Washington, DC – Today Congresswoman Dina Titus (NV-01), Chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus, introduced the Overseas Americans Financial Access Act (OAFAA), legislation that would relieve the unintended burden imposed by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010 (FATCA). This bill creates a same-country exemption to FATCA, increasing access to basic banking services for Americans who live overseas.

“Americans who live and work abroad should be able to utilize the same financial infrastructure as citizens who live in the United States,” said Congresswoman Titus. “By establishing a same-country exception to FATCA, regular taxpayers won’t be swept up by complex regulations that prevent them from opening basic bank accounts. Americans who are abroad need access to bank accounts to pay their bills, save for retirement, and have full access to their finances.” 

The Overseas Americans Financial Access Act is co-sponsored by Reps. Donald Beyer (VA-10, Jamie Raskin (MD-08), and Eric Swalwell (CA-14). Supporting organizations include American Citizens Abroad, the Association of Americans Resident Overseas, and the Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas. The bill was previously introduced by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, founding Chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus. 

"The OAFAA will ease the foreign bank lockout of U.S. citizens because it will decrease banks' FATCA reporting requirements.  FATCA not only imposed a new reporting task on banks, it increased risk because FATCA filing errors can result in enormous penalties and thus the need to reserve more capital,” said Marylouise Serrato, executive director of American Citizens Abroad.  “This factored into banks' decisions not to do business with U.S. citizens.  Easing the FATCA filing burden eases banks’ capital reserve requirements, restoring capital available to lend and easing the bank lockout of U.S. citizens."

“Americans abroad are increasingly denied access to banking facilities and investment opportunities just because they live overseas,” said Doris Speer, president of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas (AARO). “AARO strongly supports Representative Titus’s initiative intended to remedy this situation through the "Overseas Americans Financial Access Act" which would create a “same-country” exception to FATCA reporting requirements where Americans abroad and financial institutions would not be required to report accounts situated in their country of residence. Americans abroad would be treated equally with Americans resident in the US." 

Background

The Overseas American Financial Access Act would create a same-country exception to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2010. By creating a narrow exception to FATCA for US citizens who have a bank account in the country where they reside, foreign banks are more likely to offer bank accounts to Americans due to a decrease in financial and compliance risk.

As Chair of the Americans Abroad Caucus, Congresswoman Titus is an advocate for the millions of US citizens who live and work overseas. She previously introduced the Commission on Americans Living Abroad Act and has written to the Internal Revenue Service, State Department, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on issues facing the American expatriate community around the world.

The full bill text can be found HERE.

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