Americans Renunciating Citizenship is Heading for Record Year!

Now nearly 1,400 Americans renounced their citizenship in the third quarter of 2017, according to US Treasury Department data. The trend suggests the total for 2017 will be more than 6,800: 26 per cent above the 2016 total and 56 per cent higher than 2015.  

Americans are on pace to renounce their citizenship in record numbers in 2017, according to the latest quarterly report from the Treasury Department. 
 

• Some 5,411 U.S. citizens expatriated in 2016, a record high that topped 2015's numbers by 26 percent. 
• 2017 is currently on track to beat those figures, Bloomberg News reported, estimating a total of 6,813 by the end of the year if the fourth quarter is similar to 2016's.

• 2011 was the first year in which more than 1,000 people chose to terminate their American citizenship, according to the Federal Register. 

Under federal law, Americans are taxed according to their nationality, which causes U.S. citizens living outside the country to face taxation from both the U.S. and their nation of residence. The pace of Americans jumping ship started to accelerate in 2010, when the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) became law. The act was intended to stem tax evasion of U.S. citizens living or working abroad by basically requiring foreign institutions holding assets for American expats to report those accounts or withhold a 30 percent tax on them.

 

The graph to the left is based solely on IRS data and shows the number of published expatriates per year since 1998.

 

The connection between the list of expatriates and the IRS implies a link to tax policy.

 

The U.S. is one of a very small number of countries that tax based on nationality, not residency, leaving Americans living abroad to face double taxation.

 

The escalation of offshore penalties over the last 20 years is likely contributing to the increased incidence of expatriation.

 

 

 

 Should I Stay or Should I Go?

 

 

 

Need Advise on Expatriation ... 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sources:

Bloomberg The Hill   STEP International News 1 Sept 2014: Citizenship renunciation fee soars as American expats flee FATCA