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!
“One thing that can be done about the IGAs:
They only last until the end of this year and then good faith negotiations begin.”
There will be good faith negotiations? Then obviously government, courts, and bankers will not be participating. Who will do the negotiating?
@Norman Diamond. I suspect it will be a fait accompli and that we’ll all be told that the US did its part on reciprocity – which won’t be true.
That is all I have ever heard: “the law is the law” and “its the LAW.”
Guess that goes hand in hand with the laws which allow for the Panama Papers business to flourish and thrive.
There are all these LAWS that we are supposed to abide by, and they are corrupt laws. And when we try to say “but these laws are not right” all we get to hear is “but this is the LAW”. How does one deal with this? How does one get corrupt laws Undone?
@Haydon, yes the potential is there for other countries to use CRS data to tax people based solely on place of birth. But you and I know it will only ever be the USA that actually tries to do this in any manner that might actually have a modicum of success – where ‘success’ is defined as compliance with a FATCA like reporting scheme. Certainly the USA will not be hunting the birthplaces of every US resident and reporting ‘non-US borns’ bank accounts back to each of their non-US countries of birth. Heck, it won’t be doing that for ANY country as it’s not going to participate in CRS last I heard. And what is the point of the rest of the 190-something other countries in the world FATCAing each other? FATCA like reporting ‘laws’ are only ‘successful’ if they work one-way.
@Polly. In the UK we’d lobby our MPs. I would imagine there is an equivalent in your Country.
@WhiteKat You’re right, the US shows no sign of participating in the CRS. 🙂 Ostensibly Rand Paul is blocking it.
OK, well I understand now, or at least I think I do, I think the IBS has a quarrel with CBT. Fair enough, I would say, let’s differentiate that from FATCA, maybe Court Cases will help – I would not know. What I can say is that is isn’t FATCA that caused this and this distinction needs to be made for any judge to opine on where your grievance really is.
Yes, I know banks keep saying, “its FATCA” but it is not and if you take cases to court and cite FATCA I think you’ll continue to be thwarted.
When a lawyer hears FATCA they look to Title V of the Hire Act, Chapter 4 of the US Tax Code, the IGAs and the Legal Instruments that enable the IGAs. Technically, none of your grievances are caused by FATCA but by issues pre-dating FATCA. Call me a pedant, and you’d probably be right to do that, but I think it is the earlier laws (or how they have been applied or not been applied) that have caused your grievances and that need to be examined.
Banks may have cited “FATCA” but they often use the label imprecisely (to say the least).
Haydon Perryman says
May 9, 2016 at 10:34 am
@Heidi. Not something I want to discuss on an open forum.
++++++
I see, you just want to tell us the law is the law. I’d be glad to discuss that concept with you in this open forum. My blood pressure has been low lately, so thanks for the boost.
@ WhiteKat
You have written some of the best posts on this issue lately in this particular Heydon thread. At one point he said he hadn’t thought of something ‘ that way’. There may be hope.
@ George
You like so many others, are the champion of information and always kind. I am not currently in a kind mood so will sign off after this. I took a much needed break, only to come back and see this nonsense/righteous justification.. the law is the law nonsense. The civilized world would never have advanced- if in fact it has- if we held consistently to that belief.
Resistance is a valid concept. Freedom is too, Haydon. You are as entitled to your job as I am to mine.
I prefer my route as it allows me to sleep, knowing I am never going to accommodate a foreign government imposing its draconian laws into my country and affect the sovereignty of its citizens.
Gwen and I are deeply honoured to represent, as Canadian plaintiffs, all those affected living in our country. We hope that effort will help others so situated in other countries, but respect that it may have to be up to them to take up their own causes.
What are you doing? I am not aware of your citizenship background so you may not think it is my place to inquire. I am not sure what you see as your purpose here. But you are welcome of course. Which is my typical long winded way of saying that anyone who tells me once again the law is the law will get short shrift from me. But what is valuable about this forum is its openness.
Even black letter law adherents. Throw in some tin foil hatters, some dedicated Homelanders…… and we are just one big happy family.
What most of us are here is a group of people who believe in access to justice for all which I firmly believe is a concept for all peoples of any nation. So did General Brock.
@Canadian Ginny. The intention behind not discussing “Willful” vs “Non-willful” is only that it could put someone in a position where “Non-wilful” is no longer open to them because it can be proved that they knew.
