Post: #51

Here's the IRS link:

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,i...27,00.html

The penalties for failing to report an offshore account are pretty bad.

Post: #52

A article on CNN Money talking about 5 Americans thinking of giving up their citizenship or have given up their citizenship. Its a good read.
I have thought about this ever since I moved overseas. Especially the tax reasons. When I start earning over 92,000 a year on my worldwide income, I have to pay taxes to the US government no matter where I live in the world. Plus as a american citizen I still have to file my taxes even though I do not live there. Plus file my wife's assets, if I ever get married even though she is not a US citizen or green card holder. Things to ponder as my new worth and income goes higher each year.

"Why expats are ditching their U.S. passports"

When my older son, now 21, was born in Germany, I applied for U.S. citizenship for him immediately, because I thought I might eventually return. As things worked out, I ended up in Canada -- my wife's country and where I found a job in the IT industry. My oldest son and I now both have Canadian citizenship as well.

What I'm worried about these days is whether to apply for U.S. citizenship for my younger son, who is 16. He was born in Canada, and currently holds Canadian citizenship. He has the right to be an American citizen through me, and I wouldn't want to deny him that.

But do I want to impose a lifetime of paying to have U.S. tax returns prepared upon him? There are benefits -- having a U.S. passport would make it easier for him to study and work in the U.S., if that's what he wants. But at his age, he doesn't know yet what career direction he wants to follow.

As for myself, I have considered renouncing my U.S. citizenship -- my Canadian wife feels it is incredibly invasive that we are required to report our joint assets. But even after 40 years as an expat, I've kept my citizenship, because I still cherish the privilege of voting in national elections."

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/expats-dit...27757.html

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/2014/03/...hip/5.html

"I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and went to college in California. After I graduated, I entered the Peace Corps, stationed in Costa Rica. That's where I met my husband, who is Swiss. I moved to Switzerland to be with him in 1984, and received Swiss citizenship when we married.

The fact that I have signatory rights on my Swiss husband's financial accounts means that I must report them to the U.S. government, which I find quite unfair. I have no problem paying taxes -- I have problems with reporting my non-American husband's assets. It's an invasion of privacy. I've always filed my taxes with the help of my brother, who is an accountant, but neither of us knew I had to report those accounts until my bank here sent me a letter about it.

We also didn't realize until recently that my daughter, who has U.S. citizenship through me, was required to file taxes after she turned 18 three years ago. I didn't think she had to, because her wages from a part-time job as a university student are very low.

I'm now working with a lawyer to sort this out. I think it will cost me in the range of $10,000 when it's all done, which hurts.

My conclusion is that new disclosure laws have caused an enormous amount of grief for an overwhelming majority of expats, just to get a few bad apples. They may be hiding millions, but the target persons are a small percentage of the millions of Americans abroad."

Post: #53

If you are a expat something to ponder.

http://americansabroad.org/

The regulations
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Corporatio...ct-(FATCA)

Post: #54

Only four countries tax citizens living abroad.

Eritrea
North Korea
Burma
United States

Post: #55

"These are not wealthy people renouncing to hide millions or billions from the IRS. They are simply Americans who have chosen to live in another country -- for work, for love, for lifestyle. They continued to file IRS tax forms ever year, even if they owed nothing, even at considerable accounting expense. The tipping point is the US imposition, on foreign banks, of invasive reporting rules - which caused the foreign banks to arbitrarily close their bank accounts ... simply because they held an American passport. How do you live day-to-day without a bank account? Their only choices are to keep cash in a mattress, move back to the States (and leave the family and friends in their adopted land), or get rid of the passport. It's a no-brainer decision, though it is emotional because they are still Americans at heart. If the US Congress would treat American expats fairly, and they could live as normal people, the IRS would still receive any taxes owed. (The big cheats will cheat no matter what the rules - they will find the loopholes no matter where they live.)

If it's unpatriotic or 'traitorous' to move from the US and become a citizen of another country, is it similarly unpatriotic to live in Texas when you were born in New York? If your home state of Michigan required your Florida bank to report your account to Michigan tax authorities, and the bank closed your account, would you then move back to Michigan?"

-RickInArgeles (Dsqus)

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/2014/03/...hip/5.html

Post: #56

Great article. I would never renounce my US citizenship because I know that I will not be growing old in another country other than my own. I was never the most patriotic but living abroad has made me appreciate growing up in America. We have our problems but it is still a great place to live. With that being said, you will not catch me wearing an American flag bandanna on my head like a midwest hick.

Post: #57

I personally think its idiotic to renounce your US citizenship. The people doing it are rich people who don't want to pay taxes or are tired of dealing with US B.S. to the point that they now identify more with another country, plain and simple. Or they never identified with their country to begin with. 2.5 years after this thread was started, I'd be interested to see if Big Nilla's plan every came to fruition, and if so, how its working out.

That said, US citizenship comes down to security. I was actually talking to a female Carioca about this down in Rio in November. I was telling her about how the culture in the USA sucks and Rio is a lot better. But then I said, if I'm in a foreign country and the shit hits the fan, I can count on the US government to get me out. If I'm on a boat that gets hijacked, the Navy SEALs will show up. If I'm unjustifiably accused of a crime overseas, I have the Consulate. Those are only 3 examples. I pretty much told her that even though Brazil was great, I wouldn't trust them to protect me in those circumstances. Same goes with the DR, Paraguay, Panama, or any of the other countries listed here.

Lets look at a few other factors:

Healthcare, we might not have the best system but if you are insured you have one of the best chances of survival here.
Banking, your money isn't going anywhere and the US dollar isn't going to just suddenly devalue.
Taxes, if you do it right, they are next to nothing compared to other first world countries

Post: #58

Never my employment,income and livelihood revolves around the Security Clearances I have with the US Government.
I hit the lotto for 5 million then I wouldn't care

Post: #59

It's possible that I would renounce it. I don't think I would though, and if I did, it would be only for tax purposes. The thing is if I ever have kids, they would HAVE to have American citizenship. It simply provides so many more opportunities than almost every country in the world.

If you renounce your citizenship, is there anyway you could ever get it back? Or is it a 100% done deal?

Post: #60

Yah you can get it back. Get a green card and wait in line for 10 years along with the millions of other foreigners who are dying to become Americans.

Post: #61

(03-12-2014 01:11 PM)ridiculous_nicholas Wrote:  I'd be interested to see if Big Nilla's plan every came to fruition, and if so, how its working out.

I put it on hold. I can go ahead and pay for the Dominica citizenship, renounce, and live like a king in the DR/Panama/Costa Rica right now, but I don't think that's in my best interests at this point. Even with all the problems, the USA is still a great place to live (for now). I'm not in a hurry to move until it's absolutely necessary.

Just to buffer myself in case I wait too long on the Dominica citizenship and renouncing, I'm looking into how to structure my stuff with a foreign trust and foreign LLC.