Renunciation and Relinquishment Questions – Part 2 of 2
This is a continuation of Renunciation and Relinquishment Questions – Part 1 of 2
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.
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.
Has anyone renounced in Australia recently? I’m curious about the wait times.
@ Curiosities,
I asked a friend who’s active in expatriation matters and they said they think wait time in Australia is currently four to six months, noticeably shorter than Canada which is about a year.
You might also get an indication of wait times in Australia from this chart, for which BirdPerson posted the link to some time ago. I’ve looked at this chart several times before; but I had a problem viewing it today, as I can only get the line for Poland to come up. Hope you have better luck with it.
Thanks Pacifica, I could only access Poland too.
I spoke with the Sydney Consulate who advised they are currently processing applications from January 2023.
The Perth Consulate seems to be a bit faster so I might try my luck there.
Thanks team.
Hi, if you are already in the US tax system (wish I wasn’t) what is the best procedure after you renounce to deal with filing? Should we do a final tax filing and the exit form? Or just nothing after we renounce? I never make more than $20,000 as I just work part time. Tired of it all and can’t wait to be done with it soon. Thanks!
@Hasselback2
Do whatever you want, it’s fine either way. If you’ve been filing already it should be very quick to complete Form 8854. If you don’t feel like it, don’t bother. The IRS doesn’t care and there’s no way you’d owe them anything so what does it matter?
It’s entirely optional. I certainly wouldn’t spend any more money on it. If you do nothing, you will never hear a peep from them.
I didn’t bother to renounce but I did get “tired of it all” and quit filing. That was more than 10 years ago and I haven’t heard a word from the IRS since.
In my opinion, doing nothing is the safer option because doing nothing makes it impossible to make a mistake on that obnoxious and intrusive Form 8854. After putting up with all the hassle and expense of renouncing, the last thing you want is interaction with the IRS over a technicality. All US tax obligations cease on the day you renounce and they won’t even miss you.
This is assuming you don’t have any US assets. If you do, things are more complicated because they have some leverage.
I know that this subject has been treated in the past, but I don’t know where to find it on the site.
The question is: what are the current US rules regarding inheritance tax treatment for US parents with children who have renounced their US citizenship?
The parents are both French/American and have lived in Europe for more than 30 years. They have no US assets. One of their children, who lives in Europe, renounced 12 years ago. The other, who also lives in Europe, has not yet renounced. Is there a difference in treatment given that one has renounced and the other has not?
Do the French “notaires” contact the US authorities? Do the US authorities contact the children? Is it the responsibility of the children to contact the US authorities?
Thanks to whomever can help us with answers.
@Gs
Why would anyone want to contact the US authorities? I don’t think US involvement is a realistic concern.
That being said, we don’t know the whole story. Are any of the US citizens subject to FATCA reporting, or filing US tax returns? Who has a US birthplace? This will determine what if anything the IRS knows about them. (Be aware that the IRS is not proactively using FATCA data to look for anyone who is not filing.)
The US/French parents file US and French tax returns, FBARs and FATCA reports, and the US adult child (born in the US, moved with parents to Europe when very young) files a US tax return in addition to a tax return in his country. Circumstances required that they were subject to the US tax net.
I am hoping for an answer of exemption amounts for a renounced child and a US child, and how, if at all, the US authorities are involved.
Re: “I am hoping for an answer of exemption amounts for a renounced child and a US child, and how, if at all, the US authorities are involved.”
If the person has renounced, not a citizen at the time of the decedent’s death, they’re treated the same as any other non-US-citizen.
This is my experience as a Canadian citizen (former US citizen). I inherited from a dual Canada-US citizen, who was resident and domiciled in Canada. He had filed both Canadian and US tax every year whilst alive. His Estate also filed with both countries’ tax agencies. The Estate took care of all taxes with Canada Revenue Agency and IRS before releasing the money to the beneficiaries, of which I was one. I did not need to file with the IRS because I’m not a US citizen.
Note: If the decedent leaves you a US asset directly (not through the Estate) – eg, if you were named as direct beneficiary of a US insurance policy — then you’d have to interact with IRS regarding any tax on it.
Re: Do the French “notaires” contact the US authorities? Do the US authorities contact the children? Is it the responsibility of the children to contact the US authorities?
In the case of a dual citizen, the Executor would contact IRS to file the decedent’s final return. This happened in my case. However, IRS never contacted me.
Any US taxes due are owed by the estate, not the beneficiaries. If the amount is large enough to possibly trigger the estate tax ($5.3 million) then they should seek professional advice and get busy making gifts.