> then charging me $2350 to file the divorce papers.
So, if I understand correctly, the very fact that I was squirted out here in this country puts me at a -$2350 just for being born.
So US citizenship = -$2350
On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
101–110 of 256 posts
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well I suppose that’s one interpretation but I think it misses the forest for the trees. Everything I’ve come across has discussed how it exacerbated trade imbalances due to a relatively lower proportion of Americans living abroad than citizens of other nationalities. Americans want to trade with Americans, like Chinese want to trade with Chinese. So having Americans abroad in bigger numbers helps for trade which I t…
Why would the multinationals that set the agenda in the US care about any of that?
Most of them make more money abroad than they do in the U.S. Setting up foreign branches is critical for their ability to reach new markets. Most of these branches are setup by U.S. citizens or permanent residents who have a deep history with their U.S-based employer and often personal connections with the executives at the home office. It is much easier to retain and pay these people if the bureaucratic hoops for retaining American citizenship abroad are less, and they will be less tempted to jump ship and set up competing businesses that jumpstart a foreign country's industry if it's convenient for them to stay American citizens.
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#103Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you have access to your spouse's account you may need to enter that into the FBAR form https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act#FBAR Regarding the difficulty of investing/borrowing outside the US: Non-US banks are required to report stuff to the US if they have US customers. So they might not want US customers because it's a hassle for them.
As a US citizen who lived in the Netherlands until recently, at least one bank (ABN AMRO) is fine with US customers, and is also attractive to expats in other ways- for instance, they will do more of their correspondence in English than other banks. It required maybe 20 minutes in an office at my local branch when I opened my account for them to have dealt with everything, and then my banking experience was no differ…
I don’t think ABN AMRO is completely fine with US customers today, given that they have an US persons disclaimer and have a phone number for questions regarding it (https://www.abnamro.nl/en/personal/specially-for/us-persons....)
Problem is that FATCA requires banks to actively send the US government personal information about its customers with US citizenship, while the GDPR forbids them from doing so without consent from their customers (https://americanexpatfinance.com/tax/item/632-eu-data-protec...)
But yes, accidental Americans definitely are a weird case. Some of them don’t even know they have US citizenship until the IRS sends them a message, or when, upon visiting the USA, border control requires them to show a US passport (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_American#Awareness_...)
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I pay almost $1000 per year to an accountant to fill out the forms—more and lengthier than they’d be if I lived in the US—only to prove I owe nothing, since I pay taxes here in the Netherlands. Apparently she wasn't paying taxes (to the US) anyways.
Then I'm even less clear on what her issues were. Somehow this is reminding me of that girl that took $350,000 in debt to get a Theater Management degree from Duke University and then blogged about how criminal the American higher education system is and how she was running off to Russia with her husband to escape the crippling debt. It's like, you took almost half a mil in debt to go to a PRIVATE SCHOOL to get a deg…
> Then I'm even less clear on what her issues were
I think the issues are pretty simple; if you are a US citizen but living and working in another country permanently with no US local income, she found the impact of FACTA and tax reporting obligations to be too expensive and or pain-in-the-butt to make it worth keeping her US citizenship.
There are very real impacts and constraints on ex-pats in this situation; whether or not they are worth it to you is a personal evaluation I suppose.
This is nothing like the schoold debt issue you describe.
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#105As a US citizen, being taxed while living abroad can dangerously trigger double taxation. Imagine being taxed 70% of your income... scary! I've been researching ways to live abroad without being double-taxed, and here's some resources I've found: * https://www.greenbacktaxservices.com - give them your foreign tax return and they file your US return * https://wandererswealth.com - international tax consultant * https:…
I have no idea why you might be downvoted, but it's extremely unlikely you'll end up owing more than 100%. I'm not an accountant but having filed multi-jurisdiction tax returns myself I don't see a mechanism by which this could happen.
I edited my comment, since 70% tax rate is actually possible depending on the tax rate of the country you're living and whether they have a tax treaty with the US or not.
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#106The conversation here at this moment seems to be focused solely on whether or not it is complicated or costly to keep filing US taxes. This misses the point in that the US is the _only_ developed country to impose worldwide taxation on its citizens regardless of where they live. The only other country to do so is Eritrea and the US has routinely criticized them for doing so. Moreover, it makes expats ineligible for c…
If makes sense if we relax an assumption that the IRS and the agents therein are interested in optimizing tax revenue.
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#107Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#108> I realize that I still believe in the basic strength of the US democratic system: it will survive whoever wins the presidential election, for example.
Will it? It barely survived 4 years of Trump. If he gets another crack at it he'll know exactly where to strike to bring it down.
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#109I was hoping to read something about the crimes the US government has committed (of which there are an endless list) or another reason to feel a deep regret and bitterness at being betrayed by the country, but it's just banking and tax annoyances.
Re: On Receiving my Certificate of Loss of Nationality
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
But like wouldn’t you be fine once you found one?
No, even if you can open a bank account as a US citizen, most services will be restricted. If you want to get a life insurance, they won't have anything for you, if you want to open an investment account, same issue, etc... So, first it's difficult to find banks that'll even accept US citizens and then once you do, it can still be very restrictive.
Is dual citizenship any help with this issue?
Say you're a dual US / German citizen. Will that help a German bank more easily bank with you? Do you even have to disclose to the bank that you're a dual citizen, or can you simply present yourself as a German citizen?