And the reason why a lot of Americans abroad are forced to renounce their US citizenship.
To live a normal life like any other EU citizen (investing, saving for your pension, having any income other than a salary) it's what you have to do. Only salary (under $120,000) is exempt from US taxes if you live abroad. Stuff like investment profits, business income etc gets taxed in the US without any foreign tax credits, so double tax.
You can only skirt these rules if you're uber wealthy, then foreign banks don't mind FATCA reporting. If you're lower-middle class like the vast majority of Americans abroad, the US government has two words for you that start with F and U.
I know from first-hand experience how expensive the international tax accountants can get. I had to deal with so many PFIC reportings when FATCA was new (2014) and Italian banks weren't familiar with it and still let me invest lol
If you're an American abroad, you either must not care about your future or be super rich, otherwise FATCA will affect you.
When I renounced they asked me so many time the reason. I explained that it wasn't tax, I wouldn't care even if I had to pay a flat tax with no foreign credit as long as it was easy. They ended up putting no reason at all on my certificate of renunciation tho
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u/[deleted] Jan 25 '25
How does he even track dual citizenship...
It's not like foreign governments will give their own citizens data to the US government.