What it's like as an American abroad with Taxes: Double Taxation

how many countries do you think tax their citizens regardless of where they live in the world all this and more in today's video roll intro [Music] hello everybody and welcome back to evan edinger the channel where evan complains about his birth country my name is evan edinger and today as you can tell we are going to be complaining about my birth country america so semi recently july 15th rolled around which for this particular year happened to be the final day to submit your u.s tax return to the irs a thing which a lot of people don't realize i have to do every single year and then some now i know what you might be thinking but evan aren't you permanently living in the uk why would you still be submitting tax documents to the us government welcome to today's video you see the other day one of you replied to one of my insta stories shameless plot to follow my instagram and on my story i'd said i'd finally finished filing my u.s tax return for the 2019 year and one of you replied and i quote said well you're nearly british now so hopefully this is the last time oh but that would be logical right that'd be a logical thing a logical thing to think but the world of us tax law is anything but logic there are 195 countries in this world how many of those 195 countries do you think tax their citizens regardless of where they live in the world i'll wait did you guess two that's right one percent of the world's countries you already know one of them the usa and the other eritrea now but first we look at eritrea eritrea attacks its citizens regardless of where they live in the world at a reduced income tax rate so it doesn't matter if you still are a resident of eritrea or not you do still have to pay tax to your home country but if you've been living out of your home country of eritrea for years and years and years and say our resident fully permanently of another country it doesn't really matter if you do not pay this tax the country that you are no longer a resident of eritrea can and will deny your passports confiscate all your assets in eritrea and even harass all your relatives now you might think wow that sounds pretty severe well a lot of people actually thought that a lot of organizations did the un security council was the first group to say hey that's not cool yeah the un actually passed a resolution condemning eritrea's diaspora attack canada and the netherlands have both expelled eritrean diplomats from their country for trying to harass their citizens for this tax and even the eu has said they're working on prohibiting eritrea from taxing eu citizens now when it comes to the usa they do all this and much much more but where's the outcry you might ask u.n security council are you going to oh you're mostly headed by the u.s oh isn't that in a pickle right there is the eu working to protect their citizens from the u.s and this diaspora attack oh they're not oh they're not at all oh both of these organizations basically have bent over backwards to allow the u.s to invade the privacy of all the citizens oh how's that work all these countries even allow the u.s to peep into all of your bank accounts regardless of whether or not you're an american citizen just to make sure that you're not an american citizen so that's great just to know that regardless of if you're born and raised in deutschland doesn't matter the u.s uncle sam he's having a look just to see just to make sure this guy american no he's okay nice cash i like it nice stuff going on now i know this is a lot of information i've just thrown at you all at once so let's start at the beginning in 2010 the obama administration passed two incredibly important and incredibly overreaching bills the fbar and the fatca the fbar or foreign bank account report requires that all americans report when their combined foreign bank balances exceed ten thousand dollars in the same year even if it's the same cash for instance let's just say i have a uk bank account with the british equivalent of five thousand dollars in it i want to open a new bank account so i do and i transfer the money over well according to the us government even though i only have five thousand dollars at one point in the year both accounts had five thousand dollars and therefore i know how to file the f bar because i've supposedly had over ten thousand dollars well what if i don't file this far you might ask what's the worst that could happen especially because you know no one tells you to file this thing it's not really advertised anywhere it's just kind of a thing that you're expected to know you could slap with a fee wow can't be that but ten thousand dollars ten thousand dollars for not filing a form telling them that you have foreign bank accounts with hypothetically over ten thousand dollars where in this example i only had five thousand so somehow a person that has five thousand dollars has to be charged ten thousand and oh what if you just say civil disobedience that's a terrible law i agree with you maybe you don't wanna pay it well then they just up it you're gonna pay it now and so okay along with filing your income taxes which are already incredibly complex and convoluted because you have to file a different system because you are a resident abroad you now also have to file the f bar but also it's time for the fatca by far the craziest thing about the fat cut or the foreign account tax compliance act is that it affects you even if you're not american which is why basically fatca is an american bill that requires that foreign banks identify