Plans are advancing for this year's Overseas Americans Week (OAW) in Washington, 9-13 May 2005. Participants will discuss a broad spectrum of topics with members of Congress and of the Administration. A key theme of this year's OAW is the "Level Playing Field Initiative", advocating fair tax treatment of Americans abroad to improve trade competitiveness. Representatives of numerous American organizations are preparing for an gruelling but exciting week on Capitol Hill. For details, contact ACA founder/director Andy Sundberg

The full text of "The Level Playing Field Initiative" can be found on the ACA website under "Topics", then "Taxes"; It was recently featured in the newsletter of the American Business Council of the Gulf Countries.

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ACA has been contacted by several Americans who have had US banks tell them they could not establish a new account while living abroad - or in some cases, that they could not maintain an account while having an address outside the US. This need not be a problem, and the State Department has a standard letter that can be provided to individuals to send to such banks.

The letter states, in part:
"The USA PATRIOT Act does not prohibit foreign citizens or individuals with foreign residences from opening or maintaining a U.S. bank account. Such activity is done frequently and is necessary in a global economy.
"[A] financial institution may request information of a customer that had not been previously solicited. However, the PATRIOT Act does not prohibit foreign persons or those with foreign addresses to open or maintain bank accounts in the United States.
"Please feel free to present this letter to your bank, should you face any difficulties with interpretation of the PATRIOT Act."

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Thanks for the many nominations for ACA's award for outstanding service to overseas Americans by a State Department employee. The deadline is now passed, and this year's winner will be announced on Jefferson's 262nd birthday, April 13th, 2005. For further information: Contact Corinne Larsen, the Thomas Jefferson Award Committee, at ACA in Geneva.

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The United States is pulling out of the Optional Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. The protocol requires signatories to let the International Court of Justice (ICJ) make the final decision when their citizens say they have been illegally denied the right to see a home-country diplomat when jailed abroad. The United States proposed the protocol in 1963 and ratified it in 1969.

The United States originally backed the measure as a way to protect its citizens abroad, and was the first country to use it before the ICJ, or World Court, successfully suing Iran for taking 52 hostages in Tehran in 1979. Other countries, however, have successfully complained before the World Court that the US was not adhering to the procedures that go along with the protocol, and their citizens were sentenced to death by U.S. states without receiving access to diplomats from their home countries, according to the Washington Post.

The decision of the United States does not affect the rest of the Vienna Convention, which requires its 166 signatories to inform foreigners of their right to see a home-country diplomat when detained overseas. According to some legal analysts, withdrawal from the protocol means that the United States will not be obligated to the decisions of the World Court. Others are saying this decision will weaken protections for U.S. citizens abroad.

State Department officials told the Post that fewer than 30 percent of the signatories to the Vienna Convention had agreed to the protocol. Among those that had not done so are Spain, Brazil and Canada.

(from Siskind's Immigration Bulletin of 15 March 2005

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A series of articles in Levin and Weiser's tax e-newsletters of mid-January, February and March go into considerable detail in a readable fashion.

The March newsletter also features an article on "IRS' Dirty Dozen for 2005" - schemes some preparers propose as miracle tax solutions

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Over a 100 people participated in ACA's annual auction of donated items and services, the proceeds of which go to underwrite the association's overhead for the coming year.

Cocktail hour with hors-d'oeuvres offered by the Beau-Rivage Hotel was at 7pm. The bidding started at 8. Great fun was had by all, with live music, lots of chatter, and then a fast-paced auctioning of items ranging from fun to fabulous: stays at top hotels, meals at great restaurants - or in people's homes, art works, home-baked goodies. and what else.

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Long-time ACA supporter (and donator to the ACA auction!) Debbie Godowsky runs a small business called Cookies Direct. She and her helpers specialize in sending home-baked cookies anywhere in the US. She also sends to APO and FPO addresses of military stationed abroad. One of her customers made a gesture which has been snowballing: He suggested that she bill him an additional $9 for a dozen cookies that would be added to the next order to an APO/FPO office. The person whose order was "bumped up" so liked the idea that she repeated the gesture. Now, by a simple email authorization, anyone can join this sweets-for-the-guys/gals-serving-abroad chain. Write Debbie for details info@mainecookies.com.

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Ordering books, CDs, DVDs via amazon.com ? With an extra click or two on your part, you can contribute to ACA's work on behalf of all Americans abroad. Enter the ACA web site; go to the book section; then click on any amazon.com logo there. By accessing amazon.com from this ACA web site, ACA will get a small sales commission on every purchase you make during that visit--at no extra expense to you!

Thanks for your help in covering the overhead of our nonprofit, nonpartisan association run by overseas Americans like you, devoting hundreds of volunteer hours to help YOU.

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Take a look at these info-packed sites:

Imagine sliding out of bed and knowing your "work" for the day is to scuba dive along the Great Barrier Reef...mountain climb in the Andes...or Kayak around the most remote of the San Juan Islands... Here's the opportunity you've been looking for.

Get the Details and Your Free report.

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This News Update is, like ACA itself, of, by, and for Americans abroad. ACA is staffed through the efforts of volunteers, with its primary income source being membership fees and donations from private American citizens around the world.

WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE HANDS-ON TO ACA WORK:

1. NEWS UPDATE EDITORS. ACA is seeking to supplement its News Update staff. Work involves actually writing the News Update 2 - 3 times a year, under supervision of a Senior Editor, and monitoring raw material considered for the newsletter on a regular basis. Calls for e-mail access and an ability to write/edit succinctly and against a deadline. ACA takes pride in the global spread of its editors.
2. BOOK REVIEWS/REVIEWERS. ACA is interested in discovering books of particular interest to Americans abroad. It also seeks individuals willing to review such books. Reviewers get to keep the book, and to see their contribution in print. Click here for a list of books or contact the ACA office.

WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE TO ACA'S FINANCIAL SUCCESS:

1. Did you know that by accessing amazon.com (click on any Amazon link you find in the book review section, ACA web site) and then browsing and purchasing as normal, ACA receives—at no cost to you—a small percentage on the purchases you make? Check ACA's web site and make a painless contribution: it makes $&sense!
2. Join us for our annual auction. The FUNdraiser evening produces the single largest annual contribution to ACA's working budget. And the highest bids are for items ingenious and/or exotic. It's a good bet that someone in the attending crowd of internationals will be intrigued by even the most distant and/or unusual of objects or services.
3. And, of course, an outright contribution via check or charge card is the most obvious way to support the work of ACA and its worldwide volunteers working to help YOU. Membership is only $40 a year ($30 for seniors). Secure payment via thru PayPal^®, or mail to: ACA, 5 rue Liotard, CH-1202 Geneva, Switzerland.

Disclaimer: "While ACA makes every effort to be accurate in the information it transmits, such information is not to be considered a substitute for specific and qualified professional advice."

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