Even an MBA struggles with taxes and financial services as an American abroad

“It's like being on a never-ending treadmill of tax work.”

- William from Texas

Dear Congress, 

Little did I know the tax nightmare that awaited me when I moved to England to be close to my wife’s family.

My wife and I are both American. I grew up in Texas and Georgia. I vote in Texas. My wife was born in New York and votes there.

Before I turned 30, I lived my whole life in the US with no plans to leave. Then I fell in love with a woman who was born in the US  but grew up in England.

I left the US to live closer to my wife's family, many of whom live in the United Kingdom or Europe. Also, since my wife grew up in London, she never learned to drive, and so living in Europe is much easier for her than most anywhere in the US.

I was excited for a European adventure. It proved rather permanent. I did not then know the tax nightmare that awaited me.

MBA vs. US tax code, FATCA and FBAR

I work in finance and have an MBA, so I'm pretty astute on dealing with my finances. Living in the US, I had always done my own taxes relatively easily. But having to comply with US citizenship-based taxation, I had to spend thousands of dollars every year on accountants, usually to prove to the IRS that I owed little or nothing in taxes. 

Banking presents another hassle. I've had to open and close accounts and create a complex web of banking relationships even just to deposit checks, pay bills, hold cash in US dollars and British pounds and earn any interest on my money. I've been kicked out of banks and had credit cards cancelled because American firms learned I was abroad or British firms learned I was an American.

Simultaneous double feature

Even with expensive tax advisors and losing hundreds of hours a year of my own time to tax matters, I'm still worried half the time that I'm missing something. I liken complying with the American and British tax system, as an individual, at the same time, to watching two movies projected onto the same cinema screen at the same time. By themselves, they each make sense, but put together, it's hard to tell what's happening.

I just finally finished filing our taxes for 2023 (where I was surprised by US taxes owed for reasons that were not even very clear) only to be revving up to start again on 2024, while still trying to wrap up the UK taxes at the same time. It's like being on a never-ending treadmill of tax work.

Please support Rep. Darin LaHood’s Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act and end the tax and financial discrimination against Americans living abroad!

Sincerely,

William from Texas