The Q1 2016 Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen to Expatriate, as Required by Section 6039G has been placed on public inspection for printing in Thursday’s Federal Register, five days later than required by law. By my count, it has 1,159 names (41 names per full page and 27 full pages, plus 22 names on the first page and 30 on the last page, with no entries taking up two lines this time). Let me know if you get a different count. Correction: As Andrew Mitchel and Haydon Perryman both point out, the actual count is 1,158; there’s an entry on page 7 of the the pre-publication PDF which takes up two lines.
In contrast, the number of renunciant records held by the FBI in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) database increased by 1,281 during the same period, from 32,666 at last year’s end to 33,947 as of 31 March (and they added another 860 in April). The NICS renunciant figures have outstripped the Federal Register count of “published expatriates” every year since 2012, with the gap last year growing to more than a thousand — even though NICS only covers 8 USC § 1481(a)(5) renunciants while the Federal Register is supposed to include all relinquishers under any paragraph of 8 USC § 1481(a), as well as some of the estimated five to seven thousand people who file Form I-407 to abandon their green cards each quarter.
All of the people added to NICS definitely paid the US$2,350 State Department fee — twenty times that in other developed countries — which has been in effect for renunciants since September 2014, meaning that Washington D.C. collected at least US$3 million from people seeking to exercise their human right to change their nationality last quarter. The State Department claimed this obscene fee “protects” the right to change nationality — well, that’s one mighty profitable protection racket they’ve got going on there! (And it could have been even more profitable if some consulates weren’t restricting renunciation appointments to an hour a week, leading to ten-month backlogs in Dublin and Toronto.)
Media reports on individual ex-citizens
Here’s a table of nineteen people mentioned by name in media reports as having given up U.S. citizenship since the beginning of 2014; seven of their names are missing from the Federal Register (three out of eleven from 2014 and four out of six from 2015), while for two more — the ones from this year — it’s too early to say whether they’ll show up or not. I’ve also included one person who posted his own CLN on Twitter and later showed up in the list (I haven’t included people who tweeted their own CLNs but didn’t show up in the list).
Names of public figures included in this quarter’s list: South Korean pop singer Alex Kim, who renounced nearly two years ago; and Jonathan Tepper, who said in a New York Times op-ed in December 2014 that his big appointment at the U.S. consulate was scheduled for early the following year. No public figure who spoke to the media about their renunciation in 2016 has yet been included, though this quarter’s list does have one name matching that of a Hong Kong government official who took office recently: Sandra Leung Shuk-bo.
| Name | Occupation | Other citizenship |
Giving up US citizenship | Appeared in Federal Register? |
Source | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reason | Date | |||||
| Lu Shu-hao | Military | Taiwan | Service in Republic of China Army | January 2014 or earlier | No | Taipei Times |
| Sandy Opravil | Housewife | Switzerland | Save her mortgage | February 2014 | Q3 2014 | Newsweek |
| Roger Ver | Bitcoin investor | St. Kitts & Nevis | Libertarian political opinions | February 2014 | No | Bloomberg |
| Sophia Martelly | Politician | Haiti | Run for Senate of Haiti | March 2014 | Q3 2015 | Haiti Press Network |
| Ya’aqov Ben-Yehudah | Writer | Israel | Complicated; see source | March 2014 | Q2 2014 | Times of Israel |
| Sean Cavanaugh | Technology | Canada | FATCA | April 2014 | Q1 2015 | Tweeted own CLN in August 2014 |
| Mona Quartey | Politician | Ghana | Become Deputy Finance Minister of Ghana | July 2014 | No | Graphic News (Ghana) |
| Alex Kim | Singer | South Korea | Obtain South Korean citizenship & serve in military | August 2014 | Q1 2016 | Herald Business (South Korea) |
| Nicole Beaudoin | Unknown | Canada | FATCA | September 2014 | Q3 2014 | La Presse (Canada) |
| Kim Sungkyum | Military | South Korea | Be commissioned an officer in the Republic of Korea Army | December 2014 | Q1 2015 | Kookbang Ilbo (South Korea) |
| Lin Jou-min | Architect | Taiwan | Take position in Taipei city government | December 2014 | Q3 2015 | Central News Agency (Taiwan) |
| Rachel Azaria | Politician | Israel | Members of Knesset cannot hold foreign citizenships | January 2015 | No | Times of Israel |
| Jonathan Tepper | Macroeconomic analyst | United Kingdom | FATCA & other U.S. tax reporting requirements | January 2015 | Q1 2016 | The New York Times |
| David Alward | Politician | Canada | Become Canadian consul-general in Boston | April 2015 or earlier | Q3 2015 | Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |
| Alfred Oko Vanderpuije | Politician | Ghana | Stand for election to Parliament | August 2015 | No | Starr FM (Ghana) |
| Philip Ryu | Singer | South Korea | Serve in South Korean army | September 2015 or earlier | No | Money Today (South Korea) |
| Rachel Heller | Writer | Netherlands | FATCA & other U.S. tax reporting requirements even when no U.S. tax is owed | November 2015 | No | Blog (will be included in TV news programme at a later date) |
| Neil Llamanzares | Businessman | Philippines | Public opinion (his wife is running for President) | April 2015 | No | Rappler (Philippines) |
| Lee Chih-kung | Physicist | Taiwan | Appointed Minister of Economic Affairs by President-elect Tsai Ing-wen | May 2015 | No | Apple Daily (Taiwan) |
Congratulations to all those who made the expat honour roll this term!