which of their customers are american and then report how much money they hold but hold up evan i'm not even american why should i have to worry about this at all well fun fact you may have already had to do something about it well actually a lot of banks including specifically metro bank in the uk now send out self-certification forms requiring all account holders to prove beyond reasonable doubt that you are not an american citizen so even if you're uk born and bred you'll still have to fill out a form proving that you're not american this goes for germans dutchies and many other countries as well in my opinion you should be concerned that the tyrannical us government is forcing you a citizen of your own sovereign nation to do things it wants you to do especially because if you decide not to fill out this form because you shouldn't have to well then the banks are just going to default you to an american status meaning you're subject to american taxing regulations you see the issue is all of these non-us banks are basically being blackmailed by the u.s government in order to get them to comply to provide the u.s with all of your information let's just say your non-us bank actually stands up for your rights and doesn't comply with this u.s law of fatca well then the us department of treasury just slaps a 30 withholding tax on your bank and since essentially every bank uses the us dollar for international trade it seems that if your bank doesn't comply they lose potentially billions and billions in dollars due to that 30 percent withholding tax or they just have to ask their citizens to do this thing the u.s wants them to do now if you're british you might be familiar with the concept of an isa or an individual savings account these things are great usually a really great idea to open one of these because the interest you generate on these saves account is tax-free it's usually a great way to save up for a house save up to start a family well for americans living in the uk the meeting at the irs went a little bit like this we have somehow convinced american population wearing masks makes them sheep it is amazing at least those reports you requested of americans holding uk isas thanks gus uh sir what exactly are you going to do with those reports oh these i figured we could just tax them but sir aren't those owned by uk residents yep but they still own a us passport so we can just take their money and the countries that live in just let us do it it's pretty great guys yeah but aren't those supposed to be tax-free savings accounts what you mean these people aren't paying uk taxes either oh boy now we're really gonna have to tax them what are you gonna charge them five percent surely no more than 10 percent listen here gus see a little cuck this is why we make the big bucks and you don't we're the united states of america the greatest country on earth i'm fairly certain i haven't quite left yet but i know it in my heart my heart of hearts my patriots heart we can and we will demand that other countries residents give us their money and they just have to suck it up and do it but sir what are you going to charge them i say make it 40 god sir 40 have you no heart fine i'm feeling generous today make it 39.6 yup if i earn over a thousand dollars of tax-free interest in an isa well the irs will come and take nearly 400 from me luckily throwing an extra four back for a bougie meal deal maybe i'll finally get one of those with a smoothie it truly is an incredibly horrible predatory system that i cannot believe is just allowed to happen one i'm not even represented in congress as an american abroad my needs and values do not really closely align to that of my home state and it's not like new jersey's really out here passing laws and regulations to make my life living out of the u.s that much better in fact the congressman from my district is quite possibly the worst in the state if you're from new jersey you already know who i'm stuck with but there are over 9 million americans currently living abroad which if a state would be the 11th biggest population wise that is wild yet we don't really have representatives for ourselves which to be fair we wouldn't really need if the us would just leave us alone we're not even living there but yet they decide to tax us but if they're going to tax us we need representation isn't that the entire point of the revolutionary war are they still teaching history in the us to anyone out there is that a thing you know no taxation without representation americans abroad oh uh just gifts mate sorry that's british um get stuffed good stuff obviously i've been out for this long i can't even remember how i'm supposed to speak but it is just a bit jokes if you think about it that the us left the uk because they were like we shouldn't be taxed unless we're represented and then they're just doing the same thing too i do find it honestly troubling that the country that i do currently call my home the united kingdom has decided to just allow this to happen because even though i'm not a uk citizen which for the record i very much should be at this point but due to the whole clovid situation my citizenship application was pushed back quite far but 2020 i will be a uk citizen but even if i wasn't even if i'm just a uk resident i would hope that the country that i'm a resident of and taxpayer of would i don't know try and protect me in a way and the other millions of americans that are currently living abroad and i know american expats living in every other country probably feel the same because we're migrants our needs