Thank you for sharing this Julia. I had never heard of the FATCA law before I was blindsided by its effects here in France where I live. It’s actually not just affecting American citizens living overseas, but even foreigners working in the States, who are paid in US dollars and try to send money to their accounts in their home country. The US Congress has imposed such draconian penalties on foreign banks – including a potential “withholding” of up to 30% of the bank’s money (not your money) held in the States, for each failure to comply with FATCA, that most banks won’t risk any need to report to the IRS. So, no life insurance, investments, or interest bearing accounts.
Also, although each country was free to not sign a treaty to comply with FATCA, if they didn’t, none of their banks could do business in the States anymore.
In my case, not knowing that this law existed, I tried to obtain bank financing for a business venture here. I paid an accountant €2000 to prepare a presentation for my bank and to accompany me to present it. All went well until the banker saw a mention of my receiving social security payments from the US each month. He asked me why I was receiving such payments, and when I told him because I had worked most of my life in the States, he asked if I was American. I am, but I hold dual-citizenship with Ireland. Since I live in Europe and hold a European passport, I don’t bother pointing out that I am also American here. I told him I was and he immediately got up, saying that the bank could no longer do business with individual Americans (corporations are ok, they are exempt from the law).
My accountant asked him to verify this with his superiors. I received an email reiterating these points from the bank a week later.
The bank then demanded that I provide them with documentation of the source of the funds I wire to my account each month because THEY have to provide it to the IRS. I sent them copies of my receipts for the wire transfers from my bank in the States. They wouldn’t accept them because the IRS demands that they provide documentation for the source of the funds, not just a record that I sent it, and by “source,” they mean how it came into my possession. Since I don’t have 30 years of check stubs, I couldn’t comply, and frankly a European doesn’t have to give up details like that, only Americans get treated like this by their government. Ridiculous! Offensive. And frankly, it reminds me of the laws that were passed in Germany when Jews started emigrating en masse.
