2015-05-07
We began tracking expatriations in late 2009 because we anticipated that the number of expatriations would increase as a result of changes in U.S. tax laws and due to "saber rattling" by the IRS about the imposition of potential penalties in the wake of the UBS scandal. Our prediction has been accurate.
Today the Treasury Department published the names of individuals who renounced their U.S. citizenship or terminated their long-term U.S. residency (“expatriated”) during the first quarter of 2015.
The number of published expatriates for the quarter was 1,335. This is the highest quarterly number of published expatriates ever, surpassing the previous record of 1,130 (Q2 2013). For a discussion of how the IRS compiles the data, see this post.
Expatriation appears to be increasing. The data released today follows two consecutive years where new records were set for the number of expatriates. In 2013, there were 2,999 published expatriates, and in 2014 there were 3,415 published expatriates.
Below are two graphs which reflect the latest expatriation data. The first graph shows the quarterly number of published expatriates since 2008. The second graph shows the quarterly average of published expatriates per year through the first quarter of 2015.
For our prior coverage of expatriation, see all posts tagged Expatriation.
