A coalition of business leaders is calling upon Congress to repeal the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act as part of any tax reform package sent to the White House.

FATCA, enacted in 2010, is aimed at foreign financial firms to prevent tax evasion by U.S. residents through use of offshore accounts. It requires banks to report information to the IRS on funds held by U.S. taxpayers in accounts at banks outside the United States.

The Campaign to Repeal FATCA is led by deVere Group CEO, Nigel Green, and the Center for Freedom and Prosperity. The coalition includes 22 other groups, including Americans for Tax Reform and the National Taxpayers Union, calling on Congress to include repeal of the

The March 21 letter, addressed to Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, makes five key arguments:

“FATCA fails in its primary goal to catch wealthy tax cheats.”

“It ensnares innocent Americans with excessive reporting requirements and draconian penalties for the slightest oversights.”

“FATCA makes U.S. citizens living and working abroad toxic assets in the eyes of both financial institutions and employers.”

“The onerous law's compliance costs far outstrip the revenue it collects.”

“It encourages other nations and international organizations to pursue aggressive tax grabs that threaten American businesses and the global economy.”

"FATCA has been ruining the lives of Americans abroad and pulling money out of the global financial system for no benefit. It's exactly the kind of counterproductive and burdensome regulatory scheme Donald Trump has pledged to get rid of," Nigel Green, founder and CEO of deVere Group, said in a statement. deVere Group is a financial advisor with more than 80,000 clients and $12 billion under advisement.

The 2016 Republican Platform called for FATCA's repeal, denouncing the law's "warrantless seizure of personal financial information without reasonable suspicion or probable cause" and its threat to the "ability of overseas Americans to lead normal lives."

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