@Haydon
Boris also said he wasn’t going to pay the US tax he figured he owed. His name hasn’t shown up on the Liberty List. What proof do you have that he’s renounced?
@bubblebustin it was all over the UK press quite some time ago. If you google this you’ll find it.
@Haydon
Feb 2015. That’s over a year ago. Why hasn’t his name shown up on the Fed list?
Tina Turner was there within the same quarter.
@Heidi Far be it from me to say the list might not be exhaustive.
@Haydon
We know that, but the Treasury likes the rest of the world to think otherwise. Why would they prove the list is under reported by leaving the vociferous Boris off?
@Heidi. You make a really good point. I’ve no answer to that.
Maybe in his case, they’re sticking to the rule that the list only includes “covered” expatriates? Boris, now presumably tax compliant would not be “covered” as he was born both a US and British citizen – regardless of his assets at departure.
@Bubblebustin, maybe they decided it wasn’t politically or ideologically useful to them to include Boris. There is no-one to hold them to account. And apparently no penalty if they don’t conform to their own rules.
Apparently they do whatever they please.
@ Bubblebustin
We all know that’s a heaping bunch of hogwash that “the list” is only for covered expatriates. My husband is on it and if he is covered (stupid, stupid term) then they haven’t told him that. (He could only be covered if his final tax filings weren’t satisfactory or somehow didn’t reach their destination.) The list is simply hit and miss and that’s either deliberate (to keep the numbers down) or extreme incompetence (not to be ruled out).
There is nowhere official that I know which states the list covers only covered expats.
I know both covered and uncovered on the list.
Maybe we are attributing too much intelligence or thought to their methods….
In less than 24hours 200,000 entities that used Mossack Vonnseca will be revealed. Expect to see that all over the news over the next few days.
@ Haydon Perryman
You might have to dig beneath the surface to understand what the Panama Papers are all about. I believe Pepe Escobar has this pretty well sussed out and personally I think of it as a psy-op being used to justify tightening the grip of banking globalism. Therefore 200,000 more people being listed on the PP name-and-shame list just makes me even madder at the manipulation that’s going on here, there and everywhere.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/dance-to-the-panama-papers-limited-hangout-leak/5518852
I agree with those, like badger, who say:
My family, except for my Canadian-born son (who will never be able to renounce his automatic US-deemed USC), appear on the Federal Register published August 9, 2013. We expatriated in November of 2012. I can’t see how we could be considered *covered expatriates* but perhaps we have yet to hear just how from the former *homeland*. Absurdly, no numbers on CLNs to coincide with the number of expatriations; no rhyme nor reason for the names published in the Federal Register (and referring to it as the *Name and Shame List*). It’s all part of the US exceptionality — their rules are crafted for their benefit and best narrative.
I agree, EmBee, but they could keep Boris off the list this way if they are concerned about optics at this point.
The list is now becoming an embarrassment for them, me thinks.
Haydon Perryman –
But paying now for court cases won’t work either.
