UkWinds5353

It's no surprise that during difficult economic and political times a certain amount of citizens will become dissatisfied and feel disheartened and want to move on and try life in a different country. But the number of Americans willingly giving up their passport is alarming. This not an action that can be undone and once you lose your citizenship and or birthright to all legal advantages you don't get them back. I honestly don't feel Donald Trump alone is the explanation for this large Exodus. I think America might be changing far too fast and in the wrong direction.



https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/09/us/us...rnd/index.html

steveq

10,000 in a single year ? 5000 last year ? Its not a lot in the scheme of things is it ? There are plenty of people attempting to get IN.

vespucci

I think it's mostly because of having to file a tax return every year.

Rete

The article doesn't say if there are US Citizens who are born citizens or are naturalized citizens. I would assume that they are people who hold two passports and have the right to live and work in the country they go to, i.e. USC and UKC.

In relation to the number of actual Americans in the US, the amount renouncing US citizenship is perhaps a tear drop in the ocean.

Pulaski

I suspect that that statistic is substantially a function of how many people the US grants citizenship to, who later retire and return "home", or perhaps return home permanently for work purposes, and give up the citizenship they acquired. My guess is that that accounts for two thirds or more of surrendered citizenships, and that most of the rest are divided between "accidental" citizens, such as Boris Johnson, who were born here but left as a child and have no affinity to the US, and US citizens who married a citizen of another country and went there, or perhaps left for work purposes and obtained a citizenship that way. .... Which is a long winded way to get to me saying, I sincerely doubt that many natural-born USCs, born, and raised in the US, just decided to give up their citizenship out of umbrage.

tom169

Would be a good insight for a survey of this, but I do suspect mostly for tax reasons.

scrubbedexpat091

Probably taxes purposes.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/can...atca-1.5482687

civilservant

In the article itself it mentions tax returns. I do think that's probably the lions share of reasons why.

Although I didn't know that it actually costs money to renounce USC.

Pollyana

I think it costs to do it whatever the country. I'm currently thinking about renouncing my Australian, and it costs $205 (AUD)

civilservant

A quick Google suggests it costs £372 for British Citizenship.

robin1234

I assume that a far higher number than those who renounce, simply passively ignore the fact that they are US citizens. They live in another country, the US never bothers them, and they never bother the US.

scrubbedexpat099

Amazing how many cases I have come across where people are US Citizens but did not know it. No way of knowing how many that is but would no doubt dwarf this. There was a Canadian I knew, very wealthy, never naturalised because of the US tax situation on inheritance.

theOAP

Someone asked about surveys.

The following is from Laura Snyder. A look at Part 1, data, answers most of the questions about who is renouncing.

https://www.taxconnections.com/taxbl...s-citizenship/

Laura Snyder is a member of the IRS Taxpayer Advocacy Panel. A more recent paper:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....act_id=3655145
"The Criminalization of the American Emigrant"
"ABSTRACT
This paper explains the connection between U.S. taxation and banking policies that punish American emigrants and deep-seated prejudices against people associated with other places."


Tax reporting is part of the story, but the inability to meaningfully invest anywhere in the world but the US is an equally major point.

Response to the political scene in the US simply isn't a consideration for those renouncing. No matter which party is in power, the outcome for US expats is unattractive.

US expats with all (or most) of their investments and pensions in the US will gain little from renouncing. US expats with little or no US investments or pensions compose by far the largest number of those renouncing.

Disregard all media articles which depend heavily on comments from tax advisors. They are biased.

Renunciation figures are renowned for being underreported. Many have renounced years ago, but still haven't made the "name and shame" published list. Also be aware that there have been NO renunciations since March 2020 when all US embassies closed for Covid.

And, Robin is right. For those who do not want to play, noncompliance can be easy as long as they have no US assets, have citizenship of the country where they reside, and avoid any FATCA reporting on assets where they reside outside the US. Even then, it may be a matter of time, if ever, until the day of reckoning.

Pulaski

Agreed, undoubtedly vary large numbers.

scrubbedexpat099

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielm.../#84a80131995f

Facebook Billionaire Gives Up Citizenship to Escape Bad American Tax Policy

Lots of info in the article why people are giving up citizenship.