An Italian-American who left the United States while still in diapers is haunted by his place of birth

“In Italy, banks and investment providers often treat anyone with U.S. citizenship as a problem to be avoided because of FATCA and the reporting rules that come with it. I have been blocked from ordinary investments, and I have seen hesitation, extra questions, and sometimes outright refusal, because financial institutions do not want to risk trouble with U.S. authorities. I live with the feeling that my place of birth has turned into a warning label attached to my name.”

— Andrea in Italy

Dear Members of Congress,

My name is Andrea. I was born in New York to Italian parents who were there for work, and before I was one year old we moved to France, where I lived for seven years, and then to Italy, where I have lived ever since. I have never worked in the United States, never earned income there, and I do not own property there. I have only been back a couple of times on vacation.

Yet I am treated, year after year, as a taxpayer living abroad who must navigate U.S. tax laws for U.S. citizens living abroad. Because of citizenship based taxation, I have to file U.S. returns from Italy and report my Italian bank accounts. This is the reality of tax compliance for millions of Americans abroad, even when the final result is always the same: I owe no U.S. tax.

To do it safely, I pay an American accountant every year. I do not speak fluent English. I am writing these words with the help of translation software. My accountant does not speak Italian, so every exchange carries the same fear: that we misunderstand each other, that a detail is missed, that a mistake turns into penalties from the IRS.

FATCA means financial exclusion

The burden is not only paperwork. In Italy, banks and investment providers often treat anyone with U.S. citizenship as a problem to be avoided because of FATCA and the reporting rules that come with it. I have been blocked from ordinary investments, and I have seen hesitation, extra questions, and sometimes outright refusal, because financial institutions do not want to risk trouble with U.S. authorities. I live with the feeling that my place of birth has turned into a warning label attached to my name.

There is no local IRS office in Italy where I can ask questions face to face. When something is unclear, I am left searching in a foreign language, paying for expertise I should not need, trying to stay compliant with a system that follows my passport instead of my life. This is the everyday weight of U.S. double taxation.

I have considered renouncing my U.S. citizenship. That thought alone should alarm you. No one should feel pushed toward renouncing U.S. citizenship because of taxes and paperwork, especially someone whose entire working life, home, and income are outside the United States.

Another five million American citizens living abroad are caught in the same double taxation web, building families and careers elsewhere, often without any real say in the decisions that shape their lives.

Support residence-based taxation

Most countries use residence-based taxation. The United States stands apart, with Eritrea, in taxing people based on citizenship rather than where they live.

Please end citizenship-based taxation and adopt residence-based taxation American citizens abroad in line with global standards.

Representative Darin LaHood has introduced the Residence-Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act as a practical, balanced way forward. Public reporting also notes that President Trump has pledged to end double taxation for Americans living overseas. This bill is a way to turn that pledge into policy and to let Americans abroad live normal financial lives where they actually reside.

I am asking you to look past spreadsheets and see the human cost of the misguided policies that have ruined so many lives. I did not choose my birthplace, yet it haunts me in every bank appointment, every year-end statement, every anxious email to an accountant I can barely communicate with. Please bring fairness back into the law, and remember that behind every form is a person trying to live an ordinary life.

Respectfully,

Andrea

Italy