American Expatriation Guide

[Rad]

Some people may be interested:

"For Americans, reliable information about how to exercise the right of expatriation is very difficult to find without incurring substantial costs. Many high net worth individuals never consider it simply because the subject seems so mysterious and intimidating. Yet freeing yourself from the global U.S. tax net provides the highest guaranteed return on capital that any American will ever know. The purpose of this guide is to demystify expatriation, highlight its many benefits, and provide a roadmap to follow should Americans choose to exercise the right. I hope it will be an invaluable resource to your readers. I am the sole author of the guide, and it is my desire to remain anonymous. As I note in the document, I give unrestricted, royalty-free permission to any and all parties to reproduce, publish and distribute this guide, in whole or in part, on any form of media in all territories throughout the world."

http://www.scribd.com/doc/30923462/American-Expatriation-Guide

(via LRC)

 

[gouchobob]

Some people may be interested:


http://www.scribd.com/doc/30923462/American-Expatriation-Guide

(via LRC)

Interesting that the author is anonymous. The main point seems to be that you should leave the U.S. mainly because of high taxes, which simply isn't true. The link below shows tax burden by country for 2009, the U.S. ranks 48th. This almost sounds like something out of the tea-party movement or something written by a real estate tout in some foreign shore like Dominica or St. Kitt.

http://www.photius.com/rankings/tax_burden_country_ranks_2009.html

 

[Rad]

Which of those other countries will tax their citizens based on citizenship like USA?

 

[gouchobob]

Which of those other countries will tax their citizens based on citizenship like USA?

Here's a good summary of how taxes are handled around the world from Wikepedia:

In some cases, multiple citizenship can create additional tax liability. Countries that impose tax will generally use a combination of three factors when determining if a person is subject to taxation:

• Residency - a country may tax the income of anyone who lives there, regardless of citizenship or whether the income was earned in that country or abroad;
• Source - a country may tax any income generated there, regardless of whether the earner is a citizen, resident, or non-resident; or
• Citizenship - a country may tax the worldwide income of their citizens, regardless of whether they reside in that country or not.

Most countries use residency and/or source when determining if a person should be subject to taxation. A few countries, such as the Philippines[21] and the United States, do use citizenship as one of the determining factors for tax liability. The two named countries, however, differ in their treatment of expatriate citizens. The Philippines taxes its expatriates only on Philippine-source income,[21] while U.S. expatriates are subject to tax on all of their worldwide income, although U.S. law provides measures to reduce or eliminate double taxation issues for expatriates.
A person with multiple citizenship may have a tax liability to his country of residence and also to one or more of his countries of citizenship; or worse, if he was unaware that one of his citizenships created a tax liability, then that country may consider him to be a tax evader. Many countries and territories have contracted tax treaties or agreements for avoiding double taxation. Still, there are cases in which a person with multiple citizenship will owe tax solely on the basis of holding one of those citizenships.
Example: A person who holds both Australian and United States citizenship, lives and works in Australia. He would be subject to Australian taxation, because Australia taxes its residents, and he would be subject to US taxation because he holds US citizenship. In general, he would be allowed to subtract the Australian income tax he paid from the US tax that would be due. Plus, the US will allow some parts of foreign income to be exempt from taxation; for instance, in 2006 the foreign earned income exclusion allowed up to US$82,400 of foreign salaried income to be exempt from income tax.[22] This exemption, plus the credit for foreign taxes paid mentioned above, often results in no US taxes being owed, although a US tax return would still have to be filed. In instances where the Australian tax was less than the US tax, and if there was income that could not be exempted from US tax, the US would expect any tax due to be paid.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple_citizenship

 

[Rad]

Thanks for making my point, gouchobob. The IRS will harass their citizens no matter where they are. Most other countries are not this oppressive. I have two passports. Both non-US. I pay taxes only in the country where I live. I wouldn't want a US passport even if someone gave me a million dollars with it. This is not a rare sentiment these days.

 

[gouchobob]

Thanks for making my point, gouchobob. The IRS will harass their citizens no matter where they are. Most other countries are not this oppressive. I have two passports. Both non-US. I pay taxes only in the country where I live. I wouldn't want a US passport even if someone gave me a million dollars with it. This is not a rare sentiment these days.

Please explain why expecting people to pay taxes due and enforcing the law is harassment or is oppressive, I guess I'm not following your line of reasoning.

 

[HotYogaTeacher]

I don't know anyone here who is making enough off shore money to justify doing this.

For myself, no amount of money on Earth could make me give up my citizenship.

I think people are angry and want something to be different here, in the US, in the world and some people think "denouncing" something will make something be different, but it won't. You'll still be you and you'll still be angry...

 

[Rad]

Please explain why expecting people to pay taxes due and enforcing the law is harassment or is oppressive, I guess I'm not following your line of reasoning.

If a country forces you to pay taxes even if you don't live in that country, it is oppressive. Most countries don't do that. Not even USSR did that. USA does.
If you like paying taxes to a country where you don't live, feel free to do that. Others may have a different opinion.
However, the purpose of my original post was simply give a link to an expatriation guide. Someone may find it useful and his reasons for renouncing US citizenship are his business. If you don't like it, don't read.

 

[gouchobob]

If a country forces you to pay taxes even if you don't live in that country, it is oppressive. Most countries don't do that. Not even USSR did that. USA does.
If you like paying taxes to a country where you don't live, feel free to do that. Others may have a different opinion.
However, the purpose of my original post was simply give a link to an expatriation guide. Someone may find it useful and his reasons for renouncing US citizenship are his business. If you don't like it, don't read.

Actually, I was being kind, I could have said the guide is crap as it's central premise is completely wrong, I was able to determine this in about 30 seconds, apparently the author didn't, makes me wonder about the rest of it and think it might be better used as toilet paper than as a guide. I'm glad you have two passports which do not include one from the U.S.

 

[amat]

I agree with Rad. I have US citizenship as a second citizenship (not by birth, through naturalization) and I don't think it's fair to have to potentially have to pay taxes to a country where I don't live and will most likely never live in again. No other first world country has this requirement..