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Record numbers Americans are revoking their citizenship according to figures reported by an accounting firm in New York.
Bambridge Accountants reports that 5,816 people applied for U.S. citizenship in the first half of 2020 – an increase of 1,210 percent over the previous six months in which only 444 cases were recorded.
The first two quarters of 2020 are also running as having the first and second highest figures on record at 2,909 and 2,907 respectively.
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In the whole of 2019, a total of only 2,072 Americans resigned their citizenship.
Bambridge specializes in preparing and filing taxes for expats from the US and UK, particularly those in creative fields such as acting.
The company cites the pandemic as a motivating factor for U.S. expats to cut ties and avoid the current political climate and troubled tax reporting.
Alistair Bambridge, a partner at the company, told CNN: “These are mostly people who have already left the US and just decided they had enough of everything.”
He adds: “What we have seen is that people are talking about everything that is happening to President Donald Trump, how the coronavirus pandemic is being handled, and the political policies in the US at the moment.”
About 9 million Americans live outside the US.
Each year, they are required to file tax returns, and report all of their foreign bank accounts, investments, and pensions.
Mr. Bambridge explains: “The current pandemic has allowed individuals time to test their ties with the US and decide that the current political climate and annual U.S. tax reporting are simply too much to bear.”
On a positive note, those who have retained their citizenship are eligible for all incentive payments authorized by the U.S. government in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked about the impact of the November election on the number of people applying for citizenship, Mr Bambridge said: “If President Trump is re-elected, we believe there will be another wave of people will decide to relinquish their citizenship. “
To relinquish their citizenship, Americans must pay a government fee of $ 2,350, and foreign nationals must do so in person at a U.S. Embassy.
Every three months, the US government publishes the names of those who have given up their citizenship.
Records from the Department of Homeland Security show that in 2018, the year with the most recent data available, 761,901 people were naturalized as U.S. citizens.
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