# IRS: "Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens"



## JustLurking (Mar 25, 2015)

Recently posted by the IRS:

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/int...relief-procedures-for-certain-former-citizens



> *Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens*
> ...
> The IRS announced procedures for certain persons who have relinquished, or intend to relinquish, their United States (U.S.) citizenship and who wish to come into compliance with their U.S. income tax and reporting obligations and avoid being taxed as a “covered expatriate” under section 877A of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code (IRC).
> ...
> ...


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Of particular interest to some, it's possible to enter this program without a Social Security Number - just enter all zeroes. (See FAQ #16 at the link above.)

This thing is still a complete head-scratcher - why on earth does the IRS want to process a bunch of paperwork for which, by definition, it will receive no revenue? But whatever, this might be useful to those who have either renounced already or are thinking about renouncing but are too concerned about potential costs to become compliant.


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## JustLurking (Mar 25, 2015)

Nononymous said:


> This thing is still a complete head-scratcher - why on earth does the IRS want to process a bunch of paperwork for which, by definition, it will receive no revenue?


Indeed. Although I imagine that _most_ of the paperwork the IRS already receives from expats generates no revenue, only processing costs.

Perhaps this new "relief" is a sop to the EU's patchy pushback against FATCA? The EU complains that accidental Americans are treated particularly poorly, even by the low standards of US tax law. With this in place, the US might now try to claim "see, we fixed that -- now continue providing data under FATCA (or else)".


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