Re:Why I gave up my US passport
by philiphodgen on Tuesday October 01, 2013 @11:51PM
(#6480503)
That checkbox is a legacy of the pre-2008 laws, which had different tax treatments depending on your motivation for renouncing citizenship.
Under the current laws, intent is irrelevant. If you meet certain criteria (net worth above $2 million, for most people) you pay tax. Our friends in Congress want to define people as meeting these criteria as having evil tax-avoidance motives. It ain't so, at the moment.
And of course NO ONE ever tells the Embassy official that the primary motive for renouncing citizenship is tax-driven. :-)
Seriously, though. I would say that at least half of the people I work with end up living in high income tax countries (Canada, various countries in Europe, Australia, New Zealand). They aren't leaving to cut their income tax bills. The tax-drive motivations are primarily (1) the craptastic paperwork and horrific penalties that Americans abroad face, and (2) the estate tax.
Under the current laws, intent is irrelevant. If you meet certain criteria (net worth above $2 million, for most people) you pay tax. Our friends in Congress want to define people as meeting these criteria as having evil tax-avoidance motives. It ain't so, at the moment.
And of course NO ONE ever tells the Embassy official that the primary motive for renouncing citizenship is tax-driven. :-)
Seriously, though. I would say that at least half of the people I work with end up living in high income tax countries (Canada, various countries in Europe, Australia, New Zealand). They aren't leaving to cut their income tax bills. The tax-drive motivations are primarily (1) the craptastic paperwork and horrific penalties that Americans abroad face, and (2) the estate tax.