A total of 1,380 Americans renounced their citizenship in the third quarter of the year, the Internal Revenue Service will announce through a posting in the Federal Register on Thursday, the second-highest total on record for the period.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2598487
The figure will bring the number for the year to 3,046, a drop of about 6 percent from last year’s record of 3,221 for the same time frame. The number tends to increase towards the end of the year, which means there is still a chance 2016 could break the annual high of 4,279 Americans sent packing in 2015.
Tax experts have suggested the uptick is due, in part, to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. The 2010 law was aimed at forcing nonresident citizens, estimated to be between 2-7 million, to report more of their income for tax collection.
Expatriation increased in subsequent years, as 2015 saw a 560 percent increase in departures over the highest number seen in the Bush administration. It was the third consecutive year to set a record.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2605399
In a move intended to slow the exodus and rake in more cash for the feds, the administration in 2014 increased the fee to leave from $450 to $2,350. That means the government should have collected $9,899,500 from renunciations so far in 2016.
The Treasury Department began collecting expatriation information in 1996 as part of the Health Insurance Accountability Act. The data does not distinguish between green card and passport holders, and does not provide descriptive information beyond the names of those who have left.
Another 1,234 Americans would need to renounce citizenship by the end of December in order to break the annual record a fourth consecutive time, a scenario that is plausible. A website for Canadian immigration services crashed on Tuesday as the American presidential election was being held.
