The number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship stayed near an all-time high in the first half of the year before rules that make it harder to hide assets from tax authorities came into force (FATCA - Effective Date July 1, 2014). On Monday, February 10, 2014, we posted "US Expatriation Increases By 221%" a record number of U.S. taxpayers renounced their citizenship or green cards in 2013, according to new data.
Each quarter the U.S. Treasury publishes the names of the Americans who officially expatriated during that period.
The number of Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship stayed near an all-time high in the first half of 2014 before rules that make it harder to hide assets from tax authorities came into force. A whopping 1,577 people gave up their nationality at U.S. embassies in the six months through June, according to Federal Register data published August 7, 2014.
While that’s a 13% decline from the year-earlier period, it’s only the second time there’s been a reading of more than 1,500, according to Bloomberg News calculations based on records starting in 1998. If this current trend continues, it would result in 3,154 people expatriating into 2014, which would be a 105% increase over the 2,999 people who expatriated in 2013. The 2013 amount of 2,999 represented a 221% increase over the 932 total in 2012 and “shatters” the previous record of 1,781 set in 2011.
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On Monday, May 14, 2012 we posted Facebook's Co-Founder Just Defriended America, regarding Face book's Co-Founder Mr. Saverin's renouncing his U.S. citizenship ahead of the company’s IPO.
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On Friday, August 9, 2013, we posted Americans Renouncing U.S. Citizenship Increased 6X so far in 2013!, regarding Americans renouncing U.S. citizenship increased 6X in the second quarter from a year earlier as the government prepares to introduce tougher asset-disclosure rules.
- On Thursday, November 14, 2013 we posted Tina Turner - By Adopting Foreign Citizenship are you Still Subject to the US Exit Tax? regarding long-time Swiss resident Tina Turner” Relinquishment of U.S. Citizenship. and then
- On Thursday, September 12, 2013 we posted New Worries for Those Thinking of Renouncing US Citizenship!
Tougher asset-disclosure rules effective as of July 1, 2014 under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, prompted 576 of the estimated 6 million Americans living overseas to give up their passports in the second quarter.
The appeal of U.S. citizenship for expatriates faded as more than 106 Swiss banks turn over data on American clients to avoid prosecution for helping tax evaders. (See our post Swiss Banks Have Sent U.S. Client Data To The IRS! )Swiss banks are trawling through records going back to the 1990s to find clients with U.S. addresses and telephone numbers, and those who received schooling in the country. Those identified as U.S. persons are either being asked to leave or placed in special U.S.-only sections of the institution, he said.
Gave Up their Passports over the past 5 years.
This is something that's usually said by really wealthy people to their tax advisers and financial planners. These folks tend to already have a lot of money in accounts outside the United States.
Now though, it looks like it's not just idle complaining. Whatever the reason, government data shows that more Americans are packing up and permanently moving out of the country.
For those who already are living overseas, more are saying they don't plan to return. They are renouncing their U.S. citizenship and giving back their US passports.
Marini & Associates, P.A.
Read more at: Tax Times blog
