A higher-than-usual number of people are renouncing their U.S. citizenship or ending their U.S. residency, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Treasury Department published a list of 776 names for the third quarter of 2014. Where the renouncers were from, if they have duel-citizenship or any other possible reasons for renouncing are not recorded.
Andrew Mitchell, an international tax lawyer in Centerbrook, Conn., told the WSJ that the third quarter figure is the third highest number of quarterly renouncements. So far, 2014 has said goodbye to 2,353 people who have given up their U.S. residency or citizenship. Last year the total number was a whopping 2,999, according to Mitchel.
Experts blame a five-year campaign to enforce rules against U.S. taxpayers hiding money in off-shore accounts, according to The WSJ. The enforcement began after UBS, a Swiss bank, admitted to helping U.S. taxpayers hide their wealth in 2009.
Other Swiss financial institutions are being scrutinized in a U.S. Justice Department program that hopes to uncover more assets in secret accounts.
Unlike other developed nations, the U.S. taxes citizens on income they earn anywhere in the world. The Internal Revenue Service can even reach children born abroad to America parents. Other developed countries do not share the United State's policies, according to The WSJ, and there are only partial breaks given to those who pay taxes in two countries.
American taxpayers using off-shore accounts enjoyed a lax enforcement of these laws for decades, according to The WSJ, but things have gotten tougher since Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act in 2010. The main stipulation of the law took effect in July and requires foreign banking institutions to report the assets of their U.S. clients to the IRS.
