Whoa, whoa, US can tell other countries' financial institutions to report to IRS "or else"?
I think the world should be shelling DC, I mean, forget Iran and Syria, right?
Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
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Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#12This has been the case for some time and has been getting worse year after year. It is pretty shameful the extent to which the US tries to attach itself to the income and wealth of people who are not even living in the country solely because they are American citizens. In some cases, compliance with US tax laws (even though not in the US) are in direct conflict with laws in jurisdictions where people actually reside.…
Payment of one's taxes is not the same as, or equivalent to, indentured servitude. Or slavery.
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#13This doesn't make sense to me. If you give up your citizenship, then presumably you have citizenship elsewhere, so why not just open a bank account under your foreign citizenship? How is the bank to know? The only thing I can think of is that maybe people are avoiding taxes in the US and their adopted country as well. After all, many countries Americans move to have such high tax rates that after deductions, their US…
Replying before reading the article just wastes everyone's time.
PS - The answers to all of these questions is contained within the article.
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#14Whoa, whoa, US can tell other countries' financial institutions to report to IRS "or else"? I think the world should be shelling DC, I mean, forget Iran and Syria, right?
It's a diplomatic issue what countries report to each other. And your suggestion is mass murder?
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#15This has been the case for some time and has been getting worse year after year. It is pretty shameful the extent to which the US tries to attach itself to the income and wealth of people who are not even living in the country solely because they are American citizens. In some cases, compliance with US tax laws (even though not in the US) are in direct conflict with laws in jurisdictions where people actually reside.…
Payment of one's taxes is not the same as, or equivalent to, indentured servitude. Or slavery.
No, but it is extortion
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#16"Unlike other countries, Americans are taxed not only as residents of the US but also as citizens, wherever they live." Huh?? Just because you are a US citizen, you have to pay taxes to the US wherever you live? Is any other country in the world having such policies?
France was also trying to do that recently, since the government there spends way more than they can hope to "steal" from their citizens. They thought it was a good idea to try to tax citizens living abroad (on top of the taxes paid abroad). If they ever did that, I can tell you a number of French citizens living abroad would just drop their French passport without hesitation.
Taxation is not theft, it is lawful. The developed world is founded on taxes.
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#17So the US has no concept of tax residency?
It does. However, in principle all US citizens are obligated to pay US taxes no matter where their residence or tax residence may be. There are a couple ways to be credited for tax paid abroad.
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#18Whoa, whoa, US can tell other countries' financial institutions to report to IRS "or else"? I think the world should be shelling DC, I mean, forget Iran and Syria, right?
It's a diplomatic issue what countries report to each other. And your suggestion is mass murder?
Well, now you agree Iraq invasion was a mass murder?
Once USA extort money going from country A to country B for failing to comply, it's no longer a diplomatic issue, that's an international crime. And it was from the day one - USA threatening financial institutions in other countries, giving orders to them directly, that's audaceous.
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#19This has been the case for some time and has been getting worse year after year. It is pretty shameful the extent to which the US tries to attach itself to the income and wealth of people who are not even living in the country solely because they are American citizens. In some cases, compliance with US tax laws (even though not in the US) are in direct conflict with laws in jurisdictions where people actually reside.…
Payment of one's taxes is not the same as, or equivalent to, indentured servitude. Or slavery.
Not equivalent to, but certainly shares similar characteristics through coerced surrender of the fruits of one's labor.
Re: Why are Americans giving up their citizenship?
#20There are multiple issues here, and maybe one real but complicated solution besides getting rid of US Citizenship:
US Citizens are taxed on their income by the US regardless of where it was sourced and regardless of where they live. There are exclusions for foreign earned income up $97,600 in 2013 [1], but that does not exempt you from FILING the 1040 and whatever else.
In addition the US has tax treaties [2] with various countries that dictate who gets first right to tax, based on various criteria. Remember treaties trump internal law.
None of these exempt you from filing a return, even if you owe no tax to Uncle Sam.
Then there's the FBAR[3], which is actually a US FinCen form that is administered by the IRS and must be filed by June 30 of each year. It's for people who either have or maintain "signature authority" on bank accounts with a combined value of over $10,000 in the previous year.
Finally there is now FATCA [4], which imposes new reporting requirements on both US persons and Banks. If you live overseas the amount required to report is quite high, but it's still more reporting. For banks it's a royal PIA and many banks will not turn you away if you are a US Citizen (this is anecdotal, I Don't have numbers).
The problem is that the affected parties, US Citizens living abroad, have no real franchise in congress. That's because you vote in Federal Elections based on your last state of residence, which means that your Senator could care less about you.
The solution: We need about 300,000 expats to move back to Wyoming for a while. Once they decide that they no longer like Wyoming and want to move back overseas, they will vote in Federal elections in Wyoming. The expats will then have a voice in congress and be able to have some influence..
[1].http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Forei... [2]http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/International-Businesses/Unite... [3]http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Employ...