aren't quite considered as highly as those natively born which you know what fine i get it i understand okay i know there's going to be a lot of comments like oh you know evie sure but but i would just hope that other countries would want to stand up to the us and not just for me or for the 9 million other american citizens that are currently residing in your countries but for the privacy of your own citizens just allowing the u.s to go in and make your citizens do things they shouldn't have to do just because a bill is passed in a country leagues and leagues away the u.s should not have that much control over foreign banking practices that just should not be allowed now as this will inevitably come up as i did say i'm getting my uk citizenship soon i'm assuming you're thinking oh well why don't you just renounce your u.s citizenship once you get that uk citizenship if you hate this u.s so much well after fbar and fatca were passed americans abroad started renouncing their citizenship in droves which hasn't really seen the light of day in the media because that doesn't really fit the narrative that the us is the greatest country in the world and how could you ever leave america no americans love america especially foreign americans they're only there because they're just testing the waters okay they're just doing business right no no people are definitely immigrating into america and not out definitely no one's renouncing huge amounts of americans were renouncing right after fbar and fatca were introduced so the us government came up with quite a clever solution for that wait gus why are all these americans renouncing their citizenship this year well sir if you recall you did agree to start doubly taxing them on their foreign earned income that's true and required that they fill out three to five lengthy tax documents that usually require a quite a hefty fee from an accountant that is well versed in all of our complex tax laws i did do that and we also agreed to slap them in the face with a 10 000 fee if they don't fill out any of these forms that they didn't really know how they had to do and we haven't really alerted them to the fact they have to do is that enough so what you're saying is they think they can just leave the greatest country on earth sure looks like it sir oh well not if i can help it i say we've raised the renunciation fee but sir our renunciation fee is already 400 make it and 2 dollars sir that's that's oddly specific and also the highest in the world oh oh one more thing make sure that they uh can't renounce unless they've paid up all the taxes they didn't know that they owed because we never told them about any of the complex forms that they have to fill out after they move abroad that'll be good oh some of those 10 000 f bar fees on them just in case they didn't fill out any of those either that'd be great thanks gus sir i'm beginning to think you're evil just wait until they find out what happens when they try and marry a non-american so the us government decided to raise the renunciation fee from four hundred dollars to two thousand three hundred fifty dollars because why not they can do whatever they want they might as well raise this to a ten thousand dollars they want hundred thousand who's going to stop them now all american citizens will be baseball and change the rest of their lives it's not that easy and a fun fact i learned while researching this video the us has a name and shame register put out by the federal register every quarter for all those naughty americans that gave away their passport i can't believe they do this let's just shame them into it it's literally referred to as a name and shame register ha i i just can't believe that and thanks to the read amendment if the government suspects that you are renouncing for tax purposes so like literally everyone well they can just legally borrow your entry into the country want to see your family no wanna ever do no you're not allowed no so just like eritrea again right but without without all that international outcry so though americans abroad are renouncing their citizenship in droves they can't legally say why they can't legally say it's because the horrible burdensome citizenship taxation process including the f bar and the fatca or they legally won't be able to see their families again wow u.s sounds like a great place to live right man it's no wonder people want to leave and through this whole thing i've not even talked about how much the double taxation really is you know that i do have to file my irs taxes every single year regardless of if i owe any money but there is a double taxation process so not only will it be taxed rightfully so in the uk the place in which i live but the u.s also wants a piece of that pie but luckily the us does have a couple agreements in place many countries that allow americans abroad a taxation credit of 105 900 as of 2020 this increases with inflation now am i currently making over 100 000 no not yet but i still do not believe it is right that if i ever get to that level i am now going to basically never going to make over that amount because i'm going to be taxed in two countries one of which has absolutely no right to my money i will happily pay taxes to uk a country in which i genuinely love and support the services god bless the nhs okay genuinely 10 out of 10. you know what the uk government did during krovid they told people to stay home and they paid them 80 of their stipend i know some people were complaining about that in the uk and i was thinking that was wild you know what the u.s got a thousand