2021, Tax Compliance

Citizenship Renunciations Continue a Trend – Upward in 2020

By · December 19, 2021 · Updated June 3, 2026

The total number of USCs who have renounced annually continues a trend upward; on a moving average basis.

The year 2020 was a record year (by far) of 6,705 total USCs reported by the Treasury to have renounced citizenship. That breaks the prior single year record of 5,409 for the year 2016. The number of USCs who renounced declined in 2019 substantially. Maybe the low reported numbers for the 3rd and 4th quarters for the year 2019 represented a backlog in cases that were not reported by the Treasury until the first two quarters in 2020?

The State Department provides the information to the Treasury who then publishes it publicly pursuant to the law.

I create these charts based upon the raw data and names published quarterly by the Treasury Department.

I will update these numbers through each quarter that is available for the year 2021. Currently that is through the 3rd quarter of 2021.

The type of additional data that would be valuable for those of us who have many cases and study this area of the law and practice are as follows:

  • How many renounced prior to the age of 18?

  • From which country did the USC reside?

  • How many applied specific benefits of a U.S. income tax treaty? The following is a list of the U.S. income tax treaties by country:

I create these charts based upon the raw data and names published quarterly by the Treasury Department. This information can be found online here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/11/15/2021-24726/quarterly-publication-of-individuals-who-have-chosen-to-expatriate

Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen to Expatriate

Patrick W. Martin

Patrick W. Martin

U.S. International Tax Lawyer · Shareholder, Chamberlain Hrdlicka

Patrick W. Martin is a U.S. tax lawyer licensed in California, Texas, and Washington, D.C., with 32+ years advising on the tax consequences of renouncing U.S. citizenship or abandoning lawful permanent residency. He served as lead counsel in Aroeste v. United States, the landmark federal case on green card holders, tax treaties, and the exit tax. Best Lawyers in America® (Tax Law), 2015–2025.

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