ARTICLE · 14 MARCH 2017

Renouncing Your US Citizenship: Is Divorcing Uncle Sam Right For You?

Moodys Private Client Law LLP

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The billionaire co-founder of Facebook, the only American member of Monty Python, a Civil Rights Leader with a Ph.D. from Harvard, the founder of Carnival Cruise Lines and owner of the Miami Heat NBA franchise, . . .

CanadaTax

Alexander Marino

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Introduction

The billionaire co-founder of Facebook, the only American member of Monty Python, a Civil Rights Leader with a Ph.D. from Harvard, the founder of Carnival Cruise Lines and owner of the Miami Heat NBA franchise, and arguably the best chess mind to ever live have more in common than you might think. So what do Eduardo Saverin, Terry Gilliam,¹ W.E.B. Du Bois, Ted Arison, Bobby Fischer and thousands of U.S. citizens living abroad have in common? The answer is all five have renounced their U.S. citizenship. These individuals are not alone, record numbers of U.S. citizens living in Canada and across the world are in the process of renouncing. Why would a country with a seven to ten year wait list to acquire citizenship have so many citizens headed for the exit? The reason is that three letter word no one likes to hear: TAX.

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