US cuts down 80% fee for renouncing American citizenship

The United States is going to reduce the 80% fee for citizens who want to formally renounce their American citizenship. The fee will fall from $2,350 to $450 starting April 13, as per reports.

The new fee will fall from $2,350 to $450 which comes into effect from April. It delivers a promise that was made in 2023 which had not been implemented yet. This change made the fee to the same amount as when the State Department first began charging for formal renunciation in 2010.

 The first time fee was raised from $450 to $2,350 in 2015 with the purpose to cover the administrative expenses as the number of people wanting to renounce their citizenship increased due to new US tax reporting requirements.

The new tax policy says that the United States taxes its citizens based on nationality rather than place of residence. This means Americans living abroad must still report their income to the US governments.

That fee increase also drew significant opposition from groups which represent people mainly living abroad whose US citizenship is due to them having been born in the United States. Those associations filed several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the fee. 

Renouncing US citizenship is an intensive process where applicants must repeatedly confirm, through multiple written and verbal proof to a State Department consular officer, their full understanding of the implications before they are permitted to take a formal oath of renunciation. This oath then undergoes departmental review.