paragraph about that on the inside passport cover! 
They could inform the parents of children born in the US that their children are Americans. If you are not American, you might not realize that quirk of US citizenship because in so many other countries "droit du sol" is not the norm. An editorial change to birth certificates to "declaration of birth and US citizenship" would take care of that. They could allow parents to disavow or renounce US citizenship for their minor or mentally incapacitated children, so that this citizenship does not become a burden on people made no effort to gain it and did not live for any significant length of time in the US. 

They could bring the FBAR threshold amounts for reporting up to the FATCA thresholds. AARO has been working to that end for years, even before FATCA -- just bring up the FBAR thresholds. If they were linked to inflation, they would be up there!

It's nice to think they could get rid of FATCA, but they won't. Let's face it, there are people who used off-shore accounts to amass undeclared income because the FFI did not have the document matching requirements that have existed in the US for decades. But let's face it, too, they are, for the most part, US residents. Now that this FATCA thing has been invented, other countries, all interested in collecting more income, think this is a great thing, so it will become, global, whether we like it, or not. Of course, a country like France is only interested in the foreign accounts of residents of France.

Barring a change to residence-based citizenship, which would be so simple, why not say that all accounts in one's country of residence are treated as "home" not "foreign" accounts, thus getting rid of FBAR and FATCA reporting on "home" accounts?

As things stand, now, in many countries, US citizenship has become a burden. It explains the current explosion in renunciations. Even I have considered it. As a member of AAWE and AARO, I was part of the efforts to make sure my children are American. I had no idea that what we had done gave them automatic US citizenship, whether we declared their birth at the embassy, or not. I thought it was their right to citizenship, but that it had to be requested (and I did, and my children have been very happy to be Americans). It turns out, I was wrong. I have learned of the case of a Canadian woman, who had knowingly relinquished her US citizenship and whose citizenship was reinstated without her requesting it and knowing it, and since renounced, has a child, now an adult, a Canadian, who is now, all of a sudden, told he is an American, too. With all those tax filing obligations. To add to the distress, he is unable to renounce this citizenship and the consulate will not allow his mother, who is responsible for all decisions, cannot renounce on his behalf. He is entrapped. If it were any other country, this would not be such a problem.

Here are the US and French versions of the IGA:

The US version of the IGA

The French version of the IGA.

If you live in a country with an IGA, how do you feel about it? What's in it that is good or bad or unclear?

Simon Winchester was the Guest Speaker at the AARO 40th Anniversary Party

The anniversary party was two weeks ago, but since I haven't written in quite some time, it's time I said something. I think the party was a success; we had to turn people who wanted to sign up on the day away because we had reservations to room capacity limits. Alex H., the events chair did a fantastic job, not only discovering our speaker and convincing him to speak to us, but also in selecting an excellent caterer, and so on.
I don't know if you've ever read any of  Simon Winchester's books; I hadn't. He's a great story-teller. On Monday, at the party, he told us the story of how he became a writer. He had originally trained and worked for a while as a geologist. As story-tellers do, he went off on little tangents to highlight points in his story and then came back to it. I think we were all enchanted. He is not a fiction writer, but the protagonists in his stories (and in The Meaning of Everything, he goes into whether protagonists can be plural, or not) are frequently quite extraordinary, if not totally eccentric, people. Someone in the audience, who was quite familiar with his books, asked why. He preferred not to give us a complete explanation then and there, but rather pointed us to his e-book, The Man with the Electrified Brain. It was published just this year, and it's very short and very inexpensive. (I bought the Kobo edition for under €1.60.) It's autobiographical, so it covered much of the same territory as his talk, with fewer tangents and more detail. I enjoyed it. For me, it was preparation to the joint AARO-ALP (American Library in Paris) event on Wednesday.
Wednesday evening, then, Winchester was the guest speaker at the American Library. AARO sponsored his trip, so we were privileged co-sponsors of the event and had a table at the entrance. What I discovered was that many, many of the Library patrons are already members of AARO! So, I changed the tune a little and asked these members, who are mostly retired, to get younger recruits, including their own children, who are Americans, affected by American laws (tax law, in particular), whether they live there, or not, and who need to become involved. (Hint to my own children!)
Winchester was there to talk about his just-published book, The Men Who United the States. He started out by saying he was sorry there weren't women in the story, but there just aren't. Then he spoke about what is really important in writing a book, any book: the idea, first; then, the structure; and last, the writing. He spoke about the structure of this book and how he could tie in the trails, the waterways, the rails, the roads, radio and internet networks. He based it on the five elements (according to Chinese culture): Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. I'm anxious to read the book to find out just how he did it.
In the hope that he writes stories as well as he tells them, I took out a few of his books just before the meeting: The Professor and the Madman (The Surgeon of Crowthorne, in the UK); The Meaning of Everything; and The Map that Changed the World. I have now read the first one and am in the middle of the second. He is a good story-teller, but I think that perhaps there is too much overlap in the first two books to be reading them one after the other so soon. There was a ten-year gap in his writing them, so one should leave a gap in reading them. They are both about the Oxford dictionary. The first is about the madman, Dr. Minor, and the editor of the dictionary, Dr. Murray, with a lot of background on the dictionary, itself. The second is the story of how the dictionary came into being, from the idea, through the first editors before any publication, through to the time this book was written. The background story of the first book becomes the subject of the second and there is quite a lot of repetition. I'm skimming through this part, but I've allowed myself a pause to finish a knitting project and to read a couple of new Anne Perry books and the latest Dan Brown -- all rather disappointing, so now I'm back on the Winchester track.

