cross-posted from citizenshipsolutions.ca
Please remember that the “dual citizen exemption” is available ONLY to those who meet the “five year tax compliance test”.
Introduction:
This is the 3rd of seven posts (all linked at the bottom of this post) analyzing the “dual citizen exemption” to the S. 877A Exit Tax which is found in S. 877A(g)(1)(B) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please remember that the “dual citizen exemption” is available ONLY to those who meet the “five year tax compliance test”.
Don Chapman of @LostCanadians: There WAS Canadian Citizenship before the 1947 Canada Citizenship Act https://t.co/TSMWOGEnWl
— Citizenship Lawyer (@ExpatriationLaw) February 18, 2016
I recently wrote a general post about the “dual citizen exemption to the S. 877A Exit Tax” rules. In order to qualify for the exemption, one must (among other requirements) have been BORN (at birth) a dual citizen (which is why this exemption could never be available to one who naturalized as a U.S. citizen).
The precise language includes:
became at birth a citizen of the United States and a citizen of another country
What does this mean for those who were born before 1947 and are claiming to have been born “dual Canadian U.S. citizens”? It’s not as simple as it sounds. I had not fully appreciated (or had not yet faced up to) the difficulties until I became aware of the tortured history and unintended consequences of the 1947 Canada Citizenship Act.