To all small American businesses impacted by the Transition & GILTI taxes:
Below is a form letter addressed to the decision-makers at Treasury, the IRS and Congress. Please copy and paste the email addresses, subject and content. Fill in the blanks below. Then send the email.
Subject: Repatriation tax and GILTI wreaking havoc on Americans overseas. Impending April 15th deadline & proposed solution
To:william.m.paul@irscounsel.treas.gov, lafayettechip.harter@treasury.gov, david.kautter@treasury.gov, arlene.preston@irscounsel.treas.gov,Leni.c.perkins@irscounsel.treas.gov, Barbara.angus@mail.house.gov,aaron.junge@mail.house.gov, Kara.getz@mail.house.gov,
Notice.comments@irscounsel.treas.gov, americansabroadfortaxfairness@gmail.com,
Tiffany_Smith@finance.senate.gov,mark_prater@finance.senate.gov
Dear Mr. Kautter, Mr. Harter, Mr. Paul,Ms.Perkins, Ms. Angus, Ms. Getz, Mr. Junge, Ms. Smith & Mr. Prater:
My name is __________. I am an American living in _____________and I vote in ____________.
As I am sure you are aware, the RepatriationTax and GILTI havetruly created chaos in lives of people such as myself –Americanprofessionals and business owners living abroad. Unlike corporate giantslike Google and Apple who were hoarding billions of profits in overseas subsidiaries, Iam probably just like you: a law-abiding person seeking to live my lifeand raise a family in the community I call home.
For years I have quietlysuffered, being collateral damage in tax battles between theU.S. government on the one hand and wealthy U.S.based companies and persons that may have beenabusing the tax system on the other. But the Repatriation Tax andGILTI regimes have forced me to say NO MORE!! Not only am I being treatedlike a large, aggressively tax-structured multi-national corporation, butIam much worse off. First, I cannot access the tax creditsand deductions that these companies are entitled to, thus I am unable tominimize or avoid these taxes like they do. Second, I am now obligated to dealwith draconian tax and filing requirements which neither I nor my tax counselcan even understand.
A commonsense solution is at hand. Americans overseas with interests inforeign corporations should be exempt from the Repatriation Tax and GILTI forany given year so long as two conditions are met: (1) we live abroad under therequirements ofIRC Section 911, and (2) we are individual U.S.Shareholders. This solution achieves U.S. government's goal ofcapturing corporatetax it has been long-denied and recognizes thatthe profits our businesses generate were alwaysmeant to remainin the place where we have made our lives.
We understand that Congresswill struggle to enact a remedy as soon as we require. Therefore we urge theTreasury and IRS to take the following action:
- Issue an immediat enotice stating that for Americans Abroad, the first payment under IRC 965 isdelayed to the earlier of October 15, 2018, or the issuance of further guidance
- Issue a subsequent notice in line with our proposal.
There is precedence forboth these actions.
- In issuing regulation 1.6038D-2, the Treasury added both the IRC 911 and dollar conditions that did not appear in the law in order to clarify the implementation of FATCA.
- Congress passed IRC 2801 (dealing with the taxation of Americans giving up citizenship) in 2008. However, realizing that problems existed with the law, in October 2009 the Treasury/IRS froze its implementation pending further evaluation. To this date, the Treasury/IRS have yet to implement the law.
The Repatriation Tax andGILTI is far more damaging to me than either of the above examples.It drastically (and unintentionally) hurts me and millions of lawabiding Americans overseas just like me. And unlike 2801, I am not someone whois giving up my citizenship to avoid estate and gift tax. I am just a simpleperson wh ois being seriously harmed by an error.
Thank you for yourattention and I sincerely hope that theTreasury/IRS can address this matter until such time as Congress acts.