Very interesting to see your bit of blunt realism float this far along in the comment tide without setting off even one Broccultist tantrum. For you have just dissed the primary article of Brockish statism.
My occasional ludic lobs sometimes bring on nasty adhomination, notably from two voluminous and righteous male defenders who favor spewing personalized invective — always thumbs-upped by purported moderators — over formulating logical response to points of substance.
Being no insider expert, I would never presume to make such a direct statement as you have on the futility of the ferocious fundraising. It would seem that due to your professional standing, your treatment on this item is to be smothered in resounding silence?
Happy to hear your yohoho’s ringing out, and to see a more diverse crew hauling away at the lines that rig the ship of Brock. Positively.
I believe the disparity is mainly an attempt to “save-face” acting as though “all’s-well” + the standard gov’t paper-pusher incompetence. I think that if the press actually saw the 3x renunciations in 2015 vs. any other year, there might actually be some interest paid (especially noting the obscene/deterrent increase in cost to do so).The true numbers are being buried, imho.
@USX
Why would you not expect fair minded people to go down without a fight? Orwell’s Winston did just that. It is what good people do, while others save themselves but continue to assist others in the process. Brockes are all sorts, why do you persist in stereotyping us all?
@USX
Of course there is a resounding silence to Haydon’s statement. He is in the compliance business, he benefits from it all, most of us recognise that fact , the reason for his statement and the futility of argument with him.
@Haydon Quislingman
“It’s a matter of finding Banks that are applying FATCA correctly.”
“In my opinion sharing experiences that reveal which FIs are getting this right is heading in the right direction and collectively you can move from those Banks who are doing it wrong to those who are doing it right.”
Haydon Quislingman has made a very lucrative livelihood for himself selling his soul to help banks “do FATCA right.” Lotsa money for him in all those regs.
We thus need to ask ourselves what motivates Mr. Quislingman to working around to saying things like, “This is why court cases won’t work, nor appeals to the UN.”
What would he lose if such efforts are successful?
One thing that can be done about the IGAs:
They only last until the end of this year and then good faith negotiations begin. A key consideration, explicit in the agreements, is the degree to which the US has reciprocated.
You could act now to make sure your politicians look into this before extending the Inter Governmental Agreement. If this is rushed the US will win an extension because they do yield some data but nothing like the level of data they receive.
It’s asymmetric reciprocity at best.
If we all go silent on this the Inter Governmental Agreements will get extended. That may happen anyway but there are things that can be done to get our political leaders to open their eyes.
@Shovel; “Haydon Quislingman has made a very lucrative livelihood for himself selling his soul to help banks “do FATCA right.” Lotsa money for him in all those regs.”
I normally enjoy your comments here at IBS, but I feel a need to interject on behalf of Haydon.
Haydon is in a profession where he has lots and I mean lots of work that is not dependent on FATCA. His livlyhood is different than that carpet bagger attorney from the USA who went to Canada and works for Moodys Gartner.
That said WE need more men like Haydon who have made the effort and were interested in finding out how this impacted real people with real lives.
In the UK alone, Haydon understands that FATCA compliance is NOT uniform. There are some high street banks who shamefully are ultra-vires and there are other FIs who meet EXACTLY what the law requires, no more and no less.
You may have noticed an exchange I had with Haydon where he used the term “American” which I corrected him that these are not Americans rather these are his fellow countrymen, British Citizens with the most tenuous attachment to the USA that are being impacted. I neither asked for his comment in regard to this nor want it, but I do believe that his already open heart has received that argument.
I make judgements about people if they have a heart of stone or a heart of flesh. I believe on this matter Haydon has a receptive heart of flesh. In our battle we need more men like him, men that will listen.
There IS going to come a point in time when the water starts trickling through the FATCA dam and when that water starts knocking out pebbles, it will be men like Haydon who kicks a peeble here and a stone there bringing the entire dam down.
Unlike many of the politicians involved, Haydon if he did not previously know in 2010, he now knows the real harm FATCA has caused.
Peace…..
@usxcanada, “Being no insider expert, I would never presume to make such a direct statement as you have on the futility of the ferocious fundraising. It would seem that due to your professional standing, your treatment on this item is to be smothered in resounding silence?”
My personal CV is considered impressive by many having risen to the very top of the ladder before I decided no more and chose a more peaceful life without many of the trappings. I do understand men like Haydon very well.
