Under pressure from European banks in particular, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service has issued clarification with respect to a FATCA requirement that "foreign financial institutions" be obliged to provide the so-called Taxpayer Identification Numbers of their American clients from January, 2020 onward, which tax experts say means that banks now won't have to close the accounts of their TIN-lacking "accidental American" clients at the end of this year.

Questions some "accidental Americans" have been expressing about whether they need to acquire a Social Security Number if they are planning to renounce their U.S. citizenship appear to have been answered, at least with respect to those who qualify to renounce under a set of "new procedures" unveiled by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Friday.

The UK's Guardian newspaper and a couple of Belgian media organizations have published stories this weekend that follow up on concerns that thousands of Americans face the loss of their bank accounts at the end of this year, owing to these Americans' lack of the "Tax Identification Number" that their European banks require to comply with the U.S. tax evasion law known as FATCA.