The wait times for the State Department to issue a Certificate of Loss of Nationality (“CLNs”) used to be quite long, based upon the author’s experience with various clients. That has all changed since about the beginning of this year 2023. The author has seen cases that are taking less than 6 weeks from the date of the meeting to take the oath of renunciation before a consular officer.
See a prior post back in 2014: Wide Window of Wait Times for CLN: One Month to 9 Months (or More?)
See another of the author’s posts regarding the CLN (2014): The Importance of a Certificate of Loss of Nationality (“CLN”) and FATCA – Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
Also, in a prior post back in 2014, this author discussed the importance of IRC Section 7701(a)(50): Why Section 7701(a)(50) is so important for those who “relinquished” citizenship years ago (without a CLN). . .
These issues all relate to important timing considerations under the law which can be impacted by how long it takes to receive the CLN:
- When can an individual who has taken the oath of renunciation be able to file IRS Form 8854, Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement?
- When do you measure the values of the assets/liabilities for determining whether the former citizen was a “covered expatriate”?
- What will be the date as set forth in the statute (877A) for calculating the “mark to market” taxable gain (if any):?
- All property of a covered expatriate shall be treated as sold on the day before the expatriation date for its fair market value. (877A(a)(1))