Spring in Brussels

Yesterday, I attended the EU hearing on FATCA, on behalf of AARO, in Brussels, with Victoria Ferauge, B.J., and M.E. Apologies for not letting Brussels friends know that I was coming. I didn't know, either, until late last week and once it was decided I'd go, I knew that it would be a packed day with no time to meet up or call.

First of all, you can also read about our day from Victoria's perspective on her blog, The Franco-American Flophouse. I really recommend her blog for the variety and interest of her subjects and her excellent writing.

Victoria and I were both traveling from Paris to Brussels and I managed to get on the same train and into the same car, so we sat together and got better acquainted. We'd already met once last year at the library. I'm always amazed at how little time it takes -- less than an hour and a half. I had a scare on my way to the station, though; the RER A was having one of those days of slowly limping from station to station and then sitting in the stations for a while. I was afraid I'd be late. But I wasn't and we had a good trip.

We got to Brussels, hopped into a cab and were delivered to the restaurant, where one of our little group was already waiting for us. He's also a dual national, living in Scandinavia. Surprise! The weather report for Paris was for more cold and rain and we are so used to that now that the sun and warm temperatures were almost a shock. We ate outside on the terrace! And we ate well, in case you're interested: Pasticcio.

The EU hearing on FATCA was scheduled for 3:30, so we had plenty of time. The Altiero Spinelli building is imposing, modern and the plaza in front of it is hosting a beautiful photo exhibit. What on earth inspired us to scout the area and find out if there was any particular procedure to get in? I have no idea, but we were well-inspired. It turns out that a meeting open to the public does not mean that J. Q. Public can just go in and sit down. You need an escort to get into the building. And we discovered that wifi access was not as easy to find as we thought. M. found the phone number of the MEP Victoria had been in contact with, Sophie in't Veld, MEP from the Netherlands. My phone to make the call and Victoria, as the one who had been the contact person, speaking, we got through to Emily, who immediately called us back to tell us to meet her at the entrance. I imagine we were interrupting her work, but if we were, she did not show it. She and another staffer, Thomas, took us to the registration office, got us our badges, and escorted us into the building and all the way to the meeting room in the most friendly and welcoming way. If you are reading this, Emily and Thomas, you should know how your taking care of us made us feel so welcome. Thank you.

So pampered, we were there early enough to choose our seats. There are only about 20 "public" seats in the room and once the meeting started, it was S.R.O. The official attendees straggled in, but Sophie in't Veld was early enough for us to be able to introduce ourselves to her and chat. Lucy Laederich, president of AARO and US Liaison for FAWCO, had sent her a letter earlier and although there will be more in our report, I can say here, that in the hearing, it was obvious that she took it to heart.

B.J. arrived a little later. She had been delayed by the procedure to get in. I have since learned that another AARO member came, but was not able to get in. If only we'd known that he was coming, we could have gotten him in with us.

The hearing was streamed on the Internet and, from comments, it looks like it was OK. I think this is it - it seems I don't have the proper extension on my browser to watch. Here's a briefing describing what's going on, so far concerning the US and the EU on the FATCA front.

After the hearing, in the hall outside the meeting room, we more or less ran into some of the participants at the meeting and were able to chat with them. This was exciting because they were truly interested in learning how EU citizens, not just banking institutions, were being affected, because of their dual nationalities or partnerships with Americans. There is a real problem of discrimination that they had no idea of. They also gave us good tips to contact other important MEPs and EU commissions.

We had time for a short, informal debriefing around a beer or a coke and walked a bit before catching a cab back to the station. It was a good thing we had our jackets, because the bad weather did come to Belgium, although we did not get rained on too much. On the ride back to Paris, we learned that the wifi access on the train is not all it's cranked up to be.

Ranting and Raving Mad - Second Class Citizenship

I am not a tax professional. I am an active member of AARO. As an active member, I was privileged to participate in Overseas Americans Week in February 2013.
If what I write below is erroneous, please send me a comment so I can correct it.

Let us start with FATCA and take a cool-headed look at how FATCA affects us US citizens (and non-citizen US taxpayers).

Depending on Intergovernmental agreements (IGAs), or their absence, foreign financial institutions must declare, to their government or directly to the IRS, the existence of your accounts and the amount in them. For bank accounts, they will not have to report holdings under $50000 and for other investment accounts, amounts under $250000. We, however, may be required to report these accounts, even if the banks do not. That depends on the total amount in our accounts and our filing status.

Single or married filing separately. If the total amount in all the accounts outside the US is not greater than $200000, then we do not have to file form 8938. If the total amount in all the accounts outside the US is greater than $10000, we must file form TD F 90-22.1 (the FBAR form).

