A record number of Americans renounced their citizenship in 2015, according to data released by the Treasury Department on Friday.
A total of 1,058 expatriated in the fourth quarter of the year, bringing the annual number to a record 4,279. The total marks the third consecutive year that the figure has reached a new high since the department began collecting the data in 1996.
The federal government has profited from the exodus, particularly since increasing an expatriation fee from $450 to $2,350 in 2014. The fees helped feds rake in $10,055,650 million from former Americans for fiscal year 2015.
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Treasury began collecting the data as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. The data does not distinguish between green card and passport holders, and it does not include descriptive information outside names of those who have left. But tax experts have pointed to increasing enforcement of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act as one possible cause. The law, which became effective in 2010, aims to require citizens outside the U.S. to file reports on financial accounts held outside of the country.
Under the law, financial institutions around the globe are required to report income earned abroad by nonresident citizens of the U.S. The policy, which is relatively punitive in global terms, affects anywhere between 2 and 7 million people estimated to be living in the American diaspora.
As a consequence, it appears likely that 2016 will be another record year for the number of Americans expatriating. The past year marks a 560 percent increase over the highest number of expatriates to leave during the Bush administration.
