2016-05-04
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 2016.
The number of published expatriates for the quarter was 1,158. Only a few years ago, we would have been surprised by such a large quarterly number. Now having over 1,000 published expatriates per quarter appears to be the new normal.
The data released today follows three consecutive years where new records were set for the number of expatriates. In 2013, there were 2,999 published expatriates, in 2014 there were 3,415 published expatriates, and in 2015 there were 4,279 published expatriates. For a discussion of how the IRS compiles the data, see this post.
We continue to believe that the IRS is likely missing a significant number of names from its quarterly publication of expatriates. During the first quarter of 2016, the FBI added 1,281 individuals who renounced their U.S. citizenship to the NICS index. The IRS list is supposed to include U.S. citizens who have lost their U.S. citizenship as well as long-term green card holders who have terminated their green cards. The IRS number is lower than the FBI number, when we would expect it to be significantly higher than the FBI number.
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 2016.
For our prior coverage of expatriation, see all posts tagged Expatriation.
