Turns out that a lot of Americans are actually relinquishing their citizenships.
Bambridge Accountants New York just conducted a new study revealing that 5,816 Americans gave up their citizenship throughout the first six months of 2020. In contrast, 444 people did the same in the last six months of 2019. Let us do the math for you: those numbers amount to a 1,210% increase overall.
The news shouldn't be met with much surprise. As a general statement, each election cycle brings with it talks about moving. Add to that the current global pandemic and more-intense-than-usual feelings about politics, and you've got yourself a recipe for a potential mass exodus. That being said, in 2019 as a whole, just over 2,000 Americans renounced the rights that a citizenship grants them.
"The huge increase in U.S. expats renouncing from our experience is that the current pandemic has allowed individuals the time to review their ties to the U.S. and decide that the current political climate and annual US tax reporting is just too much to bear," says Alistair Bambridge, a partner at Bambridge Accountants New York, in an official press release. "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."
To give up their citizenships, folks have to pay a $2,350 government fee. If based overseas, you must do so in person at the U.S. Embassy in the country you're living in.
Unfortunately, given the extensive bans currently placed on American travelers globally, a U.S. passport doesn't hold much value at the moment. But who is to say things won't soon change?
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