Dutch lawmakers to again address FATCA, on Tuesday

According to an agenda of the meeting, which is scheduled to be held in the Tweede Kamer in the Hague, the Dutch lawmakers are expected to discuss such matters as progress on the commitments made during  a Tweede Kamer hearing on FATCA earlier this year (pictured above); the difficulties some Dutch citizens have faced in attempting to cash so-called CARES Act stimulus checks (issued by the U.S. government) at their local (Dutch) banks; and the findings of a report issued earlier this month by Dutch finance minister Wopke Hoekstra (pictured below), containing FATCA data from the four largest Dutch banks.

Ahead of Tuesday's meeting, the Nederlandse Accidental Americans (NLAA) last Friday urged members of the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives), in a letter also sent to the Dutch National Ombudsman, to move quickly to resolve the FATCA issue, stating that “the pressure on the Ministry of Finance must really be increased if we are to come to an acceptable solution,” while noting that all those authorities in a position to comment on the matter see the Dutch government as the logical and best-placed agent for arriving at such a solution. 

The NLAA's letter to the Tweede Kamer members also asks whether Finance Minister Hoekstra saw any "similarities” between the way the FATCA issue is being handled, and a recent scandal elsewhere in Dutch politics, having to do with claims by the government that many Dutch parents had committed fraud in their claims for child care allowances. 

More information on next Tuesday's hearing, scheduled to be held from 6pm to 8pm CEST, may be found, and live-streamed on the day, by clicking here. 

The Tweede Kamer has seen a series of hearings on the subject of FATCA over the past few years, as financial institutions tighten up on their enforcement of the U.S. law, and Dutch lawmakers respond to the resulting response from accidental Americans in particular, who don't consider themselves to be Americans and who are therefore disinclined to obtain the U.S.-issued Tax Identification Number the banks say they require from them. 

In February, as reported, Finance Minister Hoekstra sought to reassure Dutch "accidentals" that their banks wouldn't be closing their bank accounts this year, and said that he anticipated negotiations over FATCA between the U.S. and the EU, through the EU's Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), would become more intense, although spokespeople for the Dutch accidentals say they're not aware of any progress towards a resolution having yet begun to be made.

According to Dutch media, Hoekstra has a niece who is an accidental American, and therefore he's thought to understand better than most lawmakers the difficulties being an accidental can cause, in terms of bank and other financial accounts.