edit: I managed to delete my original post. yikes.


I haven't filed any sort of US tax return for something like 20 years, and doing this myself seems completely overwhelming. There appears to be this 'Streamlined Filing` business which allows one to catch up with unfiled taxes from years past, but the language used in the instructions for that is something that resembles english but to me at least is not comprehensible.

Without getting taxes in oder it seems from what I've read that the renouncing bit would be much more difficult. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows. This stuff is not easy to figure out. I'm pretty set on Expatriating, there's no reason for me to keep my US citizenship at this point.


I only make about 45k/year, so I'm looking for some sort of tax advisor that wouldn't cost an arm and a leg to help me out getting this stuff in order. Does anyone have any ideas?


Hoo boy bureaucracy is fun.


thanks

I always did my taxes myself, and had no problems renouncing.

Tom

I’ve heard, but am not entirely sure that these are two separate processes. Renouncing is one step, and taxes are another. So you can renounce, and then deal with the tax aspect. There is a group on FB called “American expatriates”. They might be able to provide a referral.

OP - There are a number of threads here asking for recommendations for U.S. tax professionals. Have a look through those.

You probably have two issues to deal with:
1 - filing back taxes, which I think only needs to be done for the most recent 5 years, and
2 - filing back FBARs if you've had any bank account with a balance at or over the equivalent of 10k USD

Two links that may help as you start your research:
https://onlinetaxman.com/us-citizenship-renunciation/

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/inte...ormer-citizens

Probably the best thing at this point is to stay low for another 20 years and keep your US citizenship. Trump has seen to it that the Feds will probably never find you out.
But seriously, if you feel like coming clean then try https://www.greenbacktaxservices.com/

By the way. more important is to declare your non US accounts, more then anything else.

You do have another passport, don’t you?

It was in the original post, which the OP managed to accidentally delete. OP is also a Swiss citizen.

last week I read: one has to do FBARs of all accounts if the total of accounts is equal to 10k. (I read it on a site of "common FBAR mistakes")

yea, I'm a Swiss citizen too, so losing US citizenship wouldn't be disastrous, at all, really.



The whole reason I want out, which I originally wrote out, but probably got deleted in my misguided edit of the original post, is that as long as I am associated with the good ole US of A I cannot open an investment account of any sort here. I'd need to look into more 'Dritte Säule' stuff, but my impression from the few that I had looked at was that they preferred their customers not be be US citizens (I remember looking at VIAC, and reading something along those lines.)



I definately can't just put money into index funds, stocks, or anything like that. Not using a Swiss or Europe based firm (TrueWealth or DeGiro or similar). For that, I'd have to go through a US firm, which I suppose is what others in my situation would do in order not to give up that good old passport.



It just feels so wrong to send my hard earned swiss franks back into the maw of the US financial system, which I am so happy not to be a part of, and then wind up paying whatever taxes on it to a nation with which I barely have a connection (legal notwithstanding.)





Anyway, so no, I don't really want to languish for years in this nomansland of un-bankedness.



I suppose I could look into what an FBAR is, although I currently definately don't have over 10k anywhere, I might have had that or a bit more a few years ago.


The whole reason I actually started back up this path of renouciation (again, this isn't the first time I've tried.. sigh) is I might come into 10-15k this coming year and want to put it someplace sensible. And that seems kinda hard in my current situation.

The actual FBAR figure is an aggregate of all your foreign, i.e. not US, bank accounts if that aggregate comes to more than $10k at any time of the year. What this entails is detailing each and every one of these accounts on the electronic FBAR form.

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small...-accounts-fbar