Married filing a joint return. The threshold for form 8938 is $400000. For the FBAR,  it's still $10000.

So much for the filing requirements, which are simplified, here. If there is an exceptional short-term deposit which carries the total amount in the accounts above the threshold, there are other dispositions, and these are covered every year in the AARO tax seminars.

Many Americans abroad do not have to file form 8938. They do not have such savings abroad. That does not mean that FATCA has not affected them. It has made opening or maintaining accounts in the countries in which we reside difficult, if not impossible, because banks are reluctant to hold these accounts that will create such expensive reporting requirements, and in some countries, these requirements are contrary to local law on privacy. There has been a modification to the FATCA rules that requires banks to not discriminate against US persons, but it is not clear how that rule will be enforced. If you live abroad, either full time or part time, and you need a local account, FATCA has affected you.

Many Americans who live abroad do not have significant savings abroad because they have maintained an investment account in the United States. Now, US brokerages are closing or restricting accounts held by US citizens with foreign addresses. There's no law telling them to do this; it's their new policy. Policies from one brokerage to another are not consistent. The closures or restrictions seem to depend on the country of residence. There's no clear explanation, but it looks like it may be linked to which countries have entered an IGA with the US about FATCA. If any of us were thinking that we were lucky not to have to deal with the FATCA business because our money was still in the States, we are now stuck.

I'm going to skip the long diatribe about how the FBAR and FATCA filings affect us finding jobs, creating companies and partnerships, taking on responsibilities with associations -- anything to do with our having a signature on a bank account. Short story -- negative effect.

What are we to do? Where are we supposed to be investing our savings? How?

There is a second issue. Some Americans who live abroad do not have bank accounts in the US. Either they have never lived in the US, or they left and closed their accounts when they realized they would be residing abroad indefinitely. Since the passage of the Patriot Act, banks have refused to open accounts to US citizens who do not have a local address. This is not part of the law, but it is the policy based on the “know your customer” requirement. It is discriminatory. The workaround solution is to claim residence at parent's, sibling's, or friend's homes. In fact, the bank clerk might suggest this solution. In effect, they will know you to be a liar and that is okay. I have never done this. To claim one address to a bank and then another, foreign address, to the IRS, seemed hypocritical.

I have lived in France for over 40 years, having married a Frenchman while still a student. The money in the States has its origins in the States, from my very modest saving account and  mostly thanks to the success of my parents. It is not money that was earned in France and stashed in the US. Likewise, the savings my  husband and I have here in France originate here, our savings. I closed the checking account as I no longer used it; that was a mistake because when after my mother died, it would have been easier if I had a checking account, but I couldn't open one. (Well, the clerk did suggest I use a bogus address and I balked since the reason I could not use my French address was the "know your customer" rule!) The investment account is my sole account in the US.

Is it the intent of US financial institutions that we remove our funds and import them to our country of residence? I could do that. And I suppose, that over time, that is what will happen. Can you imagine what life would be like for US citizens who move from country to country (for work)? If they have not maintained an address in the States, they no longer have a home base.

My own dilemma is Fidelity Investments phone call this week warning me that I would be receiving a letter with the details of the new restrictions on my account: I can sell, but will not be able to buy securities. I will not be able to deposit new funds to the account. My investment account, in effect, over time, becomes a cash account in which I will only be able to withdraw funds, to my understanding. My children, who have accounts at Fidelity, are in the same predicament. The restrictions are linked to our living in France. What has France done, or not done, to warrant US financial institutions treating US citizens like this?

Please, do not imagine that money is my sole connection to the US. No, it is not. I still have family and I still feel American. I am proud to be an American. I am sick of America making me feel unwanted. I have been a member of AAWE and AARO, organizations that fought for our rights to transmit our citizenship to our children and grand-children and to vote, fought for more reasoned thought into how we are taxed by the US. I am sick to find myself telling my children it might not be such a good idea to burden their children with US citizenship.

Can financial institutions in the US have such discriminatory policies? Is it legal? There is no law, it seems, that imposes these policies; it's the instituion's new policy; like it or leave. But leave for where, since all the institutions are doing this? And at what cost. If I had to sell all my mutual funds and stocks in a single stroke, I'd have excessive capital gains taxes.

As I noted at the beginning, I am mad. My discourse is not as well-organized as I'd like it to be. I have already written to my Representative, Chaka Fattah, to my Senators, Bob Casey and Pat Toomey, to Representative Carolyn Maloney, who is the chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus and the House Committee on Financial Services and who is also the sponsor of HR597 To establish a commission to study how Federal laws and policies affect United States citizens living in foreign countries. 

You can support HR597. You can write to your Congress people: If you, yourself, live outside the US, this letter. And if you are in the US and have family or friends who live abroad, use this letter.

And to give your opinion on tax reform -- in favor of RBT (Residence Based Taxation) for we who live overseas, consideration of accounts in one's country of residence as local, not foreign accounts, elimination of FATCA requirements that are strangling financial services.... Or maybe you disagree.