Media: former Americans filed class-action lawsuit, hoping to return money for renouncing citizenship
Former US citizens who have renounced their citizenship have launched a class-action lawsuit suing the US government for what they argue are exorbitant costs of relinquishing their passport, RIA Novosti reports
For some former citizens, the cost of giving up this status has long been high, NBC reported. “Now many of them want their money back, filing a class-action lawsuit to try to get the money back,” NBC indicated.
Currently, to renounce American citizenship, it’s necessary to pay $2,350. On Monday, the US State Department announced that this amount would soon be reduced to $450. Against this background, former Americans filed a lawsuit against the US authorities in order to return at least part of the high amounts they had already paid.
Even if an American citizen does not live in the United States, they are required to pay taxes to the country’s treasury. It is for this reason that a record number of Americans living abroad are renouncing their citizenship, the TV channel noted.
According to NBC, from January to June of this year alone, 1,300 people renounced their American citizenship.
