> US citizens living in other countries are required to file taxes with the IRS that's part of being a us citizen, and complying with your own law. you can re

> US citizens living in other countries are required to file taxes with the IRS that's part of being a us citizen, and complying with your own law. you can renounce citizenship if you prefer to not comply with IRS. > Australia has laws that about child sex tourism aimed at those that go to Asian countries with lax laws or enforcement. These crimes are committed in other countries So if a US citizen violates Australian laws in Thailand, are they guilty and punishable by Australia? The example above is still against Australians, even if the crime is committed overseas. But... it's only against people who've been convicted, and it's basically just shutting down their ability to leave the country. The customer in question was stating that simply someone being a citizen of a European country, then visiting my client's shop somehow subjected my client to European law. I don't find any examples you've cited above to be remotely comparable to this situation. No, I take it back, your banking situation is sort of similar, except the banks in question are likely directly or indirectly connected with US banks. If they want to continue to enjoy whatever status that gives them, they're probably going to comply with those regulations. I also suspect that it's really their own government's financial regulators which have an agreement with US regulators (the wikipedia page seems to jive with that). Those FFIs are voluntarily(?) agreeing to the terms of FACTA because they enjoy some level of benefit (not being shut down by their own govt regulators, perhaps). There are laws about heresy and apostasy in middle eastern regions - I'm probably violating their laws on a regular basis. Beyond a highly unlikely fatwa that may get issues against me, I'm not sure what they can really do (or indeed, that I would really be 'liable' in any real sense of the word)