Option 1: Spend some $100,000 and get a Dominican citizenship. Renounce your American citizenship. There is ZERO income tax in Dominica and you don't have to pay any.
Option 1: Spend some $400,000 and get a St Kitts - Nevis citizenship. Renounce your American citizenship. There is ZERO income tax in St Kitts - Nevis and you don't have to pay any.
Sadly the process for renouncing your citizenship in the US involves paying an exit tax.
LOL
Is this for real?
yeah, I never understood this, why not just leave and never come back?
Well there is a difference between not paying your taxes and not owing them. If you go to a country which has no extradition to the US then you may be ok without paying your taxes however that doesn't make the tax liability disappear you just become a tax evader. The rest of your life is a long time. What if the extradition status of your new host country changes? What if you want to return to the US to visit a dying relative? Your liability doesn't go away, they can (and will) arrest you if they get the chance. On the other hand if you truly renounce your citizenship which yes it does require paying an "expatriation tax" as insane as that may seem will forever break any future tax liability. It is the difference between not paying what you "owe" and not owing anything to pay. Most people looking to wash their hands of the US are looking to truly wash their hands of the US.
The HEART Act, passed on 17 June 2008, created the new Section 877A, which imposed a substantially different expatriation tax from that of the earlier Section 877.[6] Under the new expatriation tax law, effective for calendar year 2009, "covered expatriates", i.e. those who have a net worth of $2 million, or 5 year average income tax liability exceeding $139,000, are treated as if they had liquidated all of their assets on the date prior to their expatriation. Under this provision, the taxpayer's net gain is computed as if he or she had actually liquidated their assets. Net gain is the difference between the fair market value (theoretical selling price) and the taxpayer's cost basis (actual purchase price). Once net gain is calculated, any net gain greater than $600,000 will be taxed as income in that calendar year. The tax applies whether or not an actual sale is made by the taxpayer, and whether or not the notional gains arise on assets in the taxpayer's home country acquired before immigration to the United States. It is irrelevant that the gains may have partly arisen before the taxpayer moved to the U.S.
Until the expatriation tax is paid a person remains a US citizen (the renouncing is "on hold"). Since the tax is only imposed on those with a net worth of $2M or $139K in annual income taxes it doesn't apply to 99% of Americans, then again most Americans likely lack the resources to renounce their citizenship anyways. Still it can result in some serious tax bills. Say your net worth is $1B and under a liquidate everything today scenario it results in $800M in gains and to make it simple, half of it is long term gains at 20% and the other half short term at 49.7% the taxes due (in cash) for your final US tax year would be $278,800,000. I would assume that since this is Uncle Sam's last bite from the apple, the IRS would go over your finances with a fine tooth comb before signing off on the return.
As for Puerto Rico, they are hardly independent of the US. You may avoid federal taxes (if you live there 183 or more days a year) that could change tomorrow. Puerto Rico is wholly dependent on washington for federal aid. The PR govt would go bankrupt overnight if Washington shutoff the cash pipe. If tomorrow washington demanded PR close the federal tax loophole or they wouldn't get their next $22B check they would in a heartbeat and your tax avoidance system would go up in smoke.
http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2013/03/12/puerto-rico-tax-laws/