In my life I have seen the very best of men and also the very worst of men.
Before I address your your comment, let me start with what is very likely my very core being, the worst in me. I am a drop down, falling through the house door drunk who needed/needs the bottle more than his family. So you can attribute all of the following to a self confessed drunk whose doctor shook his head on my blood and urine results.
FATCA was the trigger to either what was in already in my DNA or my failed psychological state, that sent me into a drunken spiral.
I have not had a drink this morning, I did not have a drink last night and I have not had a drink in over 12 months but I know there will be a point of weakness and I shall fail again.
Haydon expressed his viewpoint that legal action would fail, I disagree with Haydon on two counts.
1.) Haydon is a compliance guy in the UK, he is not a litigator in the United States or Canada.
2.) Haydon as a compliance guy is not a “big picture” person, he does not look at matters with a strategic mindset. The lawsuit in Canada regardless if it wins, will NOT change an IGA in any other country. Do you or anyone else think that donors worldwide are donating to ADCS to defeat IGAs in the UK, Ireland, France through a Canadian Court case?
The Bopp lawsuit has failed in a US Court but that lawsuit has provided public attention to the matter. To be blunt, I will take that increased public attention .
The Bopp lawsuit has already yielded fruit that can be used by ADCS in Canada. A Court in Canada can no longer say its a US problem settle it there because a US Court has said its a problem with “foreign banks.”
Canada is a foreign country to me and her courts are foreign courts to me. But that foreign court IS a pebble in the FATCA dam.
When @Bubbles or @Blaze gets a letter to the editor published that is another pebble being removed from the FATCA dam.
Every person FORCED TO INVOLUNTARILY RENOUNCE, because thats the dirty little secret at consulates, is another pebble in the dam.
I learned a valuable lesson with civil partnerships in my country and from the pressure group Stonewall. The pebbles get removed one by one then all of a sudden the water comes through and the dam bursts open. You are shocked and I was indeed shocked of the sudden urgency to legislate same sex marriage.
Anyways @usxcanada, those are simply the thoughts of a man who is a self confessed drunk who has very likely poisoned too many brain cells.
@George
I appreciate Haydon’s input and him taking time to understand the other side of the FATCA situation. But when I look at his CV it seems to be completely concerned with the compliance industry. However soft his heart may be, we cannot expect him to kill the goose who is laying the golden egg. FATCA with CBT cannot be ameliorated as Haydon suggests by choosing friendly banks or forcing banks to accept US labelled persons.
FATCA goes much deeper with penalties and discrimination. It is intrinsically evil and Haydon is unable or unwilling to admit this.
Agree with Heidi. If it were just about the taxes, that would be one thing. It’s the penalties that are killer.
@Heidi, “we cannot expect him to kill the goose who is laying the golden egg.”
I may sound like a “paid shill” I am not.
Haydon had lots of compliance work before FATCA.
Haydon will have lots of compliance work after FATCA.
FATCA is NOT his golden egg.
In regards to killing the FATCA Goose, that is NOT his job. He has no skin in that game.
But I have no doubt that if an opportunity arises for Haydon to pull a feather out of the goose, he will.
What you and others do not realize is that the “compliance industry” is not solely FATCA, in fact FATCA is a small component of the general compliance industry with FIs.
In fact Haydon is a golden goose from our perspective! Let me explain why;
FATCA in the UK is not being applied uniformly in accordance with the law. That is a problem when there are hyper-compliance firms. If the law is applied as written and uniformly, then and only then can we work through it.
Haydon will be in meetings with bank executives and small seeds have been planted. I hope that if a bank/brokerage executive uses a phrase in a meeting with him like “Americans abiding in England” that he politely steps in and states that many of them are actually British Citizens with only a tenuous connection because of accidental birth.
I would like for Haydon to be considered the number one go to guy for FATCA and that he gets lots of FATCA billings!!
I do not believe that Haydon Perrymen relishes up to 50,000 of his countrymen with tenuous ties to the USA being ensnarled by what is a foreign government to both him and them.
Our biggest PR problem to date is that our own politicians can not grasp that many affected by FATCA have very tenuous and dust covered ties to the USA and that they are in all manner NOT “true blue americans.”