This is part of my series of posts discussing the Section 965 U.S. Transition Tax. This has been reposted with permission from Americansabroadfortaxfairness.org.

Time Out From Our Regular Programming With This Special Message – A Call To Action – from Attorney Monte Silver:

Hi Fellow Americans:

On August 1, 2018, the Treasury/IRS issued proposed regulations that interpret the Repatriation Tax Law – a 250 page very complicated document. I discovered that in issuing the document, Treasury, the IRS and other Federal agencies seriously violated numerous Federal laws and procedures. This gives us tremendous leverage in negotiating for an exemption from the Repatriation & GILTI laws.

It is not unreasonable to expect that this battle may be won by December 15, 2018. What you can do to help win the battle? Easy! Treasury needs to hear your voice in a few short paragraphs (as outlined below) – by October 7, 2018.

We are within reach! Lets do it.

Monte

p.s. – as you may have an October 15, 2018 filing deadline, there is a way for you to extend the filing date until December 15, 2017. See IRS Publication 54, page 4 (can be seen at silvercolaw.com/blog). I suggest that you discuss this with your U.S. tax person.

Instructions

1. Do not include any identifying information about yourself or your business. Do not even say whether you live in the U.S. or abroad.
2. You need to customize the letter where marked in red below!!
3. Do not discuss anything but the Repatriation tax, and 962 if relevant for you.
4. Submitted the comment: Either at www.regulations.gov/comment?D=IRS-2018-0019-0001. This Federal site does not require you to identify yourself. If you want to remain 100% anonymous, send the comment to me and I will submit it in an anonymous batch with others.

To see the comments of others, click “Open Docket Folder” on the above link.

Template comment

Subject: Comment on the proposed 965/962 rules

To the US Treasury:

I am a U.S. Person with an interest in a small business. As a result of the Repatriation tax, and now these Proposed Rules, 2018 has, and the foreseeable future will continue to be, a nightmare for me, my business and my family.

I am unable to understand the 250-page document at all. My comment is limited to two issues:

(i) The 5-hour estimate you state that it will take me to comply with this proposed rule is totally unrealistic, and

(ii) The Repatriation tax and this proposed regulation have and will continue to devastate my small business.

Issue 1: I have spent countless and still have to spend trying to deal with the Repatriation tax.

PUT YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE HERE. In one or two paragraphs, detail all the time you have had to spend on the Repatriation tax. Include everything, from initially reading about the tax and talking to friends, to contacting your US and non-CPA CPA, to doing more research on what the tax is and means to you, how to comply, contacting your Congress people to complain and demand action, , to gathering documents and tax information, to joining groups and forums to discuss this matter and learn what to do. If your current CPA is not sufficiently knowledgeable about this tax and you had to speak to other tax professionals and pay then, state that. Put an estimate as to the number of hours you have spent on the Repatriation tax and what you have no idea how many hours it will take for you to understand the comply with the 250 page proposed regulations

Issue 2: The Repatriation tax has devastated my small business.

PUT YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE HERE. In one or two paragraphs, state things like:

– how the cost of compliance is so significant that it will threaten the existence of your business. The cost can be (i) money – paying tax professionals, taking money needed for the business out of the business to pay the tax. (ii) Time wasted on this and how that impacts your business. Add that this cost does not include the cost of future compliance for the proposed regulations which you cannot even begin to estimate

– how you are unable to compete with non-us businesses as they do not have to comply
how you do not have the money needed to pay the tax and will need to take out loans, liquidate an asset, or take out pension money at a huge penalty

– how taking money out of the company to pay this tax is harmful to the growth of your business

– if you are making the 8-year payment plan or the 962 election, this rule will impact you for years to come.

You have no idea whether the proposed rules mean that you have to amend returns, which will double the cost of compliance and headache.

– as a result of the significant impact on business, you or others you know have debated whether to simply refuse to comply and become a tax evader

Non-Americans do not want to co-found businesses with you or have you as an investor. The Repatriation/GILTI taxes makes you undesirable to non-American businesses.

Based on the above, I respectfully request that Americans with small businesses be exempt from the 965 tax.

Respectfully,

Your Name

Please forward this blog post on to as many people you know who are affected by the U.S. Repatriation and GILTI taxes.

Have questions about this blog post?

Contact John Richardson _ Tax Lawyer