Posted on 02/06/2021 4:36:32 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Americans urgently rushed to their embassies to renounce their citizenship last year amid the virus pandemic, social unrest, economic crash, and political firestorms.
Americans Overseas said a record 6,705 Americans gave up their citizenship in 2020, a 260% increase from 2019 when 2,577 renounced their citizenship.
Even with consulates closed in the early part of the year because of the virus pandemic, renunciations still managed to nearly triple over the prior year. Before 2020, the highest year on record was 5,411 cases in 2016, ahead of former President Trump winning the 2016 presidential elections.
Americans Overseas estimates some 9 million Americans are living abroad. Every three months, the IRS publishes a log of who gave up their citizenship.
"This number possibly would have been higher if U.S. Embassies worldwide had not been closed for large parts of the year due to COVID-19 regulations. If this trend continues, 2021 renunciation numbers will be record-breaking," said Americans Overseas.
Americans Overseas said, "stimulus checks of $1,200 + $600 are also being used towards the cost of renouncing" citizenship.
There has been a growing trend of U.S. citizens expatriating since the pandemic began. We first outlined this disturbing trend in August of last year.
The International Tax Blog posted annual expatriations from 1998 to 2020, showing the dramatic rise over the last decade.
From 2010 to 2020, the quarterly expatriations show a more in-depth view of when the virus pandemic began that triggered an increase in expatriations.
Once U.S. embassies open full-time, Americans Overseas expects the number of people renouncing their citizenship will continue to hit records.
Because of the Bidet tax issues.
If you are an expat the IRS considers you a criminal.
So what countries are best for Americans escaping America?
How many are those from China?
Would be interesting to see country residing in or country of origin.
They’ve gotta be people with money.
There’s no way to answer that; there’s too many variables.
Some countries only want younger people who have high-value skills (teaching, medicine, etc.).
Some countries only want retirees (no one to take a job away from a local).
Some countries require you have a wad of money in reserve (don’t want you destitute where you have to rely on them to take care of you).
Most require you to prove you have a certain amount of income, which varies from country to country.
Most require you have enough money to get yourself back home.
Most require you to live in country from 2 years to 35 years before you can become a citizen.
Then you need to look at your wants/needs:
Weather
Health care
Cost of Living
Language (do you speak or want to learn a second language?)
Lifestyle (urban, rural, tourist area, laid back, party all night)
Ease of travel back to US (new country goes to pot, need medical care you don’t trust in new country, etc.)
The countries you would think of first (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc) are the strictest. And now we have COVID on top of that, with borders closed.
Yeah, I’ve been doing some looking...
Although the article got its data from a tax statistic, they do not mention why the citizens are giving up their citizenship. It’s because of tax code. And, the tax year is the reason that people are “rushing” to do it now.
This excerpt is from Lawyers.com.
“Obligation to Pay U.S. Taxes Even on Foreign Income
The United States imposes taxes on its citizens for income earned anywhere in the world. If you plan to earn income outside the United States, you need to speak with a tax expert to see how becoming a U.S. citizen might affect you financially.
Once you become a U.S. citizen, it’s difficult to ever escape your tax liability to the U.S. government, even if you voluntarily give up your citizenship. A green card holder, on the other hand, can give up his or her green card and not have to worry about filing U.S. tax returns after that.
So, if you’re thinking that you may eventually move out of the United States (when you retire, for example) to a place with lower taxes, see whether naturalizing makes sense financially.”
0.00159031% of the US population What a shocking number.
We allow a higher percentage of bug parts in a premium hotdog.
Has BLM and Antifa along with their violence played a role? And the serious hatred being directed at everyday people??
If it wasn’t for family and good jobs, I suspect there would be many more leaving. Our modern culture sucks!!!!
Just the opposite, if you have money and give up your citizenship, you have to pay the highest bracket US income tax on all your current assets, including the value of a home you might own in the overseas country you live in. So, if you are wealthy, you are going to have pay big money to give up your citizenship. If you are young,live overseas, and do not have a lot of money and assets, best to give up your USA citizenship to avoid the double taxation and constant reporting to the USA Treasury on any of your accounts outside of the USA.
Yes, easy to come to Australia if you are under 30 years old, married with children and have skills needed. Nearly impossible to come here over age 40, unless you come as a retiree and bring money. But then you are not allowed to use any of the Australian benefits like the medical program.
Yeah, nobody wants us old coots. :-(
Why would covid increase the numbers?
Cant have guns in canada australia or new zealand
Or the uk
Many people renounce U.S. citizenship to avoid either taxation or reporting requirements of foreign assets. The reporting requirements are for any foreign assets over $10,000 at any time in the course of a year. That amount was never adjusted for inflation since the law was enacted circa 1968. The Republicans has promised to change that for Americans living abroad. Americans living abroad can actually have problems getting foreign bank accounts because foreign banks don’t want to have problems with the U.S. government. So, some people, especially dual-nationals just decide that U.S. citizenship isn’t worth the problems it causes. The filing fees and taxes paid in the process aren’t cheap either.
I don’t think for ‘personal defense’, but maybe for other reasons, like sport shooting or hunting? If I need to shoot someone for personal reasons, I don’t care what I have on hand to use!
[Because of the Bidet tax issues.
If you are an expat the IRS considers you a criminal.]
I would be interested in Central Europe. (Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, etc.)
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