The State Department has slashed by about 80% the fee for Americans to formally renounce their U.S. citizenship.
After years of legal battles with several groups representing Americans wanting to give up their citizenship, the department on Friday published a final rule in the Federal Register that reduces the cost from $2,350 to $450.
The new fee, which took effect on Friday, had been promised in 2023 but had never been implemented. The cost is now the same as it was when the State Department first started charging Americans to formally renounce their citizenship in 2010.
There’s a fee for that??? How about a double 🖕🖕as your fee, how’s that? If I renounce citizenship, it’s because I am fucking tired of it all and see the country as completely unredeemable-- aka hate. I ain’t paying you shit.
And your name is published on a public list of people that have given up their citizenship.
You’re also freed from taxation but citizenship, which only the American citizenship comes with. If you’re leaving the country and going to another where you attained citizenship and don’t want your foreign income taxed by the US (beyond exclusions) and be arrested for tax evasion when you visit, then that’s something you may look at.
taxation but citizenship
Did you mean “by”?
Good. The value of being an American is in a death spiral.
There’s a strong political bias on who would renounce their citizenship and they don’t want those people voting.
Don’t threaten me with a good time.
I recently learned you can still get your social security benefits even when you’re not a citizen.
Can we perhaps trade citizenship with a Canadian Trump supporter?
too bad only RICH canadian ones would do that.
It’s almost like they have the perfect confluence of things to encourage brain drain:
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Put idiots like Bobby Brainworm in charge of health so they can do battle with proven science.
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Cut funding of science way, way down. I mean really, letting a complete poseur idiot like fElon decide things like that? WTAF.
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Unleash regressive dumbasses to do their worst xenophobic bullshit.
Seriously, someone needs to demonstrate how everything Donvict’s crime wave is doing to this country is not a wishlist of the likes of Russia.
- slash education all across the board which benefits both parties at least the old guard “dinos”, plus increasing propaganda of anti-intellectualism
Which is the equivalence of its cool to be stupid like the President. Which is sad and pathetic.
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For any dual citizenship person, or someone who happens to have been born there, and living outside the US, that sounds like a great deal. And no longer having to deal with US tax every year. It’s the only country who taxes you as a citizen living outside the country - for a country founded on their abhorrence to “taxation without representation”, they sure do a lot of it.
Come on, someone has to make up for the taxes the corporations aren’t paying
Projection. The most represented class is the most undertaxed - the wealthy and the corpos
Income taxes were unheard of in the revolution too. The feds weren’t in everyone’s business, by design. Just tariffs and duties and such for money. In the civil war they started income taxes, then cancelled them after the war. The restarted them in wwi, and kept them since.
Income taxes were supposed to be temporary when they were implemented.
According to leading astronomers, the sun is temporary too
There’s no limit to temporary. I’m sure they’ll drop it soon!
Eh, it’s not the only country. There’s one other.
Eritrea.
“But wait, there’s more!”
It’s like they’re daring me at this point.
I don’t want to leave this country. I was born here, my dad was born here, my dad’s dad was born here, etc. But, holy shit, this society is failing. It’s not failed, yet, but it is failing. I want to believe that things can turn around, but it gets harder everyday to hold onto that belief.
It’s especially hard because I feel like my proposals for how things could be fixed are actively, aggressively being fought against by many of my countrymen. Hell, we can’t even agree on the problems, let alone solutions. For a lot of Americans, there is no problem! This is all hunky-dory.
A nation is a shared idea. A nation exists when a group of people all agree that they are a nation. I ain’t in the same nation as these folks. They’ve got their idea of America and I’ve got mine, and they are two different things. I’m not a part of the shared idea anymore. It’s moved away from me. It’s become something that I don’t understand or agree with. I don’t think it’s moral or rational, or sustainable.
Frankly, I think the idea of America as a nation, as it stands right now, is doomed to fail. It’s far too tolerant of greed, ignorance and liars with malicious intent. A society like that won’t last. It will collapse.
When was the last time a country actually collapsed? You’ve got Yugoslavia, Cambodia, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and the USSR. Forgoing the USSR, you don’t see many countries of this size doing the whole “collapse” thing, these days. I think it’s far more likely that worst case scenario tends toward reshaping American culture toward more toxicity, corruption, … other nations will slowly stop relying on the US for its economic reliability, stable bonds, … you’ll have less sway over international politics. Locally, your markets will lose the vigor provided when an economy yields fair chance to make gains. People who rise to power in your new nation will be those who pay or promise the most to a small handful of elitists. National response to disasters will become dull. People will be radicalized, but also less educated. Public violence will increase. All of this will happen while your foreign state enemies watch and fill the void you’ve left. You’ll never get that position back… just as Rome didn’t. Just as Spain didn’t. Just as the UK didn’t. You’ll be a nation that just fades to the sidelines. Still relevant in some ways, but definitely not anything like you used to be.
