This post appeared on the RenounceUScitizenship blog.
#americansabroad in Canada: The sale of your principal residence is a US taxable capital gain http://t.co/SQaSzY0Rgg
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) July 12, 2013
If you sell a #PFIC (mutual fund) you have held for many years, you can"basically say goodbye to that investment" http://t.co/mu5k07xAv2
— U.S. Citizen Abroad (@USCitizenAbroad) July 11, 2013
For those who do not want to read this post. Here is the bottom line:
If you are a tax compliant U.S. citizen abroad, with a net worth of less than two million U.S. dollars, with investments (including mutual funds, pensions, and a principal residence in your country of residence), you should renounce your U.S. citizenship at the earliest possible moment. To the extent that your investments are in non-U.S. mutual funds, other kinds of PFICs or your principal residence, the U.S will confiscate large amounts of the proceeds of sale. (And you thought you were solving your problems be being tax compliant.)
Many Canadians are using their principal residence as their retirement plan. Their plan is to sell, downsize and live of the balance of the proceeds. This is NOT possible if you are a tax compliant U.S. citizen! You must NOT be a U.S. citizen at the time the investments are sold.
If you want to preserve your investments you must relinquish your U.S. citizenship to protect your access to your investments!
For those who want to understand why, read on …
