French president Emmanuel Macron is set to speak with American president Joe Biden during his upcoming visit to the US about the challenges ‘accidental Americans’ and dual French-US citizens face because of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca).
Fabien Lehagre, president of the Association of Accidental Americans (AAA), wrote to Macron two months ago asking him to bring up the topic and address the problems caused by the American legislation in his official visit to Washington.
Lehagre received a response from Walid Fouque, Macron’s adviser on the US, last week. In his letter, Fouque said: “The president has been informed and also wishes to progress on this issue.”
The adviser added that the French minister for Europe and foreign affairs would also be involved.
Lehagre said Macron’s commitment marks a “major step forward”.
“Since Fatca was implemented in France in 2014, many of the approximately 40,000 French dual nationals have faced Kafkaesque situations and extensive discrimination because of the extraterritoriality of US law,” he added. “I hope that president Biden will recognise the gravity of the problem and take concrete decisions rapidly to allow accidental Americans to recover their normal lives.”
Fatca requires any US citizens living abroad to share their personal information with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for tax purposes. Their foreign financial institutions are also bound to share data with the US taxman. Many ‘accidentals’ and/or dual nationals have in recent years been refused financial services due to the huge reporting burden that complying with Fatca requires.