Hayden, FATCA is the CBT enforcement tool. So I blame FATCA along with CBT. No FATCA and no way for USA to enforce birth place taxation on me. My life as a normal Canadian came to an end full-stop not when USA enacted CBT but when USA forced FATCA down the throat of every country in the world.
Everyone wants to blame someone or something else when all are culpable together as a system. The US legal system blames the foreign banks for the misery of so-called ‘expats abroad’ (all ‘US borns’ are ‘expats abroad’ now apparently). The Canadian government blames their neighbours who have misfortune to have the “American” tag (just renounce they say, as if this is easy and affordable) while using the “it’s the law’ excuse – American law – not Canadian law in any truly democratically legislated way. The FATCA apologists blame CBT for the abuse of people who have distant ties to the USA. It’s a negatively synergistic effect working together to ensure the financial destruction of people born in USA who no longer(if even they ever did) call USA home. CBT without FATCA is benign. FATCA without CBT would similarly be so.
FATCA is an extortionist tool, benefiting USA at the expense of all other countries, where US and US only gets to apply ‘place of birth’ or ‘US person’ taxation and reporting on the entire world and also gets to define what a ‘US person’ is.
@WhiteKat:
“CBT without FATCA is benign. FATCA without CBT would similarly be so.
“FATCA is an extortionist tool, benefiting USA at the expense of all other countries, where US and US only gets to apply ‘place of birth’ or ‘US person’ taxation and reporting on the entire world and also gets to define what a ‘US person’ is.”
Yes, I agree with every word of that.
CBT: The law is the law. If Barrack Obama’s parents had visited Virginia, they should have been jailed for their mixed marriage, because the law is the law.
FATCA: Tool of enforcement. Virginia shold have put cameras in every bedroom, as a tool to enforce their law.
@Haydon
The intention behind not discussing “Willful” vs “Non-willful” is only that it could put someone in a position where “Non-wilful” is no longer open to them because it can be proved that they knew.
That has been discussed here. I was extensively questioned about that when I applied to be a plaintiff. Do you have any stats that suggest who has been successfully accused of that? Do you understand that the difference is of no importance to those of us who have no intentions of complying with an egregious law, and those who have know the work around?
I look forward to being cross- examined on just that point. But I know it will never happen.
But why would you not share your wisdom on that issue? Surely a rebuttal would be of help. I find secrecy rarely is.
Although I strongly believe that taking this to the courts is very important one way or the other it also seems reasonable to…”I’d call attention to the incomplete list of renunciations and lobby for not extending the IGAs until *full* US reciprocity is in evidence. I’d also call out the US’s failure to sign up to the CRS, especially as the IGAs expressly state that this (the CRS) is the desired outcome.”
Continue lobbying changing up our message sometimes might be useful and as George says always stress and reject politicians use of “Americans residing in Canada.”
Just because you don’t agree with Mr. Perryman doesn’t mean you should ignore good advice. We need all the help we can get.
Thank you for this post. It has helped me considerably.
Re: “Just because you don’t agree with Mr. Perryman doesn’t mean you should ignore good advice. We need all the help we can get.”
This isn’t an issue of just ‘disagreeing’ with someone. This is about someone not getting that FATCA is a way to abuse people living and earning outside USA. As far as Mr. Perryman’s good advice that you reference, no one is ignoring them and they have been suggested before here.
Sorry Cheryl. Having spent the day trying to explain to someone who has a history of collaborating with the powers that be who are the source of my and millions of other ‘US persons’ living outside USA misery, has made turned me into grumpy cat.
Acck….that last sentence was screwed up, but hopefully the point was made.
It sure would be nice to be able to have the kind of open dialogue we had today with Mr. Perryman with one of our Canadian politicians.
@whitecat. I’m sorry I wasn’t trying to disparage you. I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t disagree with him and was very impressed with your comments taking him to task but some of what he said makes sense and we should think about those things and incorporate them. I’m sure many of you already have but I had not.
Yes! Wouldn’t that be great…unfortunately not going to happen.
@ Cheryl
Just because you don’t agree with Mr. Perryman doesn’t mean you should ignore good advice.
+++
I don’t know if this was directed to me but if it was, I avail myself of good legal advice at all times.
