Posted: 3:39 am
July 3, 2008
HERE'S a Yankee Doodle Doozy of an idea from the taxman: if you've had enough of the United States and choose to renounce your citizenship, you will now have to give up a large chunk of your assets.
The same new tax also will hit foreigners who are living and working in this country legally - with a so-called green card - once they decide to return home.
In fact, anyone who has $600,000 in assets and a lust for becoming a citizen of France, Italy or maybe an island in the Pacific should take note of this one.
Thanks can be given to a bill that passed Congress recently and was quietly signed by President Bush two weeks ago.
Called the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Act of 2008 (the HEART bill, for short), the main part of the new law deservedly gives benefits to soldiers. But the last part of the bill, under "revenue provisions," sticks it to anyone who no longer wants to live the American dream.
A hot button topic in recent years has been the fight against immigrants trying to get into this country. This bill now takes a hard line against emigrants - people trying to get out.
Consider the tax an exit fee.
Tomorrow, of course, is Independence Day, so I'm not, by any means, going to advocate that people should leave the US, no matter how difficult the economy might be right now or how intemperate the weather might become at times.
But just in case you have ever entertained that idea, Congress has just made it wise for you to reconsider.
"This marks a dramatic shift in policy," said John Olivieri, a tax partner with New York law firm White & Case LLP. "This is a further extension of the US tax net."
The new law, bill JCX-44-8, reads like this: "In general, the provision imposes tax on certain US citizens who relinquish their US citizenship and certain long-term US residents who terminate their US residency. Such individuals are subject to income tax on the net unrealized gain in their property as if the property had been sold for its fair market value."
