When U.S. citizens denounce their country it currently costs them $450.00. With a record number of citizens living abroad and opting out of being a U.S. citizen the U.S. State Department announced it’s going to cost them more.

The current fee of $450.00 will go up more than five times that amount on September 12. Last year nearly 3,000 citizens cut their ties with the United States, a record number, and it looks like 2014 will exceed that. The fee increase is due to the record number of renunciations and the services provided that are needed for paperwork.

Why the record number of people leaving the country? Many work full time overseas and now consider it home, but many are trying to escape paying taxes. Five years ago the government began to track down on tax evasion by American’s who are hiding money abroad and with high collections, more than $6 billion so far, many are leaving the country for good.

blogs.wsj.com

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