Why Americans are renouncing their U.S. citizenship
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by Sophia Yan,
It was so emotional, I threw up after renouncing.
3,000 Americans around the world renounced their citizenship last year. Meet five U.S. citizens who have given up their passports — or are thinking about it — to escape an overly complicated tax code.
Donna-Lane Nelson, 71, lives in: Geneva, Switzerland. ‘I threw up!’
I renounced my U.S. citizenship in 2011. After I did it, I was so emotional that I threw up outside the embassy.
During my renunciation, I broke down. It was like getting a divorce. America gave me my education, a good career path, and I came from a beautiful part of the country. This was very hard.
Before I took the last oath, I asked if I could change my mind. The embassy worker said maybe, with official permission. But I still went through with it.
My decision to renounce was triggered when my bank threatened to close my account because I was American. What would I do without a bank?
Ezra Goldman, 28, lives in: Dongguan, China. ‘We’re ostracized for being American’.
I was born a dual citizen of both the U.S. and Germany — the U.S. through my father, and Germany through my mother.
After graduating from college in 2008, I moved for work to Dongguan, China, and I’ve been here ever since.
Germany doesn’t require me to report, file or pay taxes on my income earned abroad, even though I am a German citizen. But as an American citizen, I am required to file taxes on my worldwide income. I always knew that even as an expat, I would have to file.
I have a tax service in the U.S. handle it for me. There’s just too much for me to possibly know what’s going on with tax laws and regulations — I can’t keep up with it.
Laurie Lautmann, 58,lives in: Gisborne, New Zealand. ‘I still feel American’.
I went traveling through the Pacific, and landed in New Zealand in my mid-20s. I just loved it, and ended up staying, buying a home, finding a partner — the whole works.
My partner, Frank, and I are pretty average middle class types. Frank is a local gym teacher, and I have a part-time job as a cleaner. Over the years, we have each separately owned our own businesses. Frank still has his, giving surfing lessons.
The tax obligations imposed by the U.S. drove us crazy! We live in a small town, and it was difficult to find an expert who knew the ins and outs of the U.S. tax system. When we did find a firm, it cost us more than 4,000 New Zealand dollars ($3,360) for them to do our U.S. taxes each year. We looked at the money we paid the accountants as the price we paid to retain our U.S. citizenship. But as we got older and U.S. tax laws became more convoluted, it just didn’t seem worth it anymore.
Christina Ammann, 56, lives in: Belp, Switzerland. ‘Invasion of privacy’.
When you’re an American — and I’ve always been patriotic — it’s extremely troubling to think about giving up your citizenship. But it’s an option I am considering due to the invasive reach of the IRS and the U.S. government into my personal life.
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, and went to college in California. After I graduated, I entered the Peace Corps, stationed in Costa Rica. That’s where I met my husband, who is Swiss. I moved to Switzerland to be with him in 1984, and received Swiss citizenship when we married.
The fact that I have signatory rights on my Swiss husband’s financial accounts means that I must report them to the U.S. government, which I find quite unfair. I have no problem paying taxes — I have problems with reporting my non-American husband’s assets.
Richard Sikes, 65, lives in: Toronto, Canada. A burden for my son. When I first moved to Europe in 1973, I didn’t pay attention to my U.S. taxes for a few years. I am a native Oregonian who became something of a gypsy, living all over the continent — Ireland, England, Switzerland and Germany. I hardly earned anything at the time as a ballet dancer, so I figured I probably didn’t owe taxes.
After a while, I started to make a bit more. I went straight to a U.S. consulate in Germany and filed about eight years of tax returns all at once. Even then, I don’t recall owing any taxes. That put me in compliance, and since then, I’ve always filed my returns.
When my older son, now 21, was born in Germany, I applied for U.S. citizenship for him immediately, because I thought I might eventually return. As things worked out, I ended up in Canada — my wife’s country and where I found a job in the IT industry. My oldest son and I now both have Canadian citizenship as well.
What I’m worried about these days is whether to apply for U.S. citizenship for my younger son, who is 16. He was born in Canada, and currently holds Canadian citizenship. He has the right to be an American citizen through me, and I wouldn’t want to deny him that. But do I want to impose a lifetime of paying to have U.S. tax returns prepared upon him?
As for myself, I have considered renouncing my U.S. citizenship — my Canadian wife feels it is incredibly invasive that we are required to report our joint assets.
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