French “Accidental Americans” Sue France

Christopher Zenios10/10/20192min
French American taxpayers have filed a lawsuit against France to the European Commission in the hope that the group can avoid strict US compliance rulings that would see them blacklisted by French banks.

The “Accidental Americans” are a group of people who are entitled to American citizenship, with some being born in American hospitals, remaining in the US for a short time before returning to France, and some not even speaking English. As a result, the group says French nationals with dual American citizenship face de facto discrimination, even though

most of these people have no links with the United States.

The group has been battling for years to be exempt from a US law that states all citizens overseas file bank details along with yearly returns. The group wants to be free from this annual filing and to stop their French banks handing details to the US tax department.

In 2017, Washington accepted a temporary suspension on the rule known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). However, the exemption finishes at the end of this year with the French banking federation stating that 40,000 accounts will potentially be closed if filing requirements are not fulfilled.

French banks are obliged to enforce the closure of accounts as if the account remains open and filing is not submitted the French banks would be subject to penalties.

This agreement of filing falls under the Franco-American agreement from 2013 which allows for FATCA’s application in France, but the Accidental Americans state that it “violates EU laws on data protection” by authorizing “the transmission and storage of huge amounts of personal data in the United States,”

The European Commission has a year to decide if it will launch any proceedings against Paris on the issue.

 

Image Source by American Expat Finance

Christopher Zenios

Christopher has always been a pioneer, a first adopter when it comes to technological advancements. Over the years, his expertise surrounded the real estate and digital markets and their evolution in today's society. After being the editor to various professional business news portals and blogs, he was selected to become the chief editor for HWC. Contact Christopher at +357-22029786 ext: 6110 or by email at [email protected] for editorial related questions.



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