The Association of Accidental Americans (AAA) has filed an appeal with the Luxembourg Administrative Tribunal after the country’s tax authorities refused to stop the transfer of personal data to the US.
The sharing of personal financial information is required under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) to determine how much tax US citizens who live overseas need to pay, as the US is one of two countries in the world to have a citizenship-based taxation model.
Foreign authorities, financial institutions and individuals are all bound to report under the legislation.
The AAA claimed that such transfers are “illegal” and has asked the administrative tribunal to submit preliminary questions to the European Court of Justice regarding their compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
‘Adverse effects’
The association said: “The AAA considers these massive and automatic data transfers to violate European and national laws on personal data protection and privacy, including GDPR.
“This violation of fundamental rights is particularly damaging to accidental Americans, who did not choose to be US citizens.”
An ‘accidental’ is an individual who has either gained US citizenship by being born in the United States or by having a parent who is a US citizen.
Fabien Lehagre, AAA president, said: “The basic problem is that EU Member States must breach their own laws in order to comply with US law. This is just one example of the adverse effects of the extraterritoriality of American law.”
Additionally, the association is also awaiting a decision by the EU court of justice after the French council of state “refused to recognise the illegality of Fatca-mandated personal data transfers”, and has filed lawsuits in Belgium and Luxembourg as well.