dollars once what so you pay all these taxes what do you get back you get war in a country you've never been and it's not even like a smaller tax rate as well the tax rate the u.s gives you on top of the already 20 and 40 percent that you pay in the uk specifically is 24 on top it's just ridiculous so i still pay taxes to a country i don't even live in and i still have to file complex forms every single year for fear of them taking 10 000 or more from me just taking my assets and there's nothing i can really do about it and i haven't even gotten to the part about what happens if i marry a lovely british woman absolutely lovely dinner we've had today dodie it was so nice a bit weaker the wine though wasn't it yeah a little bit weak honestly oh here's the bill thanks mate how long have we known each other um known you like six seven years right and have you been happy so happy happiest girl in the world dodie would you make me the happiest boy in the world would you marry me oh my god yes of course evan wonderful wonderful for us evan how much does she make i beg your pardon oh come on man don't hold out on me dodie you did say yes yeah to marrying you but not whatever this is what what is this we here at the irs don't like it when americans marry outside of our kind that's why we made it so that if evan here marries you a non-us citizen you either have to let us tax your entire worldwide income or he suffers increased tax rates and fewer tax credits himself potentially damning your marriage god no oh god no evan keep your ring dovan is dead i really wish you'd wait until after the wedding hi there everyone evan in the edit here so i was just adding in that source information to the video but i decided to check out the rest of the website it was from h r block which if you're unaware is one of the most popular tax preparing companies in the states and i got to the bottom of the article and i found this in complete bold letters just thought this was funny marrying a non-us citizen get help and in the case in which me and my lovely british wife have a child well that child inherits the greatest gift on earth u.s citizenship so even though he's never literally stepped foot in the u.s his 18th birthday comes around oh guess who comes to knock in the u.s government hey your dad yeah he was american right time to pay up time to pay oh you didn't tell us you had over ten thousand dollars legally they could take my child's money greatest country on earth greatest greatest country my child gets money stolen from him because of where i was born and other countries just allow this to happen i'm honestly pleading to other countries because i do just find the us a bit of a lost cause and i just like i said i almost feel a loss myself because i just want someone's to stand up i want someone to stand up for us migrants abroad from this horrible country known as the united states of america and no i don't have time this video which is already quite long to even go into detail about how corruption in the u.s government basically made it so that tax preparing companies lobbied the us government to make it so that taxes remain difficult cumbersome and horrible for everyone including people abroad and citizens because that's just how the us government works money paves the way it's depressing and that's just the way it has been and that's just the way it is tax preparing companies make a profit off of the horrible system and so they made it so it stayed that way because they run the country money money runs the us i do wish i could end this video with a sliver of hope for any other american expats watching that maybe this system can change but over the past couple of years there were a couple bills that were at least you know put on the table in the house of congress to be like hey maybe we shouldn't do this citizenship taxation thing maybe we should join the entirety of the rest of the world with residency-based taxation but these bills never really made it past the first meeting who really cares about americans who left you know you got enough problems fighting for americans who are still there in whatever america is at the moment it makes sense it's just it's just rough as a start i wish congress would abolish fbar and fatca and switch to a residency-based taxation system like the rest of the modern world but not even modern world the rest of the world however due to the legislative branch of the us government just being such a gridlock mess all of the time i just don't think that's going to happen especially not anytime soon so yeah i guess if i had to sum up this video in one sentence it'd be being an american abroad is quite taxing so my hope is a the countries in which american expats live we're looking at you hopefully you can stand up for us because the u.s sure isn't and so i'll finish with a song cause i'm proud to be an american in a land that's actually free and i won't forget the men who tried to take away my money and i'll gladly stand up next to you and do nothing but think and pray cause there ain't no doubting if you're not in this land they'll repossess your money anyway even if you live in the uk cause that's just the u-s way [Music] thanks for watching cause i'm proud to be an american

Channel: Evan Edinger

Views: 364,260

Keywords: double taxation, irs, american expat, american abroad, american in uk, taxes, american taxes, what it's like as an American abroad, us taxes, taxation, FBAR, FATCA, 2020, Evan Edinger, Evan, Edinger

Id: 4l2RDCx2YnA

Length: 19min 58sec (1198 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 02 2020