Interesting question, of course Secretary Geithner is required by the IRC to publish the list BEFORE Nov 1st however, he may very well violate the IRC once again. Of course the more interesting question is whether not if late the list is still published prior to election day. The last abnormally small list was published on July 27th within the 30 day window. Of course as we have many accounts of people recieving their CLN’s since then we should have a much better idea of the accuracy of the list to begin with.
UPDATE: An even more interesting thing has just occured. The IRS is asking for public comments regarding the burden of filing out Form 8854(The “Exit Tax” Form) as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act. According to notice ONLY 100 people per year fill out Form 8854. What?? Comments are due prior to the December 12th 2012.
(1) Title: Guidance for Expatriates and Recipients of Foreign Source Gifts and Bequests Under Sections 877A, 2801, and 6039G.
OMB Number: 1545-2123.
Form Number: Notice 2009-85.
Abstract: Section 301 of the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax Act of 2008 (the “Act”) enacted new sections 877A and 2801 of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”), amended sections 6039G and 7701(a), made conforming amendments to sections 877(e) and 7701(b), and repealed section 7701(n). This notice provides guidance regarding certain federal tax consequences under these sections for individuals who renounce U.S. citizenship or cease to be taxed as lawful permanent residents of the United States.
Current Actions: There are no changes to the previously approved burden of this existing collection.
Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved collection.
Affected Public: Individuals or households.Show citation box
Estimated Number of Respondents: 100.
Estimated Time per Respondent: 4 hrs., 17 min.
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 420.
Only one comment. They just need to print more copies.
“According to notice ONLY 100 people per year fill out Form 8854. What??”
Is that possible? Are not enough of those legendary ‘millionaires’ expatriating – confounding the strident and disingenuous claims of our favourite Senators, or, are those expatriating that meet the filing thresholds not filing the form? Or, the US isn’t very good at keeping track?
So much for all the hysterical and fantastical claims that those choosing to expatriate are the wealthy escaping taxes.
*badger
EVERYONE who renounces is supposed to fill out this form covered expat or not. In fact the form is designed to tell the IRS whether or not you are covered. This might also give a clue as to notwithstanding the protestations of many tax professionals the exit tax law and filing requirement are not exactly being enforced strenously.
Apologies everyone, and thanks to Tim for correcting me, and pointing out that all expatriates renouncing/relinquishing are supposed to file 8854.
It’s my understanding that it isn’t when the CLN is issued that a name is added to the list but after the process is totally finished, i.e., the 8854. It seems this may be why many who have the CLN are not seeing their names on the list.
*I am not sure I agree with your interpretation of when a name is published. The broader point though is under the paperwork reduction act the IRS is saying only 100 people a year go through the process of filing out form 8854 even though Federal Register lists for the past few years have ten to fifteen times the number of people not even counting those who have received CLN’s without having their name published. So either the 100 person number is totally wrong and the IRS is violating the Paperwork Reduction Act or there is over 90 percent non compliance with the Form 8854 section 877 requirements. Now the IRS has made similar requests for comment about every three to four years and has been using the 100 people number for quite some time however, even in lean years the number of names on the Federal Register has never gotten as low as 100.
@all- It is hard to comprehend that it can take 17.5 days (420hrs./24d) at minimum to fill out this one form and that doesn’t yet figure in the costs to hire a professional to complete this task. And then lets not forget all of the costs and time that has to be incurred in the previous years filings.
This is all an appalling act of emotional and financial abuse masquerading under the guise of tax compliance. Then we shouldn’t also forget the currency and U.S. legislative risk that an otherwise compliant tax payer, in his/her country of residence, has to face from the U.S.
Are we suppose to become professional currency traders and political lobbyist, just in order to protect ourselves from the unpredictableness of the world currency markets and the capricious nature of U.S. politicians, who know that attacking expats is an easy way to score votes with homelanders?
*recalcitrant. That’s not what the article says. They are trying to have us believe that only 100 people will submit the form and that they will each take 4.2 hrs to fill it in. Therefore the total paperwork burden for all those who submit is 420 hours. Of course it is ludicrous.
@Duke of Devon- my mistake. I totally misread it. Thank you for the correction.
@All, hold on… the federal register article cited doesn’t mention form 8854 anywhere, only Notice 2009-85. That’s (what passes at the IRS for) guidance on how to fill the form out.
At the end of the notice is a template ‘print off and send in appendix’ for folks to defer payment of their
Reichsfluchtsteuerexit tax. 100 is presumably the IRS’s (suspiciously round) estimate of how many people will do that.Most form 8854 filers won’t. It’s irrelevant to non-“covered” expats. A few “covered” expats might find it useful, but not much appeal even there. As bad a deal all round as the
Reichsfluchtsteuerexit tax is, paying the IRS real interest with real money for a pretend gain is only better if your assets are totally illiquid.I agree with Watcher. I looked into these paperwork reduction notices back in July:
http://isaacbrocksociety.ca/2012/07/25/irs-estimate-for-number-of-form-8854-filers-eleven-to-twelve-thousand-per-year/
They estimated the number of respondents to Notices 97-19 and Notice 98-34 as ~12,000 per year, and the number of respondents to Form 8854 as 11,000 per year. Original source, check the “all” box in the link below:
http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=200012-1545-002
Interesting exercise: divide the estimated number of respondents to Notice 2009-85 by the estimated number of respondents to Form 8854. The IRS would seem to be saying that fewer than 1% of the people who expatriate are covered expatriates.