US: Record number of Americans overseas renouncing citizenship due to a stringent US tax policy.


The US Treasury Department says a record number of Americans living abroad are renouncing citizenship due to a stringent US tax policy.
Some 4500 individuals did so in 2015 in comparison to over 3400 people the previous year. The cause behind the massive increase in renunciations is believed to be the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act, which came into force in 2010. The law imposes harsh penalties for non-compliance. In 2009, it was revealed that Swiss bank UBS had enabled its American customers to defraud the US tax authorities. This resulted in a Washington clampdown on foreign banks. The encroachment prompted many of the banks to scrap business with Americans living abroad, causing some US citizens overseas to give up their passports. Since FATCA came into effect, US authorities have collected billions from foreign banking institutions and Americans in taxes and penalties.

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5 thoughts on “US: Record number of Americans overseas renouncing citizenship due to a stringent US tax policy.”

      • I escaped the USA in 1989 to take TAX FREE overseas job. The IRS code states you can make up to 100k a year tax free if you work overseas (Fed job doesn’t count) . After spending 330 consecutive days outside of the USA I was awarded the status of ”Bona fide overseas resident” by the IRS. I worked many years not paying tax to anyone. Then in 1997 I got my original Dutch citizenship back (where I was born because I was naturalized US citizen). The Dutch law stated dual citizenship was not possible , however, due to a loophole in the law they gave me back my original citizenship. Want to know what the loophole was? Okay , here it is. The clerk in the county in the Netherlands asked me ONE QUESTION,, She said , just answer YES or NO. The question was THIS ”Did anyone ask you if you wanted to become an American”? I said NO. because I became a citizen as a MINOR under the wing of my father when he took citizenship.. So she then said, ”By virtue of the fact, you had no say in the decision, we award you your original Dutch citizenship back”. But she said, it will cost you about 600 guilders (300 dollars). I smiled and said ”no problem” I had that much in my wallet. She then said. Okay, come back after lunch and pick up the document we will make stating you are Dutch citizen. And with THAT you can go to the embassy and get a Dutch passport. all kinds of highpaying jobs opened up to me in Europe which Americans were not qualified to take.. I also asked her ”What about my American citizenship”?? She said ”Its none of our business what you do with your US passsport”. so for quite a few years I had dual citizenship even though I NEVER used my USA passport after getting my Dutch one which has taken me all over the world with my job (flight engineer).

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