Posting this from a throwaway account, because, well, you can never be too careful. Several points, as an American who has lived abroad for most of my life, an

Posting this from a throwaway account, because, well, you can never be too careful. Several points, as an American who has lived abroad for most of my life, and only recently found out about the taxation laws and requirements: * the requirements are Overwhelming. Most people don't realize how bad it gets. It's not about the money (most "normal" Americans living abroad owe no money to the IRS), but about the reporting. Every bank account, every stock you own or owned within the last several years, every company you started, and guess what — even if you own 15% of an LLC, that is considered a "controlled company", so all of its financials are to be reported. It's insane! * it's not work you can easily shift to an accountant. Oh, you do have to hire one, because there is no way a US citizen can do his own taxes (in contrast to most EU countries, for example), but you still have to prepare all the information. Ever tried to report interest (accrued monthly) on six bank accounts, in three currencies, over the past 6 years? * the benefits of being an American: frankly, I can hardly name any these days. I guess the ability to work in the US counts as one. * it used to be that having US citizenship would be a dream, especially for people in former Eastern European post-soviet countries. But this is no longer the case. These days being a citizen of one of the EU countries gives you much more benefits and earns you much less hate abroad. The problem with taxation of expats is very, very serious, and as others have mentioned it is unlikely to be resolved, because there is no organized lobby. The real tax-evaders don't have this problem: it's "normal" people who do.