Record Year for Americans Giving Up Citizenship
2020 Is The Record Year For Americans Giving Up Their Citizenship
- 6,045 Americans gave up their citizenship in the first nine months of 2020
- Showing a 234% increase on the same 9 months to in 2019, where only 1,811 cases were recorded
- 2,072 Americans gave up their citizenship in 2019 in total
- This is the highest year on record; the previous record was 5,411 cases in 2016. Already in 2020, with 3 months still to report, 6,045 is the record number of cases in a year
- This is all while the U.S. State Department has stopped Americans being able to book appointments to renounce at many U.S. Embassies since March 2020
Americans must pay a $2,350 government fee to renounce their citizenship, and those based overseas must do so in person at the U.S. Embassy in their country.
There are an estimated 9 million U.S. expats. The trend has been that there has been a steep decline over the last few years of U.S. citizens expatriating - the first nine months of 2020 is a huge increase in the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship.
Under the IRS rules (section 6039g), every three months the U.S. Government publishes the names of all Americans who give up their citizenship. The first nine months for 2020 had 6,045 Americans renouncing their citizenship, far more than the total of the four quarters for 2019 (2,072 Americans renounced).
Our partner, Alistair Bambridge, explains: “There has been a huge interest in 2020 for Americans overseas looking to renounce their citizenship, where the figures have been in steep decline since 2017.
“The record numbers of Americans giving up their citizenship in the first nine months of 2020 is the tip of the iceberg and if the U.S. Embassies and Consulates were all open, there would be much higher levels for 2020.
“From our experience, increasingly Americans abroad have had enough of President Trump and the administration of the last 4 years and can't bear the thought of 4 more years. For those individuals the situation is so serious that they are wiling to give up their citizenship so they are not linked to the political policies in the U.S.
“I speak to U.S. citizens on a daily basis who are looking to renounce their citizenship, so there will be a large wave of U.S. citizens renouncing their citizenship once they are able to book appointments again. There are some U.S. citizens so desperate to give up their citizenship that they are booking holidays to the Bahamas or the Turks and Caicos Islands, or other far-off places, where appointments are still being offered to give up their citizenship.
“For U.S. citizens living abroad, they are still required to file U.S. tax returns each year, potentially pay U.S. tax and report all their foreign bank accounts, investments and pensions held outside the U.S. For many Americans this intrusion is too complicated, and they make the serious step of renouncing their citizenship as they do not plan to return to live in the U.S.
Full details of the press release on Newswire and PR Newswire.
