Renunciation Questions Thread
Ask your questions about Renunciation here.
This thread will be focused closely on renunciation questions and answers. If the conversation starts to ramble, those comments will be moved to another thread.
Sub-topics (more will be added as they occur):
Farrell v. Tillerson. Plaintiff is contesting Bern Embassy’s rejection of his CLN application due to his not having appeared in person at the embassy and his having been issued a passport after the relinquishing act.
Renunciation Spin-Off Conversations. Conversations that spin off from questions asked on the main Renunciation Questions thread are moved to this one.
Previous Renunciation Threads:
Renunciation and Relinquishment of United States Citizenship: Discussion thread (Ask your questions)
These above two lines are not showing as links on my screen, but they do work as links.
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Yesterday, I learned about Oleg Tinkov, a Russian and former US citizen, whom the US government is prosecuting for underreporting his net wealth on Form 8854. In this case, Tinkov’s billionaire status and Russian nationality probably made him a target whereby the US government is trying to frighten people into filing Form 8854 etc.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/founder-russian-bank-charged-tax-fraud
https://www.justice.gov/opa/press-release/file/1256141/download
My take is that the average person who renounces and simply ignores the Form 8854 and other requirements has little to fear. Similarly, if one is a citizen of another country and compliant with the local tax laws then the risk is close to zero. Nonetheless, this case is certainly disconcerting. I can think of no other example of the US government persecuting someone for Form 8854 failures. As an aside, I wonder why people like Tinkov or Assange choose to base themselves in the UK, which is too cosy with the US.
All best are off when it comes to the very rich or politically prominent. Paul Manafort was busted for FATCA/FBAR offenses, if I recall.
I wonder if the IRS would even have figured out Tinkov left if he had simply skipped Form 8854.
The Tinkov case makes it abundantly clear that the US government will use its tax laws and absurd jurisdiction notion to persecute people outside the country. I think renouncing is the right choice for me, but I understand why many people just ignore everything if they do not intend to return to the US and have no assets there.