Why expat Americans are giving up their passports • Hacker News Board

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#321

Post by cylinder » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:03 PM UTC

ryaniscool wrote: post #307

timthelion wrote: post #24

I am an American living in Prague and will be among those to give up their citizenship. The new FBAR requirements and the recently pushed through changes that require foreign banks to report are really a huge burden. It is a significant legal risk to be an American overseas. The fines are insane for failiure to report, even if you owe no taxes! You can easilly land yourself with a $20 000 - $80 000 fine for having a…

Lived in Australia for 5 years. Was several months late filing FBAR my first year. Did it on time my second year. Completely forgot my 3rd and 4th year. Filed 3 at the same time on my 5th year. I was never contacted by the IRS for failing to file on time. The point being, it's scare tactics. I filed a complaint with the https://www.irs.gov/Advocate and they are well aware of the issue. They have brought it up repeate…

So to someone in the same boat as you you'd say just file the tax return and be done with it? I looked at the FBAR online form and could not imagine ever filling that out when I permanently live overseas, it actually infuriates me.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#322

Post by jakub_h » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:03 PM UTC

timthelion wrote: post #166

roddux wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, do you now have a citizenship in Prague? I am unaware how it works for Americans living in the EU.

I am able to apply for Czech citizenship as I have been in the country for more than 5 years. I now have to pass some language exams and interviews. I hope that the fact that my grandmother is Czech will help.

Will help with the language, or with the bureacracy? I'd be surprised about the latter, but I'd also be surprised if they gave much trouble to an educated productive individual. Hodně štěstí!

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#323

Post by thisone » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:05 PM UTC

ssmoot wrote: post #306

anothermouse wrote: post #228

I am British, and am married to an american. My wife moved to the UK and has never worked since. I had no idea about her obligation to file anything. She's been here for over a decade. Like a lot of people we use a joint bank account. My salary, and anything else goes in there. A couple of years ago I sold my flat in central London, and had 400K (600K USD) in there at various points. I have no idea how to bring my wi…

I don't know if this applies to you, but state-side the sale of an asset wouldn't be counted as income. According to this: http://time.com/money/2803550/income-taxes-on-home-sale/ If you lived in your previous home for at least 2 years, then you'd take it's original sale price plus closing/brokerage/etc costs as your "basis". Then take your later sale price subtracting those same costs. You get a $250,000 credit on p…

The issue with the FBAR is the transfer of the money from the house into a bank account.

If the money was in an account with the US citizen's name on it for any amount of time, such that the sum of all accounts with the citizen's name was over $10,000, all accounts must be reported.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#324

Post by furyg3 » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:07 PM UTC

geomark wrote: post #170

atlbeer wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have to fail FACTA regardless if you hold an overseas account. If you hold less than $10k USD than it's a few check boxes and takes less than 10 minutes

Nope. You must file FBAR for all of your accounts only if the sum of them ever exceeded US$10,000 during the year. That requirement has been around for many years. The IRS rules concerning FBAR are here: https://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Small-Businesses-&-Self-Emplo... And the pertinent text from that page: "Who Must File an FBAR United States persons are required to file an FBAR if: 1. the United States person had a f…

This is only if you are self-employed or a small business owner, correct? If you are an American living abroad and working for a company does FBAR apply to you?

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#325

Post by thisone » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:09 PM UTC

cbennett wrote: post #195

Upset about this issue and want to make a positive difference rather than debating technicalities or simply waiting for the other shoe to drop? It may be no surprise that FATCA and FBAR present several consitutitional issues. Chief among them are the following: -As the IRS can unilaterally sign unauthorized pseudo-treaties with foreign governments, the Senate’s role in ratifying treaties is bypassed -Fourth amendment…

Honestly, I think there's no hope.

No one running for any office cares one bit about Americans overseas.

It's very easy to get support for 'sticking it to those tax dodgers overseas' and very hard to get people to care about the tax situation of people they don't know and feel they can't relate to.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#326

Post by furyg3 » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:12 PM UTC

dalke wrote: post #9

American citizens have to pay $2,350 to renounce citizenship? What kind of paperwork costs that much? (Or, why not just add more paperwork and charge $100K?) http://www.greenbacktaxservices.com/blog/renouncing-us-citiz... > 1. Consular officers must confirm that the potential renunciant fully understands the consequences of renunciation, including losing the right to reside in the United States without documentation…

When I was at the consulate looking at prices they had posted on the wall, they charged you that same amount if you wanted any evidence of your citizenship renunciation... So in total more than $5k.

Also from what I remember you are still required to file and pay taxes for five years after you renounce your citizenship...

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#327

Post by randyrand » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:13 PM UTC

ryaniscool wrote: post #307

timthelion wrote: post #24

I am an American living in Prague and will be among those to give up their citizenship. The new FBAR requirements and the recently pushed through changes that require foreign banks to report are really a huge burden. It is a significant legal risk to be an American overseas. The fines are insane for failiure to report, even if you owe no taxes! You can easilly land yourself with a $20 000 - $80 000 fine for having a…

Lived in Australia for 5 years. Was several months late filing FBAR my first year. Did it on time my second year. Completely forgot my 3rd and 4th year. Filed 3 at the same time on my 5th year. I was never contacted by the IRS for failing to file on time. The point being, it's scare tactics. I filed a complaint with the https://www.irs.gov/Advocate and they are well aware of the issue. They have brought it up repeate…

Hi!

I work for the IRS and we'd love to get this squared away. Please contact me at collection0010@irs.gov and we can resolve this immediately.

Best

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#328

Post by noprocrastworks » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:15 PM UTC

cbennett wrote: post #195

Upset about this issue and want to make a positive difference rather than debating technicalities or simply waiting for the other shoe to drop? It may be no surprise that FATCA and FBAR present several consitutitional issues. Chief among them are the following: -As the IRS can unilaterally sign unauthorized pseudo-treaties with foreign governments, the Senate’s role in ratifying treaties is bypassed -Fourth amendment…

Warning! Link 3 has pop-ups and plays sound automatically. I suggest disabling JS for it if you wish to read the article.

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#329

Post by dalke » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:19 PM UTC

bwb wrote: post #304

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, did any of those American citizens make their way to the US embassy? That's how you get out of the country if violence is breaking out. Nobody in government would even know you're there beyond some database.

Actually, you are supposed to register if you live outside the USA with the State department.

Actually, no. There is no "supposed to." You can register with the State Department if you live outside the US, just like you can register with the US if you travel outside the US. The web site is http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/go/step.html .

Do you really think that every one of the millions of American citizens who travel or live overseas each year is supposed to tell the US about their current location?

Re: Why expat Americans are giving up their passports

#330

Post by noprocrastworks » Wed, Feb 10, 2016, 7:25 PM UTC

mark_l_watson wrote: post #232

This story hits close to home. My wife and I had wanted to buy a home in Central America (I really enjoy that area of the world) and live there about 2/3 of the time, but also maintaining a modest residence in Arizona. We gave up that dream when FACTA became a law. The US government is basically making it as nasty as possible for citizens to live abroad. Why is the government doing this? I think it is simple economic…

Why does FACTA prevent you from moving to Central America?

If you use a local bank account, report it if it exceeds $10k. It isn't necessary to do that, I lived for a years overseas (in countries with similar costs of living to Central America) only using U.S. banks.