Liberty and justice for all United States persons abroad

The Isaac Brock Society

Monthly Archives: August 2013

Edward Snowden can relinquish his United States Citizenship and thus avoid $450 renunciation fee

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A lovely tax writer, Kelly Philips Erb, has written an article for Forbes magazine suggesting that Edward Snowden would have to pay taxes in to the United States if he were to work in his country of refuge, asking a presumed expert Richard S. Goldstein:

For now, Snowden remains a citizen. And so long as he remains a citizen, he is subject to our laws – and that includes our tax laws. He still has to file and he still has to pay any applicable tax. Goldstein agrees. But, he chuckled, “Good luck trying to collect it.”

She maintains that he would have to renounce his US citizenship if he wants to avoid US taxes and filing requirements.  This entails paying the $450 dollar renunciation fee to the US consulate.

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#FBAR and #FATCA The good news and the bad news

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First: The good news.

 

 

Now: The bad news.

 

 

 

Son of ex-American abroad on father’s country: “It’s like watching a house on fire — we’re glad we’re not in danger”

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In the midst of all the frenetic, shallow coverage about “tax dodgers fleeing the country”, it’s nice to see that at least one newspaper ran a front-page story which honestly portrays the various motivations that Americans abroad had for leaving the country and the reasons that they ultimately cite when they take the big step of giving up citizenship. Joan Zyda of the Los Angeles Times wrote an in-depth article: “Changing Citizenship — Why Americans Go”; as the subhead in one paper put it, “More Citizens Switch Allegiance; Tension, Politics Tied to Giving Up Citizenship”. It covers all the various reasons: tax savings do get mentioned in a couple of paragraphs among its thousands of words which took up nearly an entire broadsheet page, but flight from U.S. militarism, government harassment of political activists abroad, and the desire to become a full member of another society receive far more emphasis.

Surprised you didn’t catch this one on Twitter or Google News? Sorry, I failed to tell you in my first paragraph: this article is from four decades ago.

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Five more Korean celebrities who gave up U.S. passports or green cards (none showed up in the Federal Register)

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After the jump I’ve translated an old article from Money Today that I came across recently. It was written in 2009, right around the time that MC the Max bassist Yoon Jae-woong renounced his U.S. citizenship, and mentioned a number of other South Korean celebrities — comprising both native-born U.S. citizens as well as naturalised and unnaturalised immigrants — who decided to stop being U.S. Persons.

With the release of the latest Federal Register “published expatriates” list, the demagogues in the U.S. media are coming out in force to spread their typical lies about how we U.S. Persons abroad are all mink-swathed Benedict Arnolds skipping out on our tax bills after enjoying the benefits of U.S. citizenship. So once again I repeat the simple truth which is illustrated by every non-U.S. media story about renunciants: those of us who give up U.S. citizenship have been contributing members of society in other countries for years. We are not fugitives from the U.S. who snuck out on the night of 14 April. Even before the recent U.S. crackdown on non-U.S. bank accounts, celebrities and ordinary people living ordinary lives outside of the U.S. were happy to give up a U.S. passport from which they derived little or no concrete benefit, so that they could step forward to further success in the countries where they actually lived.

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Laura Saunders @WSJ writes on increasing number of #americansabroad renouncing citizenship

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This is a rather disappointing article from an author who has written on this issue before. Why disappointing? The general tone seems to equate Americans Abroad with tax evaders and terrorists (whatever those are). That said, it’s one more article reporting the increasing numbers renouncing U.S. citizenship.

For example:

The U.S. launched the tax crackdown after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and ratcheted up its efforts after 2009, amid evidence that UBS AG UBSN.VX 0.00% and other foreign institutions helped U.S. taxpayers hide assets.

Some taxpayers have applied for IRS limited-amnesty programs, in which they pay stiff penalties for past noncompliance but avoid prosecution.

Tax lawyers say the crackdown has ensnared smaller violators who weren’t intentionally evading U.S. taxes.

In addition, a law enacted in 2010, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or Fatca, requires foreign financial institutions to certify they aren’t hiding U.S. taxpayer assets, which lawyers say is leading some to reject U.S. customers.

Taxpayer penalties for failing to report assets can be severe, including up to 50% of an account balance for each year.

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Roger Conklin: A territorial tax system would help U.S. exports, jobs and prosperity. via @WSJ

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Roger Conklin, a frequent contributor at Isaac Brock, has just had a letter published in the Wall Street Journal.  I have been off the grid for a few days, so maybe it has been posted somewhere. If I missed it, I apologize, but thought I would pull out out for headline attention.

Territorial Tax: Whose Money Is It?

Nicole Tichon’s  July 30 letter says that in many countries, with territorial tax systems that don’t tax corporate earnings when remitted back home, “unemployment is at record levels.”

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Meet Liberty’s Exiles – The Loyalists in the Revolution

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This post appeared on the RenounceUScitizenship blog. This is another book that I would highly recommend. Given the recent reference to books, perhaps the Isaac Brock Society should create a page of recommended books/readings?

 

History is always written by the victors. The American Patriots were a little like George W. Bush. When it comes to the British:

“You are either with the Patriots or you are with the British”

In an earlier post I noted that not all the residents of the colonies wanted to break ties with Britain. Those who wanted to keep ties with Britain were called Loyalists. Given the persecution and/or punishment of American Citizens abroad, I have become interested in the lives of the Loyalists during the American Revolution.

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Lavabit shut-down justifies Isaac Brock Society’s decision to move to servers in Canada

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On June 1, 2012, I announced that we would move our blog off wordpress.com, an American blog service, to a Canadian host, with its servers located within the borders of Canada.  We hoped at the time that this would lessen somewhat the ability of the United States government to shut down our website.  Recent events confirm the wisdom of this decision.

Zerohedge reports that Lavabit, which is apparently the email service of Edward Snowden, is in the middle of harassment by the US Federal government.  See also: Snowden’s Super Secret Email Service Closes, Summing Up Why Tech Is Losing Billions Overseas.

Here is Lavabit’s farewell letter:

Massive jump in people renouncing US citizenship

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Includes:

While still embryonic, it’s difficult to ignore this trend– more and more people are starting to renounce their US citizenship.

After all, the number of people who renounced citizenship this past quarter is roughly the same as the number of people who renounced for the previous four quarters COMBINED.

This movement shouldn’t be that surprising for a species that began as nomadic hunter gatherers, or for a society that was founded by foreigner settlers in search of a better life.

Yet, in a rather anomalous twist, the emotional ties we have for our passports are incredibly strong.

This Simon Black post dovetails rather well with the James Dale Davidson discussion we have been having.

Of course the Homelanders will say: But there are numerically more people immigrating to the U.S. than renouncing. Maybe. But the percentage increase in those renouncing is far greater and is in a growth mode.

In 1968, Benjamin Braddock (of the The Graduate Fame) was advised to invest in plastics. Today, I would advise people to invest in expatriations. Remember the letter written by the Canadian businessman to his son.