A Belgian agency ruled that the government’s sharing of Americans’ financial information with the IRS [Internal Revenue Service, the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes] under a US law violates European data protection laws.
The US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, requires reporting of foreign bank account information to the US agency.
The Belgian Data Protection Authority issued the ruling Thursday, saying sharing of this data in accordance with FATCA violated provisions in the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and it gave the Belgian government one year to bring its data-sharing into conformity with the GDPR.
- The authority initially blocked the sharing of data in 2023, in a case brought by the Accidental Americans Association of Belgium. A Brussels Market Court reversed the decision and sent it back to the authority later that year.
- The Association of Accidental Americans President Fabien Lehagre said his group welcomes the decision, which he said will stop the data transfers, but he decried the decision to give the government a year to comply. “Accidental Americans” are people who hold US citizenship by virtue of their birth but are established overseas.
- “Data protection cannot accommodate a political or administrative timetable,” he said. “Transfers must cease immediately.”
I don’t know the method by which my bank (which is European, indeed) could be punished by US if they didn’t share the data that IRS and FINCEN wants, true, at least if they don’t have any official activities in the US. I think I recall the was something about US strongarming every other country into effectively making FATCA reporting into local law? (Maybe that’ll change?) What else could US do? Designate officers of the non-cooperative bank as “money laundrers” and make their private lives hell on the international arena?
What I do know is that they (my bank) already is unhappy about the fact that I’m a “US person” and they’ve told me as much in person. They do not allow me to open new accounts. They do not allow me to do any trades beyond moving money between the savings accounts and use their bank card (which I do use when I’m in Europe). They would however allow me to close my accounts! Half their internet banking site is off-limits to me - it’s sometimes difficult to access documents like annual statements because the logical path to that part of the site got roped off!
I’m pretty sure they’re already looking for an excuse to cut me off.
Half their internet banking site is off-limits to me
Mind elaborating? Did they restrict your account specifically, or does the website simply treat logins from the US differently? I’m surprised you wouldn’t retain full cloud access so long as your account exists under the terms you signed up for.
I don’t understand why you would tell your Belgian bank that you left Belgium, particularly when your new residence is the US which flags you as a toxic asset that requires special handling. That could only work against you. Surely you would be better off not telling them you moved and use a VPN to Belgium to access your acct.
My home country is one of those with a residence registry, run by the government. The banks get their address data about me from this registry. Unless I were to hide from that government that I’ve emigrated, which is legally dicey from several aspects, including to whom I should pay taxes, I have no way of hiding my address from the bank. And lying about which country I’m in - and then wandering in to the consulate in US and ask about renewing my European passport… No thanks.
Yes, the bank restricts parts of their web portal to anyone they deem being a resident of the US. IIRC that might not even have been primarily due to FATCA (I moved about the time when FATCA laws were being implemented around the world, not sure if I moved before or after my country implemented it), but to a second US law, called the Dodd-Frank act.
