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Foreign banks close U.S. citizens’ accounts rather than deal with the mess that Congress created.
By Neil Gandal*
It’s not easy to be an American living abroad these days, and some are even giving up U.S. citizenship. The reason is ill-considered legislation most people never heard of: the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Here’s the background: The number of Americans living abroad increased from 70,000 in 1966 to between three million and four million in 1996 and more than seven million today, according to several estimates. There are many reasons Americans have moved, including the globalization of the economy and increased cross-border migration generally.
The U.S. is the only developed country in the...
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