Good news Bad news on FATCA

Good news

The Bern Cantonale Bank (Switzerland) will accept and keep American accounts.

Bad news

The same bank is initiating an annual Americans-only surcharge of CHF 240 beginning April '15.

For those that don't know FATCA is the US overreach in trying to catch tax dodgers. The US taxes ex-pat US citizens and green card holders on their world wide income even though these expats pay taxes where they live. Despite exemptions on salaries, citizens are double taxed on things like pensions, capital gains, unemployment, etc.

A citizen can be anyone including those that were born in the US and only spent a day there or those that were born elsewhere to US parents.Some have never set foot in the US, but still they are losing their bank accounts.

The US had demanded that countries change their privacy laws to force foreign banks to report US accounts. Because of the huge fines to banks who want to do business in the US (30% of US transactions) most banks have merely refused to do business with US citizens leaving them without any way to deposit money or get a loan. Forget the chance to make any investments.

As a result more and more expat dual citizens, most of whom are not draft dodgers and are average middle class people, have bought their way out of citizenship. I mean bought. They pay between $2,000+ and up to 23% of all their assets. Their children if American will pay higher inheritance taxes to the US when the renounced citizen dies.

London Mayor Boris Johnson was born in the US and hasn't lived there since he was five. He's being billed for capital gains on a house he sold in London bought with money earned in the UK that never touched US soil. He is refusing.

US Ambassador to the St. James Court says he should pay because he gets the" benefits of US citizenship"?

"Benefits" ?????

He was denied entry to the US once and had to delay a trip to Latin America as he was transferring planes in the US.

Not entering.

Transferring.

He'd left his US passport in the UK and only had his UK passport. I suppose he was lucky that he didn't have to pay the heavy fine.

He uses no US services.

I don't know if the UK banks have tried to close his accounts as banks are doing all over the world to American expats.

But the good news, maybe he can open an account with the bank in Bern and pay the extra fee for the sin of being born in America.

Note: for those Americans who don't truly understand the significance. Imagine you are living in a state where you weren't born. Imagine being taxed on everything you have in both states even though you only live in one. And also imagine being denied banking services in both places because the law in your birth state won't accept out-of-state account holders and the place you live thinks doing business with you is too risky and too costly.