An Air Force-affiliated family stationed in Germany got a huge tax bill and a role in an international dispute after a fellow member of the branch turned their private financial information over to German authorities.
Special agent Dirk Roessling of U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations at Ramstein Air Base provided a five-page report of the family’s spending ultimately used to charge them roughly $300,000, according to Stars and Stripes.
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“It felt like there was a mole on the inside,” said the family patriarch, who worked as a military civilian at Ramstein under the NATO Status of Forces Agreement before moving to the United States last year.
“They knew everything,” his wife added. “I feel like they are Stasi people working there.”
The family’s experiences are not unique for U.S. military personnel living in Germany. The German financial offices have sought to impose income taxes against them even though the U.S. argues such actions violate a clause in the Status of Forces Agreement, which outlines their supposed exemption.
The Pentagon and State and Treasury departments announced just days into the Biden administration they had tasked the U.S. Embassy in Berlin to resolve the issue.
“We believe that some German tax authorities have adopted an incorrect interpretation of the NATO Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), resulting in the improper taxation of some U.S. personnel,” former acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller wrote in a Jan. 7 letter to Rep. Mike Kelly, according to Stars and Stripes.
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Despite the letter, a State Department spokesperson told the outlet they “cannot get into specific discussions,” but “we can assure you that the U.S. government has expressed at very high levels our eagerness to see the long-standing issue resolved. We will continue to engage with our German partners on this matter.”
