Hi, I'm Dennis Prager. I'm a former IRS trial attorney and a California State Bar certified tax specialist. This is just one in a series of videos designed to give answers to the questions that my clients frequently ask. U.S. citizens and green card holders are taxed on their worldwide income. This means it doesn't matter where you live or where you earn the money. As our tax attorneys often point out, if you hold a green card or are a naturalized US citizen or a citizen by birth, you must pay tax in the United States. You must file foreign bank account reports, which are the so-called F bars, and you must file all tax documents with the IRS. Willful failure to do so can result in criminal tax charges and/or civil tax fraud penalties. Many U.S. citizens and green card holders are deciding to expatriate to avoid those types of tax problems. I'm going to use the term expatriation today to include not only the process of giving up your US citizenship, but also apply it to those individuals who are green card holders and decide to terminate that status. In 2015, according to the Treasury Department, almost 4,300 persons either gave up their US citizenship or their green cards. In 2016, that number jumped to 5,411, a 26 percent increase over 2015. Some people believe that the statistics published by the Treasury Department are understated since they are lower than FBI statistics. Whatever the exact number, many US persons are giving up their US connections for a variety of reasons. Those reasons often include a desire to save on taxes. But unfortunately, it's not that simple. An individual can seem to be a citizen or a green card holder under the pertinent provisions of the Immigration and...
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Video instructions and help with filling out and completing Can Form 8854 Compliant
