News that hard-hitting lawyer, Jim Bopp is getting involved in the fight against the introduction of the contentious Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) could make all the difference in the so-called ‘toxic’ law being ruled out before it’s even begun. 

Mr Bopp is putting together a robust attack on the roll out of FATCA, a law which invades financial privacy and could deter banks from working with American clients overseas.  All financial institutions in the world will be forced to report all their American clients’ financial activities directly to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), or be issued with a 30 per cent withholding tax, if FATCA comes into play.

This could have devastating consequences for over 7.6 million American expats all over the globe, as well as 13 million green card-holders and millions of American businesses.

The main aim of FATCA, according to its advocates, is to catch out tax evaders who may have concealed undeclared income in foreign banks.  However, to my mind, rather than effectively seeking out unpaid taxes, this highly-litigious law will only serve to threaten American jobs, reduce foreign investment into the U.S. and destroy international relations.

Talking about the importance of American citizens working abroad, Mr Bopp comments: “Their work overseas is vital to our economy by promoting the sale of our products around the world.”

The no-nonsense lawyer is planning to launch his attack on FATCA in three ways.  Firstly that it encroaches upon the Senate’s sole possession of foreign treaty power; secondly, by using the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel or unusual punishment, and thirdly, the Fourth Amendment’s personal privacy guarantee.

I have no doubt at all that Jim Bopp’s campaign against FATCA could well be the ‘tipping point’ in the growing campaign to have this seriously-flawed law revoked.

The shattering consequences of FATCA…

As the implementation of FATCA is so expensive and burdensome, and banks are alienating Americans living overseas as they don’t wish to be caught up in the FATCA net, the number of U.S. citizens surrendering their passports has risen rapidly in recent months, according to government data.

A deVere Group survey was undertaken at the end of last year, which revealed that two-thirds of expats who took part in the poll have considered renouncing their citizenship directly because of FATCA.  This is certainly not a decision to be taken lightly.

With Washington intending to implement FATCA on July 1, I will be fully supporting Jim Bopp’s campaign to fight this law, as he prepares to launch his legal battle against ‘one of the worst laws most Americans have never heard of.’