How does the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) affect me if I move to Nicaragua?

​FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) is the way the IRS now wants to try to find Americans, whether they’re citizens or residents, who have left the US and are there living in a foreign country full time or traveling in between. FATCA is a way of controlling or finding you, basically. And the way they find you is having foreign financial institutions report on you. 

 

If you move to Nicaragua, FATCA affects you in everything you do at any...

​FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) is the way the IRS now wants to try to find Americans, whether they’re citizens or residents, who have left the US and are there living in a foreign country full time or traveling in between. FATCA is a way of controlling or finding you, basically. And the way they find you is having foreign financial institutions report on you. 

 

If you move to Nicaragua, FATCA affects you in everything you do at any bank. Even if you just open a bank account, you're now going to be requested to provide information that you used to only have to provide in the States.

 

So now many related institutions, from banks to even some insurance companies want to know if you are an American.  They will even ask for sensitive information such as where you live in the States, your social security number, and of course, they'll collect information on you as to what you do here, such as if you have money as in investment and any kind of trust, any kind of stock; anything that is connected to the bank here although, they'll be reporting on you back to the US. It’s quite a bit.

 

(Lois Lerner, director of the Exempt Organizations Unit of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), pictured.)