GOOD RIDDANCE

Record Year for Americans Giving Up Citizenship, Reports

NEW YORK, Oct. 29, 2020 /PRNewswire/ – 2020 is the record year for Americans giving up their citizenship, according to research by the Enrolled Agents and accountants of Bambridge Accountants New York.

Americans Renouncing 2020

• 6,045 Americans gave up their citizenship in the first nine months of 2020

• Showing a 234% increase on the same 9 months to in 2019, where only 1,811 cases were recorded

• 2,072 Americans gave up their citizenship in 2019 in total

This is the highest year on record; the previous record was 5,411 cases in 2016. Already in 2020, with 3 months still to report, 6,045 is the record number of cases in a year

• This is all while the U.S. State Department has stopped Americans being able to book appointments to renounce at many U.S. Embassies since March 2020

Americans must pay a $2,350 government fee to renounce their citizenship, and those based overseas must do so in person at the U.S. Embassy in their country.

There are an estimated 9 million U.S. expats. The trend has been that there has been a steep decline over the last few years of U.S. citizens expatriating - the first six months of 2020 is a huge increase in the number of Americans renouncing their citizenship.

Under the IRS rules (section 6039g), every three months the U.S. Government publishes the names of all Americans who give up their citizenship. The first nine months for 2020 had 6,045 Americans renouncing their citizenship, far more than the total of the four quarters for 2019 (2,072 Americans renounced).