US citizenship renunciations fall in second-quarter surprise
Second-quarter data on US citizenship renunciations is out, with a surprising trend—the lowest quarterly number of people giving up their American citizenship since late 2012, according to a recent release by the Treasury Department, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Since the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) was enacted in 2010, there has been a noted uptick in the number of US citizenship renunciations. The first quarter of 2015 accounted for the highest number of renunciations in US history, with 1,335 people giving up their American citizenship.
The most recent quarter, through June 30, however, saw only 460 citizenship renunciations, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2012, when only 45 Americans chose to renounce their citizenship. However, there is speculation that the 2012 figure reflected a reporting error.
Despite the low second-quarter figure. 2015 is still likely to hit a record number of renunciations, thanks to the first quarter’s robust 1,225.
Survey results had suggested that this year would bring a high renunciation rate, with 27 per cent of expats surveyed by Hong Kong tax company Greenback Expat Tax Services in 2014 saying they were considering renunciation. Some think the second-quarter quarter decline reflects a leveling off of sorts after a flurry of renunciations as Americans reacted to Fatca and global banking challenges.
International tax attorney Andrew Mitchel, of Centerbrook, Conn., suspects that “expatriation numbers will tend to level off, and then perhaps decline a bit” in coming quarters.