I am glad you support our taking this to the courts. We have the finest lawyers representing us whose advice superceeds many opinions I come across in various forums of this type. What I do find to be of public value here are the many categories of topics about USA tax forms,about relinquishing, some USA law tax etc. Readers here have greatly benefitted by that. I never claim to know much nor am I interested in them. It’s foreign law to me, an area I did not specialize in by choice.
I also don’t believe there will ever be full reciprocity or anything even remotely close to it. It is not about taxes. I agree continued lobbying is useful which is what so many great people from here have been doing. Yet we are still second class Canadian citizens. It is quite likely that our law suit will continue past JT’s first and last term as prime minister. His mandate with us is no different from his predecessor’s as he has made clear. Our votes for him, our optimism for those who had any,have been deflated. Which is why my trust is with the higher courts.
I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend. I agree with everything you just said. I just think it is important to keep an open mind to new approaches/tactics but obviously White Cat and George’s educating comments were very important.
@ Cheryl
No offense taken. Just an exchange of opinions. Open minds are always recommended but there is also value in assessing other factors concerning sources we rely on. It’s often difficult to sort them out isn’t it? We are all on a learning curve here. Sorry if I came across as Grumpy Cat too. Sometimes I fall into the temptation of speaking as a non plaintiff and let my personal thoughts find expression. That is not a very honourable way for me to act as a representative. I apologize. Gwen is so much nicer than I. My impatience gene and I are now exiting stage left.
@haydon
No, post finance was run by the Swiss Fed gov at that time. They closed accounts of all Americans who at that time were not resident in Swit, even though they had houses and
apts there, even though they were Swiss or EU citizen, sometimes they were only Swiss on temp assignment in the USA. I wrote to the US Ambassador in Bern. He told me that unfortunately ‘folks’ like me were collateral damage.
Post finance motive was to become a private bank with the ability to trade on US markets, which it now does today. I think it has made a pact with the devil.
Do you realise now the damage you are also a party to?.
For the contemplation of a British Quisling….
“Winston Churchill … on 21 June 1941, … said: ‘A vile race of Quislings—to use a new word which will carry the scorn of mankind down the centuries—is hired to fawn upon the conqueror, to collaborate in his designs and to enforce his rule upon their fellow countrymen while grovelling low themselves.'”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quisling
@George
Peace comes when there is justice, not heartless enforced “compliance”.
So bravo, Canadian Ginny….
“[M]y route … allows me to sleep, knowing I am never going to accommodate a foreign government imposing its draconian laws into my country and affect the sovereignty of its citizens.”
@Ginny, one of the things that I think is so great about you and Gwen which was shown in your comments is that you reject the “citizenship” that has been imposed upon you without your consent.
The Republic of Tonga could impose its citizenship on you with some sort of obligations and you would reject that as well.
In a separate vein, through IBS knowledge and law changes I have learned that Canada now considers me to be one of her own. Though this would normally be considered benign I reject the imposition of Canadian Citizenship without my consent. After all, why should I have to pay $100 CDN plus a first class stamp to a foreign government that has given me something I did not ask for?
My Canadian Citizenship and your US Citizenship is analogous to Amazon shipping you an order that you did not order, demanding that you return same to them at your expense and requiring a 20% restocking fee.
So I get your stance on willful and non-willul, it is impossible for a Canadian Citizen who has done nothing to accept any foreign gift of citizenship to be willful in violation of any foreign law.
Yes, I would love for you to be cross examined and/or for a Judge to ask you questions.
@Shovel, the comment of “peace” was to you and you alone. It was analagous to the “sign of the peace” in Christian churches to ensure that there is no heart ache between individuals who may have taken a differring position.
@Haydon re
“People working on FATCA and CRS don’t think of this as a “hunt”, we don’t, for the most part, aim to harm Americans in any way, just to get a W-9 and report to the US as the regulation demands.”
As George has so rightly pointed out on several occasions, I do not consider myself to be American just because I was born there. I am a UK citizen living permanently in the UK. I have proof that I am not a US person, but I will forever be restricted in my banking/investing just because of my place of birth. You seem to be involved in trying to make the banks understand the User Experience, so please could you change your terminology to ‘US persons for tax purposes’ rather than Americans. We don’t refer to Boris Johnson as an American permanently residing in England. We also don’t refer to Obama as a Kenyan permantly residing in the US. I would guess that nearly all of the people renouncing are citizens foremost of other countries who do not identify themselves as American.