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I'm an "accidental American" who has navigated this issue and it's incredibly easy. Just don't file. Every professional that writes blogs about this has a profe
by hnthrwy1111 5y ago
I'm an "accidental American" who has navigated this issue and it's incredibly easy. Just don't file. Every professional that writes blogs about this has a professional duty to give legal advice but the practical advice is just don't file. Look into what exactly triggers data to be sent to the IRS under your tax treaty and the policies of your financial institutions. Being "accidental" is the key here. If you tell your bank you aren't an American and you have a non-American birthplace and birth certificate they have absolutely zero way of knowing and your information will not be sent. If you have an American birthplace you can lie and say you renounced, but this carries some risk as the IRS maliciously publishes lists of renouncers so it's possible they could guess you lied. FATCA and FBAR are egregious violations of your rights. Not even the NSA has the right to spy on Americans abroad, but the IRS can do dragnet surveillance on American financial data from foreign countries with no probable cause and no warrants. You have a duty not to comply.
- alephnan 5y ago> You have a duty not to comply. If you're making income in America, you owe US tax taxes. If you are a permanent resident of the United States, you owe US taxes. Whether the IRS is using mafia tactics or not, what you are describing is tax evasion. There are legal ways to minimize your tax burden, but this is horrible advise.
- vgatherps 5y agoThis comment isn't about somebody living in America. This is about somebody who doesn't live in america, has never lived there, doesn't have a passport, but are considered "american" by the IRS - somebody born in the USA to non-citizen parents while traveling for example.
- Chris2048 5y agoAnd if you are not a permanent resident of the United States, making no income in America?
- hnthrwy1111 5y agoIn my case as an accidental American I was not born in the US, I have never lived in the US, I have never worked in the US, I receive no benefits from the US, I was ineligible for the covid stimulus, I am unable to vote in US elections. It's comical to categorize my refusal to participate in this scam as tax evasion. I don't live in the US, I live in a supposedly sovereign nation. Just as Americans pointed out the absurdity of China's new laws that target foreign HK dissidents extraterritorial overreach should always be seen as the joke that it is.
- boulos 5y agoCan you clarify how you are an accidental American? E.g., were you born on a US base in another country?
- pitaj 5y agoWikipedia says [1]: > U.S. law also states that a child born outside of the U.S to a U.S. citizen parent who previously spent sufficient time in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen at birth, regardless of whether the child also has the citizenship of the country of birth or another citizenship. U.S. citizens married to fellow U.S. citizens can transmit U.S. citizenship to their children if either parent has ever had a residence in the United States (without any minimum time limitation on how long they held that residence.) However, for U.S. citizens married to non-U.S. citizens, the required period of residence is longer; under the Nationality Act of 1940 and the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, the required period of residence was set to ten years, five of which had to be after the age of 14. The Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1986 reduced this to five years, two of which had to be after the age of 14. So you're automatically a citizen if you're born in the USA, if both of your parents are citizens (and at least one has resided in the USA), or if either of your parents is a citizen and lived in the USA for 5 years (2 of which after the age of 14). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_American https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accidental_American
- seanc 5y agoI'm a US expat living in Canada, and a parent of Canadian children. They are eligible for US citizenship, but don't become US citizens unless I go through a procedure to register them as such.
- someguydave 5y agoI would not plan on transiting the US for life if I were you though
- globular-toast 5y agoDo you ever travel in the US? Do you hold a US passport?
- ihattendorf 5y agoAnd then you slip up, the IRS finds out, and on a connecting flight on your way to another country you get arrested for tax evasion.
- bingohbangoh 5y agoIt's a misdemeanor to not file, its a felony to lie when you do file. Ergo, they can't call Interpol to get you for not filing. (correct me if you're a tax accountant, but I'm 99.999% positive on that first statement and 80% confident on the second)
- ihattendorf 5y agoNot a tax accountant, but while just failing to file is a misdemeanor, if you actually owed money and it can be shown that you willfully attempted to evade paying taxes owed, that's a felony (I.R.C. § 7201). Now, chances are they don't find out, or if they do you can play innocent and pay a fine. Personally, if I were in this situation I would either file, renounce, or never set foot on US soil.
- bingohbangoh 5y agoIt’s difficult to renounce and you never know if being in the US may become necessary. People who renounce their American citizenship do so with the funds to overcome this or because they’re committed to living somewhere else.
- emodendroket 5y agoNot that I think it's good advice but it is very rare for connecting flights to go through the US, since it requires everybody to go through immigration even if they're not staying in the US.
- Klonoar 5y agoEh, it's not as rare as you'd think - there's literature on how to avoid it: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Avoiding_travel_through_the_United_States https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Avoiding_travel_through_the_U...
- zz865 5y agoAsk John McAfee how not filing turned out.
- wil421 5y agoWhy complain? Renounce your citizenship and get over it.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]