My how things change in a very short time. Illegal aliens in the US are treated better by the government and IRS than US citizens living in foreign countries.“American citizens are starting to feel like they’re Typhoid Mary,” said Adams who hosted a 2008 fundraiser for Barack Obama that featured actor George Clooney. “The Swiss simply don’t want American customers because it requires so much infrastructure and hassle that they don’t make any money.”
Sandra Dysli, an American who has lived in Geneva for 40 years, said Bank Zweiplus AG, the Zurich-based joint venture of Basel-based Bank Sarasin & Cie. and AIG Private Bank, and a Geneva branch of Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG refused to open investment accounts for her.
“I was told that I cannot legally be a client because I’m an American,” said Dysli, who retired from the United Nations in 2001. “I couldn’t get an investment account and had everything in cash.”
Swiss Banks Shun AmericansTwo members of the U.S. Congress, Carolyn Maloney and Joe Wilson, wrote a May 27 letter to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner saying that if the QI requirements are extended to cash or deposit accounts, “taxpaying Americans living abroad will have no place to bank.”
“If neither foreign nor American banks will take American customers, how will the millions of citizens living abroad bank?” wrote Maloney, a New York Democrat, and Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, who are co-chairmen of the Americans Abroad Caucus.
There is “massive” failure by U.S. citizens and green card holders overseas to make filings with the IRS, said Matthew Ledvina, an international tax lawyer in Zurich, adding that Americans have become “pariahs because they’re risky.”
Presumption of Guilt
U.S. citizens must file tax returns, report offshore accounts that contain more than $10,000 and pay tax on any income earned, no matter where they live. To take advantage of the amnesty program, taxpayers must file six years of returns, plus pay back taxes and a penalty, according to the IRS.
“The presumption is that you’re a bad person avoiding taxes if you live overseas,” according to Andy Sundberg, who founded Geneva-based American Citizens Abroad in 1978. “The IRS rhetoric is alienating and vindictive.”
Has the IRS rhetoric ever been amicable and helpful? There's a new sheriff in town, and he wants every dime. He also wants to control every aspect of every American's life. Put your seatbelts on, Patriots.