The USSR is definitely the nearest analog. That was, what, 35 years ago. That’s very recent, in civilizational terms. A little over 100 years ago, in the early 20th century, several large, powerful empires collapsed. That’s relatively recent, all things considered.
Maybe it doesn’t seem to happen as much today because in the aftermath of all of those empires collapsing, new, more resilient nation states were formed, with more sustainable social, cultural and political systems. But the US is much older than all of them. The oldest democracy still going. Also by far the oldest federated, presidential republic. It’s hard to really compare the resiliency of a country like ours to, say, a much more recently formed parliamentary democracy, especially when most of those nations are much smaller than us by population, and are usually significantly less geographically and ethically diverse.
Sort of. If you are smart enough to leave, that’s one less voter they have to deal with.
There’s also a whole other slew of issues that affect Accidental Americans usually having to do with non-filed taxes, meaning the whole process also recoups from global earnings that have had zilch to do with the US through tax traps. Making it easier to apply for means they can get a few bucks more, and I suspect the people processing those requests are at the ICE level of quality. William Barr’s daughter, Mary Barr Daly, ended up being placed as a senior adviser to FinCEN, which is closely involved in this process, and she has her own history of exercising her position in let’s just say the traditional Republican manner.
To be fair, both parties have been at fault for the US’ Eritrean system of citizenship, neither really cares, although I suspect with how many bridges they are burning they are seeing the writing on the wall and would rather get something from the people trying to leave “the right way” while their demands on the global banking system are still respected.
It’s frustrating living in a state that is pursuing good values, and then we vote federally and lose to morons. What can I do? Move to these shitholes? There’s a lot of possible improvements to the system, but we need to cross a threshold to get over to get that done and IDK if we can. I have young kids and grapple with uprooting them. The next couple of years will be very telling.
{Awkwardly laughs in Minnesotan.}
NGL, I have thought far more frequently lately to move to Canada or see if Canada will adopt the whole state.
Nice. As an American living in Spain, this will be nice when the time comes. Now, if I could only speed up my citizenship here so I can file sooner.
If you were born in the USA, still live here, have no other citizenship and drop the $450 to renounce - what happens?
Stateless?
Part of the requirement for renouncing is (or at least should be) that you have established citizenship somewhere else. Otherwise you would be considered stateless, which causes all kinds of problems. Everything from being unable to access government benefits, to not being able to get an ID.
I say “should be” because the US is one of the few attending countries that refused to sign the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness
refused to sign
As an aside, it is this annoying thing with American exceptionalism in regards to certain issues that makes it anathema to the concept of a United Nations, despite it being a founding member-nation.
I don’t think you can, there are some conventions around this. https://www.unhcr.org/what-we-do/protect-human-rights/ending-statelessness/un-conventions-statelessness
So unless you have a second one the conventions prevent them.
You must declare taxes even if living abroad
You must file, but the US has reciprocal tax treaties with many countries, which allow you to deduct any taxes you paid in your home country. So if you paid $15k in taxes in Spain, you would be able to put that towards any taxes you owed in the US.
Of course, you still have to actually file your taxes in the US. Which is a massive pain in the ass, because the US tax code is kept intentionally convoluted so people will feel the need to pay for tax software. The tax software companies literally lobby congress to keep the codes complicated. In most other countries, the government basically just sends a mailer that says “hey here’s what we have on file. Let us know if you have any corrections.”
TURBOTAX being the major beneficiary of this.
You can use https://www.freetaxusa.com/ while it’s still available. Even if it doesn’t support all your cases you can at least get started.
holy fucking trump! I could have left the country and renouced citizenship for free before 2010? ugh I so wish I would have studied abroad when I was young.
Off subject a bit, but I just heard Rubio lied about his shoe size to the president that’s been handing out free shoes everyone feels compelled to wear, and that he’s been wearing those oversized shoes because he was too vain to be honest.
Fuck you Rubio.
What I read was that Trump has been guessing the shoe sizes and people don’t want to correct him.
Looks like it really might have vanity for Rubio:
As Vice President J.D. Vance recalled at an event in December, the Journal reported, he was meeting with Trump, Rubio, and an unnamed third politician in the Oval Office when the president accused Vance and Rubio of having “shitty shoes.” Trump asked them all for their shoe size; Vance made sure to put in the record that he’s a size 13, while Rubio claimed to be an 11 and the third man a 7. The president then launched a sideways insult at the guy with the daintiest feet: “You know you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size.”
That the “locker-room talk” president would place an inordinate, genital-related premium on a man’s foot size was surely no surprise to Rubio, who has risen in GOP influence in direct proportion to his willingness to contort himself to Trump’s exact desires. It does not seem out of the realm of possibility, then, that Rubio would inflate his own shoe specs to impress Trump with his masculine bulk.
