Accidental American Punished by FATCA: "I am not a Tax Cheat!"

"The procedures I am being forced to navigate were not designed for people like me. They were designed to catch billionaires hiding money—not to pursue a Dutch woman who has never earned a dollar."

— Beth, an Accidental American who was raised and lives in the Netherlands

Dear Congress,

I was born in the United States to two Dutch parents. My mother fled with me to the Netherlands when I was eighteen months old to escape a violent marriage. I have lived and worked in the Netherlands my entire life. The Dutch government considers me Dutch by birth — not as a naturalised citizen, but as someone who has held Dutch nationality from birth.

I was not aware that I held American citizenship until my bank confronted me with FATCA reporting obligations. What followed has consumed more than six months of my life — and the end is not yet in sight.

I am being required to apply for a Social Security Number I have never had, complete five years of back tax returns plus an additional exit year, file six years of foreign bank account reports, and then apply for a Certificate of Loss of Nationality through multiple American consulates — a procedure that did not exist in its current form when my situation arose. The total cost in accountancy fees, consular fees, sworn translations and legal advice runs to thousands of euros.

To renounce a nationality I never knew I had, I am required to first enter the American system by applying for a Social Security Number I have never used. I must then provide extensive personal documentation to multiple American consulates — with no transparency about where that data goes, who has access to it, or when it will be deleted. On top of that, I am required to retrieve documents from before the digitalisation of Dutch government records in 1996 — paperwork from more than fifty years ago that was never meant to be stored, retrieved or shared across international borders.

I am not a tax cheat. I am not a wealthy investor with offshore accounts. I am a Dutch citizen who left the United States as a baby under circumstances that had nothing to do with financial planning — and everything to do with safety.

The procedures I am being forced to navigate were not designed for people like me. They were designed to catch billionaires hiding money — not to pursue a Dutch woman who has never earned a dollar, never received an American service, and never had any meaningful connection to the United States beyond the accident of her birthplace.

Sincerely,

Beth
From the Netherlands