Section references are to the Internal Revenue Code unless otherwise noted.
Use Form 8854, if you expatriate, to provide the information required by section 6039G. These reporting requirements are explained
in further
detail in Section IX of Notice 97-19, 1997-1 C.B. 394. You can find Notice 97-19 on page 40 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 1997-10
at
www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb97-10.pdf.
Form 8854 serves only to satisfy the initial information reporting requirement of section 6039G. A former U.S. citizen or a former U.S.
long-term resident is still required to:
- Compute any tax due under section 877 (including the recognition of gain in the circumstances described in Section V of Notice
97-19).
- Provide an annual information reporting (Section VII of Notice 97-19).
For purposes of this form, expatriation is ceasing to be a U.S. citizen or U.S. long-term resident.
Generally, you must continue to pay U.S. income tax, as if expatriation did not occur, for 10 years after expatriation unless
tax avoidance was not
one of your principal purposes of expatriating. You will generally be treated as having a principal purpose of tax avoidance if the answer
to the question on line 8 or line 9 in Part I is “Yes”. However, you will not be presumed to have a principal purpose of tax avoidance
if you submit a ruling request to the IRS to determine whether tax avoidance is a principal purpose of your expatriation.
See the instructions for
Part I, line 10, to find out if you are eligible to submit a ruling request.
You must file Form 8854 if any of the following occurs.
- You renounce your U.S. citizenship before a diplomatic or consular officer of the United States,
- You furnish to the U.S. Department of State a signed statement of voluntary relinquishment of U.S. nationality confirming
an act of
expatriation,
- The U.S. Department of State issues you a certificate of loss of U.S. nationality, or
- A U.S. Federal court cancels your certificate of naturalization.
Former U.S. Long-Term Residents (LTRs)
You must file Form 8854 if you become a former U.S. LTR. You are a former U.S. LTR if you were not a U.S. citizen but were a lawful
permanent resident of the United States (defined on this page) for at least 8 of the 15 consecutive tax years ending with
the year you ceased to be a
U.S. resident. Do not count as a year of residence any year that you were treated as a resident of another country under a
tax treaty and did not
waive treaty benefits.
Lawful permanent resident.
You are a lawful permanent resident of the United States if you have been given the privilege, according to U.S. Immigration
laws, of residing
permanently in the United States as an immigrant. You generally have this status if the Immigration and Naturalization Service
has issued you an alien
registration card, also known as a “
green card.”
Note:
File Form 8854 only once.
File Form 8854 no later than the earliest date that any of the events listed under Who Must File occurs.
File Form 8854 by the due date (including extensions) of your dual-status income tax return for the year you expatriate.
File Form 8854 with the American Citizens Services Unit, Consular Section, of the nearest American Embassy or consulate. However,
if you are filing
Form 8854 because a U.S. Federal court canceled your certificate of naturalization, file Form 8854 with that court.
Attach Form 8854 to your dual-status income tax return for the year in which you ceased to be a U.S. resident. If you have
already filed that
return, file Form 8854 by itself at the address where you filed the return. For details on dual-status returns, see the instructions
for Form 1040NR.
Penalty for Failure To File
You may be assessed a penalty for each year of the 10-year period beginning on the date of expatriation that you have not
yet filed Form 8854. For
each of those years, the penalty is the greater of:
