|
Position Papers
for Overseas Americans Week 2009
Tax Reform Concerning
U.S. Ciitizens Residing Abroad
This document includes four proposals for tax reform for Americans
residing overseas.
• A. Section 911 modification: Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
• B. Include Foreign Earned Pensions under Section 911
• C. Foreign Retirement Savings Accounts/ Pension Accounts
• D. Functional Currency for Bona Fide Foreign Residents
...read
more
Download the
Taxation Position Paper .pdf
Americans residing overseas are
denied bank accounts
Overseas
Americans are Caught in a Catch 22
Americans residing overseas are denied access to banking facilities
in the United States, solely because of their foreign address. The
number of such instances has risen sharply since passage of the
Patriot Act. Banks refer to “Know Your Client” rules in this
legislation as the reason for refusing clients with overseas
addresses, even if they are U.S. citizens. Overseas American
citizens are consequently being denied the basic right to maintain
normal commercial relationships with their country.
...read more
Download the
US Bank Accounts Position Paper .pdf
Overseas Voting
Reform Proposals
Americans abroad are proud of their citizenship and vigilant in
guarding their constitutional right to help elect their President,
Vice President and Members of Congress. For most overseas Americans,
their right to vote is the primary means available to them to
participate in the American democratic process. Civilian voter
turnout overseas has increased steadily over the last few years, and
overseas Americans have historically had much higher election
participation rates than their state-side counterparts – typically
3+% of votes cast, although they comprise only about 2% of the
electorate. The vast majority of local election officials surveyed after
the 2008 federal election noted increased overseas voter
participation compared with previous years. Unfortunately – and despite some
recent reforms – overseas voters continue to face a range of
obstacles and bureaucratic pitfalls that all too frequently
frustrate their efforts to exercise their cherished democratic
rights.
...read
more
Download the
Overseas Voting Position Paper .pdf
Transmitting
Citizenship
Not all Americans residing abroad can transmit U.S. citizenship to
their children due to
restrictive provisions of US law; it is even possible for such
children to be born stateless.
Some countries do not grant citizenship to the children of US
citizens who are born there. These
children would be legally stateless and not eligible for an American
or another country's
passport unless at least one American parent meets the requirements
specified in the
Immigration and Nationality Act.
...read
more
Download the
Transmitting Citizenship Position Paper .pdf
Medicare for
Overseas Americans
Although many Americans who live overseas have contributed to
Medicare during their careers through pay-roll deductions, they
generally are not able to benefit from Medicare if they retire
outside the
USA. An exception to this rule has been made for military veterans
and their families, who retire abroad and do not have a military
medical facility within a reasonable distance of their domicile. The
Tricare Standard plan offers reimbursement for reasonable scheduled
medical expenses incurred by military retirees upon submission of
proper proof, amounting to 75% of expenses incurred.
...read
more
Download the
Medicare Position Paper .pdf
US Social
Security Aspects of Working Abroad
Americans who
work in a foreign country rarely focus on the long-term consequences
of doing so when they accept a job abroad, although the decision can
have an appreciable adverse effect on their American old-age pension
from Social Security. Since 1983 the US Social Security Act was
amended to «remove the advantage which the Social Security benefit
formula provides for persons earning substantial pensions from
non-US Social Security sources », essentially by reducing the amount
of American old-age pension they can earn by application of the
Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) offset. This penalty reduces
the retiree’s benefit check by as much as 50% of the first segment
of Social Security’s ‘Average Monthly Earnings’ for the retiree.
...read more
Download the
Social Security Position Paper .pdf
 Get
Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the .pdf files
Overseas Americans Week is sponsored by
an informal alliance of non-partisan American overseas organizations
Overseas Americans Week |
