Campaigners over the way the U.S. tax evasion-prevention law known as FATCA is being enforced throughout Europe have begun writing to EU officials – and making this  correspondence public – to ask why it's taking so long for the EU to respond to questions formally raised more than a year ago over FATCA's compatibility with EU data protection regulations.

A brief statement by IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig yesterday, in support of the idea of the U.S. "reciprocating" with respect to the information it currently receives from foreign governments about the overseas bank and financial accounts of U.S. taxpayers – as a result of a 2010 law known as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) – has sparked widespread discussion and debate, particularly outside of the U.S.

In the latest development in long-running efforts by the France-based Association of Accidental Americans to compel the U.S. government to make life easier for its members and other "accidental Americans," the U.S. State Department has requested that a federal court dismiss a suit that the AAA filed last year, along with 11 individual plaintiffs, arguing that the government's suspension of voluntary expatriation services in U.S. embassies and consulates around the world was a violation of the U.S. constitution.

...as eight French politicians sign letter to him urging action during France's 6-month council presidency

European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni has again drawn fierce criticism from Americans and accidental Americans in Europe, with his remarks on the the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) – this time for saying that the European Commission is technically unable to directly address problems with "the monitoring and enforcement of EU data protection rules" that he acknowledges FATCA is causing. 

A Guardian article about a growing backlog of American expats around the world who would like to give up their U.S. citizenships, but haven't been able to since the pandemic struck in March 2020, has gone global, not just on social media, but on the pages and websites of other publications as well, since it was first published online on Dec. 31.

In a ruling that has left many "accidental Americans" (as well as ordinary American expats) cheering, a Dutch court ruled yesterday (Dec. 29) that a Dutch citizen born in the U.S., but with no other connection to that country, is entitled to keep his accounts with his local bank, even if he doesn't provide it with a U.S. Tax Identification Number (TIN), as long as his total holdings in these accounts don't exceed US$50,000. 

...as a Gambian presidential candidate says her disqualification from running was due to difficulties in being able to renounce her U.S. citizenship 

The Paris-based Association of Accidental Americans on Monday filed a fresh complaint against the U.S. State Department, this time alleging that the continued suspension of voluntary expatriation services in U.S. embassies and consulates around the world was a violation of the U.S. constitution.

The Paris-based Association of Accidental Americans (AAA) said it has today filed a "request for enforcement" with the Dutch Data Protection Authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens), in which it said it is "demanding an immediate halt to the automatic transfer of European citizens’ personal data to the United States," as part of the Dutch government's compliance with the U.S. tax evasion-prevention law known as FATCA.

The Association of Accidental Americans (AAA) has issued a call for volunteer plaintiffs "for the lawsuit we are going to bring against the State Department," now that it has decided to go ahead with its latest complaint over the way the U.S. currently facilitates citizenship relinquishments.