“Coincidental American” single-handedly fought the bank. And won

Ronald’s case is about whether he is required to provide information about his US citizenship to the bank. Ronald having refused for reasons of principle, the Regiobank closed his accounts.

Ronald is an American by chance. That is, in addition to Dutch citizenship, he also has American citizenship, but that’s only because he happens to be born in the United States. Her mother gave birth while her father was an Air Force officer stationed in New Jersey.

But where some are proud of their American roots, it is only a burden for Ronald. Because anyone who is American must also file a US tax return, wherever you live in the world.

Americans have a different rating system. For example, you could be assessed for the profit on the sale of your house in the Netherlands. But Ronald knows nothing about it for most of his life. Until he opened a current account at Regiobank, which is part of the Volksbank group. When the bank finds that he was born in the United States, it sends Ronald a request for additional information. Is he perhaps a “tax resident” of the United States?

He seems to fit that definition, even though he only lived in America as a baby.

According to the bank, he must now declare himself to the American tax authorities, the IRS. It goes through the consulate. Ronald should apply for a Social Security Number (SSN) or Tax Identification Number (TIN) and submit it to the bank. In this way, the bank can report Ronald’s account balance to US authorities. This reporting obligation arises from an American law, FATCA, and from a treaty between the Netherlands and the United States. This law and the treaty were introduced to hunt down black savers and combat the financing of terrorism.