Tempting, though I’d rather they do the work for me
passdid not read that properly seems like a deal for AmericansYes. It is. Free would be better, but this really helps.
Depends on treaties. If dual citizenship is allowed and tax liability is reciprocated then it could be a waste of money. But also I’m unsure whether you can ignore tax reporting and travel through the US on a foreign passport after they revoke your US passport.
If you want to go from Europe to south America you’re almost certainly passing through a US hub, at least by air.
Insane you have to pay for the last interaction you have with the US
seems the tax liability is a headache if you have dual citizenship, seems the banks in another country has to report to the US treasurey, IRS. useful for people who isnt planning to come live in the US for a significant amount of time.
If you plan to work short term in the US and are foreign born then just don’t get citizenship, just work on a visa.
If you are a US citizen and need to retain your passport or do business in the US you have to do US taxes based on the treaty between the US and your country of residence/work. Renouncing citizenship relieves you of this duty.
Foreign banks don’t report to the US at all. You are required to submit that independently through an FBAR.
Insane you have to pay for the last interaction you have with the US
That’s capitalism for you
It’s explicitly not. 🤣 but i agree with the sentiment.
For real. Wake me when they’re paying - in cash.
That was not the expensive part. The expensive part is when they calculate the future taxes that they won’t receive and take a share of that. Edit: if you are above a threshold.
Are you kidding me?
Edit: stop with the misinformation
According to the IRS, most Americans who renounce their citizenship don’t owe any exit tax because they don’t meet the “covered expatriate” thresholds. The State Department fee for renouncing U.S. citizenship is $450 (reduced from $2,350 effective April 13, 2026). Only those with a net worth exceeding $2 million, a high average tax liability, or incomplete tax compliance are subject to additional exit taxes.
There is some truth to it, that exit tax is not calculated on future income, but is calculates on one’s net worth, including real estate, investments, and retirement funds. They are basically looking for people who have chunks of unrealized gains accrued while still citizens, then file to leave the country so that they can sell those assets without paying capital gains taxes on them. So, before leaving they make you pay taxes as if you sold it all.
Yes, there are exceptions and exclusions that make it so most non-rich people wouldn’t owe anything, but it’s still up to you to prove that.
There are services that specialize in this, I found this one with a good writeup here. Note that they are looking to sell their service here, so may be overestimating the impact of non-compliance.
How many Americans do you think have a net worth of over $2 million?
Not many, but more common than you think, particularly in HCOL areas where real estate prices have spiked, and even a modest house is over $1M. You might think “Yeah, but those folks have no equity”, but there are plenty of people who bought in 20+ years ago who are sitting on all that equity but can’t do anything with it until they sell.
Also, retirement assets count in that, and even though we see headlines talking about how unprepared most people are for retirement, there are plenty of people who are.
Add in the fact that most countries won’t hand out residency to anyone unless they are in a key field, and you will find that the people with the means to decide to emigrate are often the ones that have these assets in the first place.
Also, plenty of people that would renounce American citizenship are probably doing so because of tax concerns. The US is the only country that taxes citizens even if they don’t live there. You could make all your income in another country and the US still wants a piece. For people that make a modest wage in another country, there are exceptions to avoid double taxation. But, if you make a sizable part of your income from capital gains, being taxed on that when you don’t even live in the US probably becomes a motivating factor.
Which has a price:
Notably, entry can be denied to persons who renounced their U.S. citizenship to avoid paying income taxes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_Amendment_(immigration)
The U.S. government has never issued regulations to implement the Reed Amendment.
Passport control at John F. Kennedy International Airport. U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officers decide whether former U.S. citizens arriving in the U.S. are inadmissible based on the Reed Amendment. They have only found two people inadmissible in the past 15 years.
What’s the share of wealthy Americans who have renounced their citizenship?
Since 2020, 21,027 wealthy Americans have officially exited the U.S. tax system, accounting for nearly 39% of all expatriations recorded by the IRS since 1996.
IRS Expatriation List only reflects “covered expatriates,” defined as those with a net worth over $2M or who paid $178K+ annually in taxes over the last five years.
This makes it about 50,000 since 2020 who had to pay extra. How many have renounced overall?
https://www.savoryandpartners.com/news/american-millionaire-citizenship-renunciations
Since 1998, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has also maintained its own list of people who have renounced citizenship under 8 U.S.C. § 1481(a)(5), as this is one of the categories of people prohibited from purchasing firearms under the Gun Control Act of 1968 and who must be entered into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993
The list of all renouncements:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quarterly_Publication_of_Individuals_Who_Have_Chosen_to_Expatriate
However, in 2013, the number of records of renunciants added to NICS again exceeded the number of names published in the Federal Register expatriate list, with 3,128 renunciants in the former against only 3,000 losing citizenship or permanent residence by any means in the latter.[2
