U.S. citizens living abroad face an unreasonable paperwork burden from the IRS. Many citizens abroad do not have any U.S. income and do not even owe taxes. Yet we are required to file 1040 income tax returns every year, which are far more complex for citizens abroad than for resident taxpayers and usually require costly assistance from lawyers and accountants.
In addition, we are faced with further burdensome forms like TD F 90-22.1 and the new 8938 that we must file every year. The stated purpose of these forms is to help prevent money laundering. This makes little sense in the case of most taxpayers abroad, since most of us live in countries like Canada that already monitor our financial transactions with their own money-laundering laws.
We petition for paperwork relief.