See Expatriate Graph "Re-Clarified" for a correction to this post.
It has been brought to my attention that my graph of expatriate individuals is misleading.
My graph only includes the number of expatriates that have been listed in the Federal Register. Only certain expatiates are listed in the Federal Register.
Only individuals to whom Code §877 (pre-June 17, 2008) or 877A (post-June 16, 2008) applies are listed in the Federal Register. Therefore, the graph does not include ALL individuals that have renounced their U.S. citizenship or long term permanent residency. This fact should have been explicitly indicated.
Code §877 or 877A applies to individuals that:.
- have a net worth of $2,000,000 on the date of expatriation,
- have an average annual net income tax for the period of 5 years ending before the date of the loss of citizenship/permanent residency of more than $124,000 (the amount is annually adjusted for inflation and the amount for 2011 is $147,000), or
- do not certify to the I.R.S. that they have met their U.S. tax obligations for the 5 preceding taxable years.
Therefore, in general, only individuals that meet certain asset or income thresholds are included in the graph. Some might say that only “wealthy” individuals who have expatriated are included.
I apologize if any readers have been mislead. For future graphs of expatriates, I will make sure that this distinction is clear.
