Overseas Americans Financial Access Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4362 To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an exception from certain reporting requirements with respect to the foreign accounts of individuals who live abroad. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 17, 2019 Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York (for herself and Mr. BEYER) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means A BILL To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide an exception from certain reporting requirements with respect to the foreign accounts of individuals who live abroad. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Overseas Americans 4 Financial Access Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:16 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4362.IH H4362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4362 IH SEC. 2. EXCEPTION TO CERTAIN REPORTING REQUIRE- 1 MENTS APPLICABLE TO FOREIGN FINANCIAL 2 INSTITUTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN 3 INDIVIDUALS WHO LIVE ABROAD. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1471(d)(1) of the Inter- 5 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating 6 subparagraph (C) as subparagraph (D) and by inserting 7 after subparagraph (B) the following new subparagraph: 8 ‘‘(C) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN INDIVID- 9 UALS WHO LIVE ABROAD.— 10 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Unless the foreign 11 financial institution elects to not have this 12 subparagraph apply, such term shall not 13 include any depository account maintained 14 by such financial institution if each holder 15 of such account is— 16 ‘‘(I) a natural person, and 17 ‘‘(II) a qualified individual with 18 respect to a foreign country in which 19 such foreign financial institution is li- 20 censed to conduct business. 21 ‘‘(ii) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL.—For 22 purposes of this subparagraph, an indi- 23 vidual is a qualified individual with respect 24 to any foreign country if such individual 25 would be a qualified individual under sec- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:16 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4362.IH H4362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4362 IH tion 911(d) if the only foreign country 1 taken into account under such section were 2 such foreign country.’’. 3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amendments made by 5 this section shall take effect on the date of the en- 6 actment of this Act. 7 (2) MODIFICATION OF AGREEMENTS.—At the 8 request of any foreign financial institution, the Sec- 9 retary of the Treasury (or the Secretary’s delegate) 10 shall, as promptly as is practicable, modify any 11 agreement which is in effect between the Secretary 12 and such foreign financial institution under section 13 1471 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to take 14 into account the amendments made by this section. 15 SEC. 3. EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS WHO LIVE 16 ABROAD TO CERTAIN REPORTING REQUIRE- 17 MENTS APPLICABLE TO INDIVIDUALS WITH 18 FOREIGN FINANCIAL ASSETS. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6038D of the Internal 20 Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by redesignating sub- 21 section (h) as subsection (i) and by inserting after sub- 22 section (g) the following new subsection: 23 ‘‘(h) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN FINANCIAL AC- 24 COUNTS OF INDIVIDUALS LIVING ABROAD.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:16 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4362.IH H4362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4362 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a qualified 1 individual with respect to any foreign country, sub- 2 section (a) shall not apply to such individual for any 3 taxable year if such individual would not be required 4 to provide any information under such subsection for 5 such taxable year if the qualified foreign accounts in 6 which such individual holds an interest were not 7 taken into account as specified foreign financial as- 8 sets for purposes of this section. 9 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED FOREIGN ACCOUNT.—For pur- 10 poses of this subsection, the term ‘qualified foreign 11 account’ means, with respect to any qualified indi- 12 vidual, any account described in subsection (b)(1) 13 which is maintained by a financial institution which 14 is licensed to conduct business in the foreign country 15 with respect to which such individual is a qualified 16 individual. 17 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of 18 this subsection, an individual is a qualified indi- 19 vidual with respect to any foreign country if such in- 20 dividual would be a qualified individual under sec- 21 tion 911(d) if the only foreign country taken into ac- 22 count under such section were such foreign coun- 23 try.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:16 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4362.IH H4362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4362 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 2 the date of the enactment of this Act. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:16 Sep 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4362.IH H4362 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS