# Last Chance to Send in FATCA Reform Letter for "Same Country Exception" Relief



## USExpat111 (May 23, 2015)

*Last Chance to Send in FATCA Reform Letter for "Same Country Exception" Relief*

I received below emails this week from Democrats Abroad about a letter being presented to Congress by end of this week to ask for "Same Country Exception" or "Safe Harbour Relief" from FATCA for Americans living abroad. Whether you are Republican or Democrat, please read below and send a copy of the letter or your own letter to your Congressperson if you are unhappy with FATCA! I've copied the first and follow-up emails below and inserted websites in brackets to points where they said to "click here".

____________________________________________
27 July 2015 email:

Dear Democrats Abroad,

We are at a pivotal milestone in our efforts to reform FATCA but we need our grassroots activists like you to ACT NOW.

Help us write 1000 letters to Congress by Friday to support the FATCA reform “sign on” letter!

As we reported earlier this month (https://www.democratsabroad.org/gro...sign-letter-another-step-forward-fatca-reform), Americans Abroad Caucus Co-Chairs Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) are circulating a “sign on” letter on Capitol Hill pressuring Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to implement the FATCA Same Country Safe Harbor for Americans abroad.

https://www.democratsabroad.org/gro...ver-and-sign-letter-support-fatca-safe-harbor

The letter should have hit the desk of your member of Congress. Maybe they’ve seen it, maybe not – but the letter will be closed for new signatures soon. Signatures of support from members of Congress are needed now! Send a message to your elected representatives RIGHT NOW, reminding them about the letter and asking them to sign it.

It’s easy.

1) Click here (https://democracy.io/#/)
and enter your U.S. voting address to compose a message to your elected representatives

2) Either copy and paste (or perhaps personalize) the suggested message below or write your own polite and succinct message urging your members of Congress to sign the letter in support of the Same Country Safe Harbor that Representative Maloney and Representative Mulvaney are circulating.

3) Let us know who you have contacted by filling out this very very short questionnaire HERE (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DA-SafeHarborCampaign) so that we can amplify your voice and continue to put pressure on Congress. (We're in the process of calling all the contacted representatives, so knowing who yours is makes sure yours gets a call too!)
____________________

Follow-up 29 July 2015 email:

Dear Democrats Abroad Members,

We are pleased to report that after 2 days our FATCA grassroots campaign has yielded an excellent response! We asked you to message members of Congress asking them to sign the Congressional letter to the Treasury Secretary and IRS Commissioner in support of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) Same Country Safe Harbor reform. 

More than 3,000 of you have participated! Nearly 10,000 messages have been sent to your Representatives and Senators asking them to sign the letter and throw their support behind this common sense reform to provide relief to Americans abroad from the burden of FATCA reporting.

Please help us send that number soaring towards 20,000 messages! We need your help URGENTLY! 

The sponsors of the letter (Rep Maloney and Rep Mulvaney) anticipate “closing it off” to signatures at the end of this legislative session – that’s the end of this week! We need to demonstrate that there is growing momentum in Congressional support for this reform in order to keep the letter open to more signatures. The more signatures on the letter the louder the call coming from Congress for Treasury and the IRS to act.

If you have not yet participated, please send your message to your Senators and Representative RIGHT NOW, reminding them about the letter and asking them to sign it.

It’s easy.

1) Click here (https://democracy.io/#/)
and enter your U.S. voting address to compose a message to your elected representatives

2) Either copy and paste (or perhaps personalize) the suggested message below or write your own polite and succinct message urging your members of Congress to sign the letter in support of the Same Country Safe Harbor that Representative Maloney and Representative Mulvaney are circulating.

3) Let us know who you have contacted by filling out this very very short questionnaire HERE (https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DA-SafeHarborCampaign) so that we can amplify your voice and continue to put pressure on Congress. (We're in the process of calling all the contacted representatives, so knowing who yours is makes sure yours gets a call too!)

We have collected feedback from campaign participants and have prepared a few notes that may be of assistance if you should have any problems using Democracy.io, the Congressional messaging system for this campaign. Please see "Troubleshooting” at the very end of this email. You might also be interested in the Wall Street Journal Opinion piece that just came out about the Safe Harbor campaign. 

(Fatca Relief Coming for U.S. Expats Via ‘Same Country Exception’? – Opinion - Expat - WSJ)

Thank you for participating in this important initiative to fix FATCA. If you’d like to further support FATCA reform efforts, please make a contribution by clicking here. (https://secure.democratsabroad.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=4)

### 

SUGGESTED MESSAGE ENCOURAGING ELECTED OFFICIALS TO SIGN THE CONGRESSIONAL LETTER TO TREASURY AND THE IRS IN SUPPORT OF THE FATCA SAME COUNTRY SAFE HARBOR FOR AMERICANS ABROAD

SUBJECT: Congressional Sign-On Letter supporting the FATCA Safe Harbor for Americans Abroad or Tax

I live in [country of residence] and I vote in [state] District [number if known].

Americans living outside of the United States like me are bearing the unintended, but serious consequences of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). The law was, of course, intended to discourage and apprehend US citizens hiding untaxed earnings in foreign financial accounts. The reporting requirements FATCA imposes on us and on our banks were never intended to impact ordinary, middle class, law-abiding Americans abroad. However, due to FATCA our financial accounts are being closed, our relationships with our non-American spouses are under strain, some of us are being denied roles, promotions or partnership in business and some are planning or contemplating renouncing their US citizenship. Some have already done so.

We need help urgently.

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the Americans Abroad Caucus, Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Representative Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), have drafted a letter to the Treasury and IRS in support of a reform to the FATCA implementation rules which would resolve the problems that FATCA causes for 90 percent of Americans abroad: the FATCA Same Country Safe Harbor for Americans abroad.

Representative Maloney and Representative Mulvaney are circulating the letter on Capitol Hill. I strongly urge you to join your Congressional colleagues in signing this letter in support of the FATCA Same Country Safe Harbor. There are 8.7 million Americans living outside the US. We vote, we file tax returns and we are calling on you to help us by fixing this law that has so badly impacted our financial and personal lives.

Please sign the Congressional letter to Secretary Lew and Commissioner Koskinen in support of the FATCA Same Country Safe Harbor for Americans abroad. Please contact Natalee Binkholder ([email protected] ) in Rep Mulvaney’s office or Max Whitcomb ([email protected]) in Rep Maloney’s office with any questions and to deliver your support.

Thank you for your help and thank you for serving.

Regards,

[Name]
[City], ]Country]

TROUBLESHOOTING

This advice on using Democracy.io is drawn from the experience of campaign participants over the last 2 days. It may be helpful for you in “troubleshooting” if you should have any difficulty using the system: 

A very small percentage of participants have reported that the Democracy.io system does not recognise their US Voting Address. We have reported these to the Democracy.io administrators. 
The system needs your US Voting Address to find your members of Congress to message. If Democracy.io can’t find your US Voting address and, therefore, cannot send your message then please go to the websites of your elected representatives (Representative and 2 Senators) and use the email messaging function to send your message directly. All members of Congress have a messaging system too, so that constituents may contact them.
Your US Voting Address is the address where you last lived prior to relocating outside of the USA. This question was forwarded to us several times.
Democracy.io may also ask for your US telephone number. Many members of Congress require that messages from constituents include a US telephone number and the system will not send the message if the sender does not provide all the information requested by the member of Congress.
This message is paid for by the Democratic Party Committee Abroad
Democrats Abroad

PO Box 15130
Washington, DC 20003
United States
Telephone: +1-202-621-2085 +1-202-621-2085


----------

