Comments by "dlukton" (@dlukton) on "Citizenship in a Changing World" video.

  1. The fee to renounce is about $2300. Then, you've got to pay taxes on unrealized capital gains (although the first $750K in unrealized gains is exempt); and you've got to pay taxes on you IRA accounts. That's about it, I think.
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  2.  @maverickcapitalist1  I'm not sure exactly what you're getting at, but it seems to me that the only people who should consider renouncing are those who are able to generate a good income without having to be physically present in the US. If a person has assets having a large value ($10-20 million, let's say), he COULD, if he wanted to, invest it in such a way that it would throw off only small amounts in capital gains and/or dividends and/or rental income. In such a case.... and given tax laws as they are..... there would little benefit in renouncing. On the other hand, if he WANTS to invest or trade so as to throw off a large amount of capital gains...... or if the tax laws of the US were to become highly unfavorable for those who have capital.... then renunciation could make financial sense.
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  3.  @bodyloverz30  As I posted in an earlier comment, I don't understand the "ins and outs" of the laws of territorial tax countries. I'm pretty sure that some of them impose a tax on remittances; so if you take money out of an offshore company (and import it into your country of residence), you might have to pay tax on it. And if you DON'T take the money out, the IRS will tax your corporate profits. You shouldn't be too certain that you know what a given government will regard as "foreign-sourced income", absent consultation with a tax expert.
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  4.  @bodyloverz30  Depends on one's federal tax obligation. Mine isn't nearly high enough to justify renouncing. Regarding the FEIE, one can exclude $107K from federal taxation.... and that's great if you're living in a country with no income tax; but I don't understand the tax laws of territorial tax countries well enough to know how easy it is for US citizens to avoid taxation by the host country (when the host country is a territorial tax country like Panama).
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  5.  @bodyloverz30  Which ones of those would YOU want to live in (other than Monaco, which is absurdly expensive)...?
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  6.  @bodyloverz30  The Dominican Republic is quite a long way from being a zero tax country.
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