Record Broken On US Expatriations In Q1
A record 1,336 US taxpayers gave up their passports or their green cards in the first quarter of 2015, according to Treasury Department statistics published in the Federal Register.
The Treasury is required by statute to publish a quarterly list including the name of each individual who has lost or renounced US citizenship during the period. For the purposes of this listing, long-term residents or green card holders are treated as if they were citizens of the US who lost citizenship.
The number of individuals losing or giving up their citizenship has risen in the last two years, reaching 2,999 in 2013, and 3,415 in 2014. In the last three months of 2014 alone, 1,062 US citizens gave up their passports.
The acceleration in the number of individuals giving up their citizenship has coincided with increased actions by the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to trace American undeclared assets and income held abroad. Of particular relevance was the July 1, 2014, deadline for the application of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The Act is intended to ensure that the IRS obtains information on accounts held abroad at foreign financial institutions by US taxpayers. To facilitate this regime, the US is negotiating more tax information exchange agreements with foreign jurisdictions.
It has also been said that more Americans living abroad are becoming aware of their unwanted US tax reporting obligations, such as the requirement to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
