Record number renounce U.S. to avoid income tax
Would you renounce your U.S. citizenship if it meant you didn’t have to pay an income tax?
More Americans than ever are saying “yes” to that proposition, according to the Internal Revenue Service.
A Reuters article says 1,800 people either renounced their citizenship or relinquished their ‘Green Card’ in 2011, the highest number since the IRS began publishing a list of those who’ve quit Team U.S.A.
The number that walked away in 2011 is eight times larger than those who renounced their citizenship in 2008, Reuters reports, and more than 2007, 2008 and 2009 combined.
Why are people doing it? Probably taxes.
The United States is one of the few countries to tax citizens living abroad. An estimated 6.3 million Americans living overseas have until June to file income taxes, but some apparently find the liability is greater than the benefit.
Longstanding federal law requires U.S. citizens to list offshore bank accounts, but a new law — 2010’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act — asks foreign banking institutions to provide the IRS with financial information that some Americans may have “forgotten” to provide. This new law likely explains the 2011 spike.
The IRS publishes the names of those who’ve decided not to pay up, a practice referred to as “name and shame” by lawyers representing the expatriates.
There’s an “exit tax” for the very rich who choose to leave. Reuters says Ted Arison, the late founder of Carnival Cruises, and Michael Dingman, a former Ford Motor Co. director, both paid to no longer be considered American.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
106 comments Add your comment
Jo
April 18th, 2012
3:18 pm
They’re doing it because Obama has destroyed all things that made America, America in 3 short years.
#occupy my desk...
April 18th, 2012
3:22 pm
Bush’s fault.
rew
April 18th, 2012
3:24 pm
LOL, I love all the comments by the ignorant socialists that Obama is great and Bush messed us up. Bush’s policies were rotten, but wake up, Obama has done nothing different! Bailouts…check, $T stimulus packages…check, record deficits…check, same Iraq withdrawal plan…check, troop surge…check, extend the “Bush tax cuts”…check. Wake up fools- Obama has been Bush III
Pseudo-Political Commercial Media Machine
April 18th, 2012
3:25 pm
Shut up, Randy! (What are you trying to do? These people don’t know the difference.)
ahem
April 18th, 2012
3:25 pm
Thank you Randy!!!
Scooter
April 18th, 2012
3:34 pm
The tax code is too complex and should be simplified to empower American citizens. The Obama and Democrats have done nothing but complicate it more. Past entitlements will bankrupt the country because they aren’t financially sustainable. Rather than use their 2008 majorities to reform past entitlements, The Obama and Democrats added a new one. They really don’t seem to be the party of bright ideas and their supporters even less so.
Masters Degree
April 18th, 2012
4:00 pm
If the rich pay more percentage wise in taxes why did Romney pay 14% last year when making over 20 million? Legal loop holes. The more you make the more you can hide your money in assets.
I do this every year with thousands of dollars in right offs for my properties and company. Wendell and the rest of the want to be conservatives will never understand this.
I am a true conservative and believe in a flat consumption tax. I want smaller government and I am voting for Obama. If you take out the money spent on the Bush Wars we would be doing a lot better. When he came into office we were losing 750,000 jobs a month.. (Fact) We are in the positive now and the bleeding has stopped. We have growth in several economic measures… he is a miracle worker.
Lavondre
April 18th, 2012
8:27 pm
The expats who’ve renounced their U.S. citizenship will be beating down the door to get back in the next time there’s a crisis like a revolution or economic collapse in their new third world paradise.
killerj
April 24th, 2012
9:48 am
What,s with this monkey word “We”,with the crook,s in office today I don,t blame them at all,”We” the people no longer exist,your probably idiot liberal,s that voted for Obama and his “socialistic” health care,let “Me” tell you something,your public servant,s are now your master,s fool,s because of your idiot voting.
Tiger
April 24th, 2012
12:50 pm
Many of the ‘expats’ renouncing their U.S. citizenship actually ‘relinquished’ the citizenship many, many years ago. Perhaps it was because they met, married, raised a family with someone from another country. And perhaps they became citizens of those countries. Many of those countries are not ‘third world countries’, and, in fact, offer far more than the U.S.. Most of those countries probably have a higher tax rate, therefore, these people are not doing it to avoid taxation. It just might be that they love the country they are living in and have no reason to return to the country of their birth.