2017-05-09
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 2017.
The number of published expatriates for the quarter was 1,313.
The data released today follows four consecutive years where new records were set for the number of expatriates. In 2013, there were 2,999 published expatriates, and last year there were 5,411 published expatriates. For a discussion of how the IRS compiles the data, see these posts: missing names, source of data.
The escalation of offshore penalties over the last 20 years is likely contributing to the increased incidence of expatriation.
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 2017, the FBI added 1,484 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 is a graph of the quarterly number of published expatriates since 2008 through the first quarter of 2017.
For our prior coverage of expatriation, see all posts tagged Expatriation.
