Taxpayers no longer.

• Author: Slade, Stephanie
• Position: Renunciations on the rise - Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 - Brief article

Some 776 American citizens or long-time residents renounced their status in the third quarter of 2014, according to the Treasury Department. If that trend continues, the U.S. will see more than 3,000 renunciations this year--a record.

Why are so many Americans forfeiting their citizenship? In 2010, Congress passed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a law designed to make it easier for the U.S. to collect taxes on assets and accounts Americans hold overseas. This is unusual; the United States is one of only two nations that taxes income earned outside its borders. (The...