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  1. @MG,

    First things first. If your filing deadline is approaching, that means your filing deadline is June 15. Go file Form 4868 immediately to buy some extra time (until October 15). Maybe the State Department will send you the CLN by then.

    Absolutely do not let the deadline pass by for filing Form 8854 on time — even if the State Department is sitting on its thumbs and not delivering your CLN. You need an expatriation date. Report it on your Form 8854, even if you didn’t get the paperwork from the State Department confirming it.

    As a general principle, if you are contacted by the Embassy after your renunciation oath is taken and they say ANYTHING at all about the paperwork and asking you to fix things, you should scramble the B-52s and mobilize all of the divisions. They are likely to screw up your renunciation date by “fixing” the problem and then setting the date for loss of nationality to the new, later “Oh, now I fixed it!” date — NOT the date that you stood in front of the flag in the Embassy and swore the oath. You can imagine what happens to your carefully laid plans when the CLN comes with an expatriation date that is several months later than you expected — maybe in the year after you renounced.

  2. I have a question regarding the certificate of citizenship. What is the formality of sending the Form 8854 if I have not received the certification of loss of citizenship? Do I send the 8854 with the renunciation certificate only? Do I send the 8854 without that? Should I keep waiting until the certification of loss of citizenship arrive? The deadline for the 1040 is coming up.
    Thanks!

  3. @Kevyn,

    As a practical matter I think the IRS respects the earlier year of expatriation. At least, that is what I have seen in practice. The government would be hard-pressed to say “Yes, I know the State Department says you ceased to be a citizen in 1974 but you continued to be taxable in the USA until 2015.” That is a nonsensical result, and I think even a politician would blush with shame if the government took that position.

  4. Great article. Next question: What if the individual relinquished citizenship indirectly (not by a direct renunciation). Suppose he accepted foreign citizenship many years ago, with an intent to renounce? State has been issuing CLNs with retroactive dates (often back to the 60s and 70s).

    The “earlier of” test yields a tax-effective date with the issuance of the CLN!

  5. Time Travel … 877A(g)(4)(a) versus (c). I’m tax, not immigration … but could it be that (c) is required because a CLN might be issued without (A) being completed by the individual ? I guess that means I agree with Eric’s comment. (Immigration learns individual performed an expatriation act and issues, without the individual doing anything, a CLN.)

    Fat Lady … 877A(g)(4) … “Subparagraph (A) or (B) shall not apply ….” I don’t read that the date is determined by CLN. By example … I go to the consulate on Jan 3/15 and renounce – that is my expat date per (A). It is later confirmed by me receiving a CLN. OR … immigration denies my renunciation (I don’t even know if they can do that) and in that case, I didn’t relinquish per code. This sentence doesn’t say the CLN must be issued, it says, the act must be “subsequently approved.”

    So in the example you are utilizing, the individual should have filed 8854 in 2013, at least in my judgement (and while you don’t seem to come to the same conclusion, it appears you would file in 2013 anyway, as a protective measure.)

    PS, love your carefree writing style and in this case in particular, your disclaimer. Keep on writing.

  6. Re: 877A(g)(4)(C) time travel, I’d guess it’s for the folks to whom the “administrative presumption” of intent to retain citizenship (22 CFR 50.40) doesn’t apply. The State Department can infer intent & develop an independent loss-of-nationality case against them without a signed statement of intent to relinquish from the person.

    Typically that means someone who took “policy-level employment” with a foreign government, though according to 7 FAM 1280, they only really do that these days for heads of state/government, not us ordinary mortals. One apparent example: Keith Mitchell said in 2008 that the State Department issued him a CLN in 2001 stating that he lost US citizenship in 1995 by becoming Prime Minister of Grenada.
    http://www.grenadianconnection.com/Grenada/ViewNews.asp?NID=6311&CID=15008&TC=710&EP=571&yr=2008&Cat=0000

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