The Nestmann Group keeps you up to date on important trends, developments and risks that may affect you. Here’s what’s new…
Can the U.S. government force you to sign a document that strips you of your nationality? Longstanding legal precedent says U.S. citizens end U.S. citizenship only "with the intention of relinquishing United States nationality." However, several cases have emerged where the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (C&BP) agency has coerced native-born U.S. citizens into signing away their birthright.
Brazilian-born Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin relinquished his U.S. citizenship late last year. As an expatriate, Saverin must pay an "exit tax" on the value of any unrealized gains in his worldwide estate, less a $636,000 exclusion for 2011. I'm not privy to billionaire Saverin's financial affairs, but I have no reason to doubt his statement that he will pay "hundreds of millions" of dollars in exit tax to the U.S. government. Some of this tax is on the pre-initial public offering (pre-IPO) value of his Facebook shares.
Austerity measures in France, Greece, and Spain demanded by these countries' creditors have spurred unemployment, cuts in pension costs, and above all, politically motivated attacks on wealth.
As a former U.S. citizen who has given up U.S. citizenship, I've visited dozens of countries using my Commonwealth of Dominica passport.
While you have an absolute right to give up your U.S. citizenship, you must make your intention to expatriate crystal-clear.
Sometimes people ask what I fear most. My answer isn't really what they expect.
If you're a U.S. citizen or long-term permanent resident ("green card" holder), you have a unique responsibility: you must pay tax on your worldwide income, even if you live outside the United States. Not to mention capital gains tax, gift tax, and estate tax.
One of the strongest enforcement mechanisms any government has over its citizens is to restrict their ability to travel internationally.
A U.S. law with the Orwellian name of the "Bank Secrecy Act" requires U.S. citizens and permanent residents to report interests in, or authority over all foreign accounts with an aggregate value of $10,000 or more...
Every country has a path to naturalization through its constitution and law of nationality. In most countries, eligibility for citizenship and a passport requires a period of extended legal and physical residence of one year to 10 years or more...
Chris Martenson at Chrismartenson.com recently commissioned me to write an article on expatriation to be posted on his Web site.
Earlier this week, I participated in to a teleconference sponsored by the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the International Law section of the American Bar Association. The conference addressed the expanded offshore asset disclosure requirements brought into effect by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). (For background on FATCAÂ see here, here.)
Occasionally, the U.S. Congress discovers to its great surprise that the agency it created to collect revenues for the federal government, the Internal Revenue Service, engages in systematic abuse of taxpayers. In one such moment in 1979, Congress created the Office of the Taxpayer Ombudsman as a taxpayer advocate within the IRS. This office eventually became the Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS). by authority of first so-called "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" in 1988.
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In my last blog entry , I discussed the newest U.S. government escalation in the War Against Financial Privacy: Form 8938, the “Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets.â€
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Are you a U.S. citizen or U.S. resident alien who held assets outside the USA at any time during 2011? If so, you need to know about a rapidly approaching deadline for filing Form 8938, "Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets." Non-resident aliens may need to file this return as well in certain circumstances. See the instructions for Form 8938 for details.
The United States is one of the very few countries, and the only major country, that taxes its citizens, no matter where they live. If you haven't lived in the United States in decades, you must pay tax on your worldwide income as if you never left. Even "accidental" U.S. citizens born overseas with at least one U.S. parent, who never set foot in the United States, must file U.S. tax returns. Beneficiaries of a deceased U.S. citizen living abroad must prepare a U.S. estate tax return and possibly pay estate tax, even if they're non-U.S. citizens who have never lived in the United States.
The blogosphere has been humming the last couple of weeks with condemnation of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act. This bill, which funds U.S. military forces for the coming year, has a neat little provision tucked away in Sec. 1031. It permits anyone the government claims is “a member of, or part of, al-Qaida or an associated force†to be held in military custody “without trial until the end of the hostilities authorized by the Authorization for Use of Military Force.†Including, according to numerous blog posts, U.S. citizens residing in the United States.
The United States is one of only two countries, and the only major country, that taxes its citizens, no matter where they live. If you haven’t lived in the United States in decades, you must pay tax on your worldwide income as if you never left. Even “accidental†U.S. citizens born overseas with at least one U.S. parent, who never set foot in the United States, must file U.S. tax returns. These laws affect every one of the more than 6 million U.S. citizens living abroad.
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In my last blog entry, I described the latest salvo against offshore financial privacy from the IRS: the requirement to file a tell-all form annually with your tax return detailing “foreign financial assets†with an aggregate value exceeding $50,000.
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Back in 2010, President Obama signed the infamous Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (“FATCAâ€). Among other provisions, FATCA provides that if you hold a “specified foreign financial asset†(SFFA), you must attach a disclosure statement to your income tax return for each year in which the aggregate value of all such assets exceeds $50,000, or a larger sum as directed by the IRS.
Approximately seven million U.S. citizens live overseas. And while most of them don’t realize it, they’re subject to the same U.S. tax and reporting obligations as any other U.S. citizen.
“A man’s home may be his castle, but that does not keep the government from taking it.â€
I just learned Monday that CPA Vernon Jacobs died last Friday after an unsuccessful battle with esophageal cancer.
If you move cash or other "monetary instruments" across a U.S. border, you may be required to tell the U.S. Treasury.
There are several ways that a U.S. citizen can expatriate; i.e., end their U.S. citizen status.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents who invest offshore resemble the recently departed Osama bin Laden more than they might wish to admit.
I've long predicted there would come a time when the U.S. government began requiring individuals applying for or renewing their U.S. passports to prove tax compliance.
Last week, my friend and colleague Mark Nestmann wrote about a proposed form that may soon become necessary to complete in order to obtain a U.S. passport. Â You must disclose a great deal of extremely personal information on this form, including details of religious rites performed at your birth (e.g., circumcision).
If you have the equivalent of $500,000 or more to invest (more in some cases), you qualify for the
An article in a Mexican newspaper reports that Mexican federal police seized more than 150 gold coins from a traveler in the Mexico City International Airport. The seizure apparently occurred last year; the article is dated April 19, 2010.