When you're an American -- and I've always been patriotic -- it's extremely troubling to think about giving up your citizenship. But it's an option I am considering due to the invasive reach of the IRS and the U.S. government into my personal life.
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and went to college in California. After I graduated, I entered the Peace Corps, stationed in Costa Rica. That's where I met my husband, who is Swiss. I moved to Switzerland to be with him in 1984, and received Swiss citizenship when we married.
The fact that I have signatory rights on my Swiss husband's financial accounts means that I must report them to the U.S. government, which I find quite unfair. I have no problem paying taxes -- I have problems with reporting my non-American husband's assets. It's an invasion of privacy. I've always filed my taxes with the help of my brother, who is an accountant, but neither of us knew I had to report those accounts until my bank here sent me a letter about it.
Related: G-8 promises to tackle tax cheats
We also didn't realize until recently that my daughter, who has U.S. citizenship through me, was required to file taxes after she turned 18 three years ago. I didn't think she had to, because her wages from a part-time job as a university student are very low.
I'm now working with a lawyer to sort this out. I think it will cost me in the range of $10,000 when it's all done, which hurts.
My conclusion is that new disclosure laws have caused an enormous amount of grief for an overwhelming majority of expats, just to get a few bad apples. They may be hiding millions, but the target persons are a small percentage of the millions of Americans abroad.
