Many Americans Living Abroad Consider Renouncing Citizenship
Published at(NEW YORK) — Not everyone who’s an American wants to stay an America, a new report in Forbes magazine reveals.
Forbes says that 73 percent of the 7.6 million Americans living outside the U.S. are considering giving up their citizenship, according to a survey of 400 people living aboard by the independent financial advisory organization deVere Group.
That works out to approximately 5,548,000 Americans. Meanwhile, 16 percent said they won’t renounce their citizenship while 11 percent aren’t sure.
The major reason for this inclination to become a non-American, says deVere Group founder Nigel Green, is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act or FATCA, which taxes citizens regardless of where they live in the world.
Penalties are steep for evading FATCA, such as fines and prison time, and while some expatriates believe they can bypass the law with a non-U.S. passport or foreign address, Forbes says they could put themselves in further legal jeopardy with the IRS by doing so.
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