Does anyone know how to denounce their British Citizenship

[Leaannb]

My 18 yo who is a dual citizen of the UK and US would like to denounce his British citizenship due to tax reasons. Any idea how?

@FelicisNox

So let me get this straight:

You have a solicitor who you will talk to tomorrow, you've already spoken to an accountant re: American tax and they've told you what you need to know plus you have personal experience of this process due to similar career path yet you have chosen to come on MN to post a drip feeding thread (that you can't actually be bothered to read all the responses on before responding yourself), then you argue with posters and complain that people don't understand the situation (no shit Sherlock) when you could simply ask the solicitor tomorrow?

What a complete waste of your time and ours.

I second that. Like most people I voted YABU but not in response to the question as I think it shouldn’t even be in AIBU

Renounce your US citizenship. It’s one of only two countries which tax you regardless of where you live and makes you file every year. It’s a grossly unfair taxation system.

Why are you not eligible for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion? It's $103k and your son is eligible for it too?

Also I would never renounce multiple citizenships, they are difficult to obtain and I would argue that the UK one is more valuable than the US one, especially when it comes to global taxation.

"As far as NHS....For the most part I love it. I jad wonderful care at Addenbrookes. I still pay NI even though the VA provides me with free coverage and I have private insurance. I just wish they get their shit together so other Americans will see that having Goverment insurance is a good thing"

NI is I assume National Insurance. That determines your state pension in the UK. It's nothing to do with health care.

So if you live in the UK you pay UK and USA tax?

@Celestine70 you do because the US tax all citizens regardless of residence. There are double taxation rules but they don’t cover everything and some tax free wrappers like ISAs here aren’t recognised there. I spent many years getting rid of US citizenship for this reason - and they make it deliberately unpleasant to do it.

@JingsMahBucket

And the actual term is renounce not just for politeness either. That’s what the process is called. :)

But denounce is much more fun, dramatic and flouncy

Gosh op you are so rude. I hope you and your son taxed for every penny by both countries. Tax dodgers are disgusting. Even if you “don’t use the nhs” you will still use the nhs resources, like testing centres and hospitals resources (even private doctors work for the nhs at times)

He shouldn’t renounce his uk citizenship. Who knows what the future will hold, he’s only 18. He might well meet and marry a uk guy/gal and want to make his home in the uk. Don’t let him burn his bridges simply because he has to fill in two lots of tax forms, he won’t be taxed twice on the same income as there is a reciprocal agreement between the uk and usa.

Why!!!!!??????
I would rather renounce US and be British !!!!!

This particular child was born at Addenbrookes and is a UK citizen by birth and through me. I really shouldn't have gone shopping that fateful day

Ah the same hospital I worked at where the lives of those American servicemen I mentioned were saved.

So true

@Pinkyxx - OP has told us that there is unearned income in both the UK and the US.
@Yamyamdad OP has already said that the FEE will apply (that is the $103K she mentioned).

The OP's problem is that her son is going to be paying quite a bit more tax as a UK citizen deployed in the UK than he would if he were only a US citizen because he loses the benefit of SOFA and because the effective rate of tax in the UK is much higher than it would be in the US because the US is much more generous with deductions and allowances than the UK is. Also, because he has income in the US, he has to take a decision between paying UK tax on that income or forfeiting his UK personal allowance etc in order to avoid the UK tax on the US unearned income - as that income is about 35k it is likely that the difference in UK tax may be quite marginal here.

[quote Londonmummy66]@Pinkyxx - OP has told us that there is unearned income in both the UK and the US.
@Yamyamdad OP has already said that the FEE will apply (that is the $103K she mentioned).

The OP's problem is that her son is going to be paying quite a bit more tax as a UK citizen deployed in the UK than he would if he were only a US citizen because he loses the benefit of SOFA and because the effective rate of tax in the UK is much higher than it would be in the US because the US is much more generous with deductions and allowances than the UK is. Also, because he has income in the US, he has to take a decision between paying UK tax on that income or forfeiting his UK personal allowance etc in order to avoid the UK tax on the US unearned income - as that income is about 35k it is likely that the difference in UK tax may be quite marginal here.[/quote]
Well that's just tough then, he's moved to a higher tax country. It would have been prudent to check this out before moving!

However I think renouncing Citizenship is quite drastic measure and in some cases unlikely to be reversed permanently, as is the case for the US I believe.

I have Google and keep getting different responses

Whereas posting on an Internet forum means you’ll only get a unanimous reply

@Yamyamdad

Well that's just tough then, he's moved to a higher tax country. It would have been prudent to check this out before moving!

He's not moving here as such, he's being posted here with the US army. Which is a bit different to be fair.

In the nicest possible way, he’s 18. What he thinks he wants now might not be what he wants in a few years time.

I’m sure most 18 year olds think owning a house is a burden

And you view on the nhs is very different to all the other Americans I’ve met living over here. There might be a waiting list but at least I won’t be asked for insurance details before I’m treated. And if I have a life threatening condition, I’ll be seen pretty damn quickly and I won’t have to worry about whether my insurers will pay out. Yeah, US health care system so much better than nhs 🤔

A lot of Americans do think that the whole world wants to be american. That's simply not true.
We are not perfect in Britain but at least we can have an operation or see a doctor if we are seriously ill without worrying about the cost.

We can send our children to school safely and not have to worry about gun violence and whether we will see them after school.
Our government is just as bad though

He shouldn't be in such a rush to give up his British citizenship. He might need / want it as he gets older.