TAXES – April 15 is almost here!

American citizens, as we all know, must file an annual tax return because they are “US persons”, wherever in the world they may live. IRS returns for 2025 from “American persons” – citizens and greencard holders – are due this year on 15 April 2026. Overseas Americans with an income in 2025 of $5 or more are required to file a tax return, whether or not they owe the US government anything, which leaves very few of us out. Overseas residents are given an automatic extension to 15 June 2026, but any tax owed must be paid by 15 April or penalties will start to accrue. A further extension to 15 October can be obtained, but this must be applied for. October 15 is also the deadline for filing your FATCA report.

The solution to what is, in effect, double taxation for non-resident Americans is Residence Based Taxation (RBT). Congress and the Administration see that taxing US citizens on foreign income is a problem that needs a solution. The President made a campaign promise to end double taxation. Congressman LaHood introduced RBT legislation in the last Congress; Committee staff and the Joint Committee on Taxation are analyzing the LaHood Residence Based Taxation for Americans Abroad Act (H.R. 10468) legislation prior to reintroduction, while Congressman Hurd (R-CO) has introduced legislation exempting Pope Leo from taxation on foreign income. VISA programs are in development that will allow foreigners to exempt their foreign income from US taxation.

Tell your Representatives in Congress about these efforts and ask them to support legislative efforts for RBT.  To contact your Representative, go to the American Citizens Abroad (ACA) website and scroll down to the instructions on how to submit your message. ACA will follow up with a visit to their offices to support your efforts! 

https://www.americansabroad.org/big_tax_bill_in_dc

VOTING

Have you registered to vote in the November 2026 midterm elections? In 2020 only 7.8 percent of Americans abroad, excluding members of the military, cast ballots in the 2020 election, compared with 66.8 percent of voters in the US. In other words, Americans living in the United States are nearly 10 times more likely to vote than those abroad. And more Overseas Americans register to vote than actually cast their ballots in the election. In 2020 only two-thirds of ballots requested were returned. Don’t let yours be one of them in November 2026 – REGISTER and VOTE! Help us to beat these figures!

Overseas Voters are required to register to vote annually, although a bill in Congress, the so-called SAVE Act, which President Trump is trying to push through, would require in-person registration with evidence that you are the person shown on your birth certificate, i.e. proof of any change of name since birth. Few Overseas Voters will be able to meet the in-person requirement and married women in particular may have difficulty obtaining proof of a name change – which will put us in the situation the Colonists were protesting: taxation without representation. So far, passage is being blocked by the Democrats and the filibuster (which Trump is also trying to get the Republicans to overturn). If you have not yet registered, do so now. Choose any of three safe, secure websites to fill out the form to register/request a ballot for the 2026 election. Any of the three will specify the information required by your state.

• The US Vote Foundation (https://www.usvotefoundation.org/vote/request-overseas-absentee-ballot),
• The Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) (https://www.fvap.gov/citizen-voter)
• Vote From Abroad (https://www.votefromabroad.org/)

Note that you should register to vote at the address from which you last voted, however long ago that may have been.

Once you have registered, write your Congressperson & your Senators to urge them to protest against the SAVE Act. To do so, go to the ACA website and scroll down to the instructions on how to do so.

https://www.americansabroad.org/save_act_hr22

As if that weren’t sufficient to disenfranchise many American citizens, also before Congress is the MEGA (Make Elections Great Again) Act, to which ACA and other advocacy organisations have submitted letters of opposition. This is a proposed federal bill aimed at reforming U.S. election regulations. Key provisions include requiring proof of citizenship (similar to the SAVE Act), establishing national voter ID mandates, and implementing systematic voter roll purges. It would prohibit universal mail-in ballots and restrict ballot collection, prompting critics to label it as excessive federal overreach. 

The key components of the Act are:

• Voter Identification: Establishes a national requirement for photo identification to vote in federal elections.
• Citizenship Verification: Mandates proof of citizenship for voter registration, incorporating measures from the SAVE Act.
• Mail-in Ballot Restrictions: Prohibits states from using universal mail-in ballot systems and bans accepting ballots postmarked by Election Day but received afterward.
• Ballot Collection Limits: Prevents individuals from collecting and delivering sealed mail-in ballots for others, impacting policies currently used in 18 states.
• Voter Roll Maintenance: Requires stricter, systematic, and regular purges of voter registration lists.

Apart from concerns that many legal voters will be disenfranchised, the bill undermines state authority over election administration, as mandated in the Constitution.