Are there advantages or not?

[Reboot]

I'd really like to have dual citizenship. Or even a third country. There are plenty of benefits. Earn money somewhere without income tax. Buy somewhere without VAT or sales. And so on. Plus there's the advantage of having an additional passport in case things go south in the US, as they surely seem to be.

But there are better passports than the Ph. I can possibly acquire Spanish citizenship (and although American born, Cuban law still considers me a national because of parentage). 

Let me just say that there's plenty of reasons to want to renounce US citizenship. It's the only country in the world with a universal tax on anything you earn, anywhere you are. That's not just corporate. It's personal. So I could leave, open up a tire shop in Costa Rica, earn and pay tax exclusively there, and the IRS will try to rape me if I come back and visit. And that makes foreign banks hate dealing with us, since the US is the nexus of the international financial system, and they have to comply and snitch on us to participate...although it's possible a second citizenship might allow you to skirt that (but I don't know).

So if you're an ex-pat doing very well in business abroad, renouncing US citizenship might appear attractive--and more and more Americans are doing it every year.

I've heard of people who were born in the US, moved to Canada as infants, came back to visit decades later, and got nailed on tax for an entire lifetime's earnings by the rapacious vultures.  That's no system I feel obliged to pledge allegiance to...although I love and am loyal to the people, the country, and the principles it was founded upon. But that's slavery by another name.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Reboot

[Reboot]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/05/06/many-americans-renounce-citizenship-even-before-president-trump/#5d5f50eb2b66

"It seems crazy to call it the ‘New Normal’, but once again, record numbers of Americans are renouncing citizenship. Every three months, the Treasury Department publicly names individuals who renounced. It is surely more about FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act enacted in 2010,  than it is about politics. "

 

 

 

Edited September 12, 2016 by Reboot

[JJReyes]

33 minutes ago, Reboot said:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2016/05/06/many-americans-renounce-citizenship-even-before-president-trump/#5d5f50eb2b66

"It seems crazy to call it the ‘New Normal’, but once again, record numbers of Americans are renouncing citizenship. Every three months, the Treasury Department publicly names individuals who renounced. It is surely more about FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act enacted in 2010,  than it is about politics. "

 

 

 

Years ago, an extremely wealthy tycoon tried to get several promising American basketball players to renounce their US citizenship and become Pilipinos. This would permit them to play for the Philippine team in international competition. Representatives from the US Embassy talked them out of it by explaining the consequences of renouncing their US citizenship.

There are several tax haven countries offering citizenship to very wealthy individuals. Some Americans with a net worth of over $100 million accepted, only to regret it later on. Once you renounce US citizenship, it is extremely difficult to reverse the process. 

[JJReyes]

54 minutes ago, Reboot said:

I'd really like to have dual citizenship. Or even a third country. There are plenty of benefits. Earn money somewhere without income tax. Buy somewhere without VAT or sales. And so on. Plus there's the advantage of having an additional passport in case things go south in the US, as they surely seem to be.

I have met several rich individuals who have no tax jurisdiction. One strategy is never to stay in a particular country more than 180 days in a single calendar year. The IRS can tax global income if the individual was in the United States for 180 plus 1 day, even if the person was here as a visitor. 

Unless they have changed the tax rules, my recollection is Australians who earn their living outside of Australia don't have to pay income tax on the money. The reason is to avoid double taxation. A close friend is Chinese Filipino who became an Australian citizen and worked in Taiwan as in-country representative of a US major corporation whose Asian subsidiary was domiciled in Hong Kong. He pays no personal income tax.

 

 

 

[JJReyes]

1 hour ago, Gratefuled said:

NEVER will I ever renounce my allegiance to the United ates of America.

I am just trying to answer a "what if" question, not suggesting a course of action.

[Dave Hounddriver]

2 hours ago, robert k said:

They would love to buy a property and develop it.

But does a naturalized citizen have the right to buy land in Philippines.  I thought you had to be a "natural born" citizen to aquire.

[Gratefuled]

2 hours ago, robert k said:

Some people with money would jump at the chance

 I don't have money to invest in the Philippines. So, I guess I won't be jumping. 

[robert k]

26 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

But does a naturalized citizen have the right to buy land in Philippines.  I thought you had to be a "natural born" citizen to aquire.

Is not one of the requirements to become a naturalized citizen that you do own property? It would be kind of tough for them to deny you one of the requirements?

[Dave Hounddriver]

21 minutes ago, robert k said:

Is not one of the requirements to become a naturalized citizen that you do own property? It would be kind of tough for them to deny you one of the requirements?

I've seen that discussed before and, if memory serve, they consider a condo, (which foreigners are allowed to own), to be property and they may consider the foreigner's name on his wife's title to be owning property.

But think about what you just wrote.  Foreigners cannot own property.  Foreigners cannot apply for citizenship without owning property.  Thus to take your comments to their logical conclusion, it is not possible for foreigners to become citizens.  Thats Catch 22.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Dave Hounddriver

[robert k]

2 minutes ago, Dave Hounddriver said:

I've seen that discussed before and, if memory serve, they consider a condo to be property and they may consider the foreigner's name on his wife's title to be owning property.

But think about what you just wrote.  Foreigners cannot own property.  Foreigners cannot apply for citizenship without owning property.  Thus to take your comments to their logical conclusion, it is not possible for foreigners to become citizens.  Thats Catch 22.

Not necessarily, if you owned a condo then applied.

I would expect that the foreigners name on the "wife's" title would be worthless though.

Edited September 12, 2016 by robert k