A staggering number of Americans residing abroad are tempted to give up their U.S. passports in the wake of tougher asset-disclosure rules under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), according to a new survey. The survey by financial consultancy deVere Group asked expatriate Americans around the world "Would you consider voluntarily relinquishing your U.S. citizenship due to the impact of FATCA?"
Seventy-three percent of respondents answered that they had "actively considered it", "are thinking about it" or "have explored the options of it." But 16 percent said they would not consider relinquishing their U.S. citizenship, and 11 percent did not know. The survey carried out in September 2014 polled almost 420 Americans living in Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, Japan, India, UK, UAE and South Africa. FATCA, which came into effect on July 1, requires foreign banks, investment funds and insurers to hand over information to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) about accounts with more than $50,000 held by Americans. The tax law is intended to detect tax evasion by U.S. citizens via assets and accounts held offshore.
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-- Ansuya Harjani, CNBC
