US Expatriations Unexpectedly Slow Down In Q2

by Mike Godfrey, Tax-News.com, Washington

03 August 2015

The number of US taxpayers who gave up their passports or their green cards in the second quarter of 2015 fell to 460, according to Treasury Department statistics published in the Federal Register.

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 rose to a record of 1,335 in the first quarter of this year, after having also increased in the last two years, reaching 2,999 in 2013, and 3,415 in 2014.

The acceleration in the number of individuals giving up their citizenship had coincided with increased action by the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service to trace American undeclared assets and income held abroad, particularly by enforcing the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and the requirement to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.

According to representative bodies, Americans living abroad are becoming increasingly aware of their US tax reporting obligations, alongside the growing compliance burden. The last quarter's figures could suggest that the recent trend of a large and increasing number of expats renouncing their citizenship is coming to an end.

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