Several years ago, we had a very nice American guest who mistakenly left a lovely cashmere sweater. After discussing it, and despite her telling me to keep it, I ended up sending it back to her. It was expensive, costing me about 50€ for the postage. No problem, I just thought it was the right thing to do.
Afterwards, she thanked me and demanded that she pay for the shipping and so she wire transferred 50$ from her US Bank account.
Oh boy, what a nightmare! When my bank received the transfer, they told me I had to come to the office and fill out paperwork to declare that I am not a US citizen or resident and not subject to US taxes.
I just didn't bother at first (the bank has all my official info anyway) , but then the bank said that if I didn't do it, they would have to freeze my account due to something called FATCA. Apparently the US requires foreign banks who receive any payment from the US to require the account holder to formally declare that the account holder is not a US citizen and liable for US taxes.
It seems the US has its fingers in everything, everywhere. But one thing's for sure, I will never accept any payment to or from the US ever again 😳