How Do I Renounce My US Citizenship? Fees, Forms, and Exit Tax

To renounce your U.S. citizenship, you travel to a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad, sit for two interviews with a consular officer, sign a formal oath of renunciation and supporting State Department forms, and pay a $450 processing fee. That fee, effective April 13, 2026, replaced the $2,350 charge that had been in place since 2015.¹ The paperwork and appointment are the straightforward part. The tax consequences, which run on a parallel track through the IRS, are where the real money and complexity live.

Who Can Renounce

Federal law imposes three conditions. You must appear in person before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer, you must be physically in a foreign country, and you must act voluntarily with the specific intent to give up your nationality.² Renunciation by mail, online, or through a representative is not possible.³

The statute sets no minimum age, but the State Department presumes anyone under 16 lacks the maturity to make the decision knowingly. A minor between 16 and 18 can renounce, though consular officers look hard at whether the choice is genuinely the minor’s own, and parents cannot renounce on a child’s behalf. Someone who renounces as a minor can reclaim citizenship by notifying the State Department within six months of turning 18.³

If the consular officer detects coercion, duress, or a lack of mental capacity to grasp what renunciation means, the request will be refused.

The Two-Interview Process

Renunciation takes two appointments at the embassy or consulate, at least one of them in person.⁴ You book them through the post’s American Citizen Services unit. Wait times vary by location and can run several months.

At the first meeting the consular officer confirms your identity, hears your reasons, and walks you through what you are giving up. You review the Statement of Understanding, receive the forms, and leave to complete them. The interval between the two appointments is deliberate: it gives you time to reconsider.

The second meeting is the formal one. The officer reviews your completed paperwork, asks again whether you are acting voluntarily, and administers the oath of renunciation. You sign in the officer’s presence, and the embassy takes and cancels your U.S. passport.

The file then goes to the State Department in Washington for final review. You remain a U.S. citizen — with every tax and legal obligation intact — until Washington signs and issues your Certificate of Loss of Nationality. That review can take weeks or months.⁴

Forms and Documents You Will Need

The State Department uses a numbered series of forms for renunciation. Most can be downloaded from the Bureau of Consular Affairs website, and any missing ones are provided at the appointment.

DS-4079, Questionnaire — Loss of United States Nationality, which collects biographical and residence history and asks whether you have performed acts, such as foreign military service or holding foreign government office, that could affect your nationality.⁵
DS-4080, Oath of Renunciation, signed in the consular officer’s presence.⁶
DS-4081, Statement of Understanding, confirming you understand the consequences, including loss of the right to vote, to hold a U.S. passport, and to receive consular protection abroad.⁶
DS-4082, Witnesses’ Attestation, signed by witnesses present at the oath ceremony.⁷
DS-4083, Certificate of Loss of Nationality, completed by the consular officer and, once signed in Washington, your official proof of expatriation.⁸

Bring your current U.S. passport, your birth certificate or naturalization certificate, and evidence of any other citizenship you hold. The State Department strongly encourages proof of another nationality so that you do not become stateless. Renouncing without another citizenship is not prohibited, but it means no country is obligated to let you reside there or offer consular protection, and consular officers will press you on that point.

The $450 Fee

As of April 13, 2026, the processing fee is $450, reduced from $2,350.¹ Payment is due at the consular appointment and is nonrefundable, regardless of whether Washington ultimately approves your request.

The Tax Side: Form 8854 and the Exit Tax

Separate from the State Department process, the IRS requires you to file Form 8854, the Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement. The form does two things: it certifies that you have met all federal tax obligations for the five years before expatriation, and it determines whether you are a “covered expatriate” who owes an exit tax.⁹

Who Counts as a Covered Expatriate

You are a covered expatriate if you meet any one of three tests on the date you renounce:

Net worth test: your worldwide assets total $2 million or more.⁹
Tax liability test: your average annual net income tax for the five prior years exceeds $211,000, the 2026 inflation-adjusted threshold.¹⁰
Compliance test: you cannot certify on Form 8854 that you have complied with all federal tax obligations for the preceding five years.⁹

The third test catches people who assume their modest income keeps them safe. A missed return, unpaid back taxes, or a skipped FBAR blocks the certification and makes you a covered expatriate automatically, no matter what your net worth looks like.

How the Exit Tax Is Calculated

The exit tax treats all your property as if you sold it the day before you renounce.¹¹ Any unrealized gain — the spread between what you paid and current fair market value — becomes taxable income. For 2026, the first $910,000 of gain is excluded.¹⁰ Anything above that is taxed at regular capital gains rates. For someone with a long-held home, appreciated investments, or a business, the bill can be significant.

Renouncing does not erase taxes you already owe, and the interaction with deferred compensation and retirement accounts is intricate enough that professional tax advice is worth its cost.

Two Narrow Exceptions

Two exceptions can spare you from covered expatriate status even if you exceed the wealth or tax thresholds. If you were a dual citizen from birth, remain a citizen and tax resident of that other country, and have not been a U.S. resident for more than 10 of the 15 tax years before expatriation, the net worth and tax liability tests do not apply. A parallel exception exists if you renounce before age 18½ and have been a U.S. resident for fewer than 10 tax years.¹¹ Neither exception excuses the five-year compliance certification.

Your Name Is Published

The IRS publishes the names of everyone who renounced citizenship or ended long-term permanent residency each quarter in the Federal Register, within 30 days of the quarter’s close.¹² Only names appear, not reasons or financial figures. The publication is statutory and cannot be opted out of.

What Ends the Day the Certificate Issues

Once the Certificate of Loss of Nationality is approved, you lose the right to live or work in the United States without a visa, to vote in U.S. elections, to hold a U.S. passport, and to receive U.S. consular protection abroad. You can no longer transmit U.S. citizenship to children born outside the country, and federal benefits tied to citizenship end.

Social Security is a partial exception. Benefits you have already earned do not automatically stop, but continuing to receive them abroad depends on your new country of citizenship. Citizens of most Western European nations, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and several dozen other countries on the SSA’s approved list can generally keep receiving payments. If your new country is not on that list and you do not meet another qualifying condition, payments stop after six consecutive months outside the United States. The tax treatment also shifts. As a non-citizen, the SSA withholds 30% of 85% of your benefit, or 25.5% of each payment, unless a tax treaty with your country of residence reduces the rate.¹³

Medicare generally does not cover care received outside the United States, so it offers little practical value if you are living abroad, even where prior work credits keep you technically eligible for Part A.

To visit the country afterward, you follow the rules for citizens of your new country: an ESTA if your passport is from a Visa Waiver Program country, otherwise a B-1/B-2 visitor visa. A rarely enforced provision of immigration law, the Reed Amendment, makes former citizens inadmissible if the Attorney General determines they renounced to avoid U.S. taxes.¹⁴ Covered expatriates in particular should know the statute exists.

For adults, renunciation is a one-way door. The State Department has no standard process for restoring citizenship to someone who has formally renounced, and the two-interview structure exists precisely because the decision cannot be undone.

1
Federal Register. Schedule of Fees for Consular Services – Fee for Administrative Processing of Request for Certificate of Loss of Nationality
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1481 – Loss of Nationality by Native-Born or Naturalized Citizen
3
U.S. Department of State. Relinquishing U.S. Nationality
4
U.S. Department of State. Relinquishing U.S. Nationality Abroad
5
U.S. Department of State. DS-4079 Questionnaire – Loss of United States Nationality; Attestations
6
U.S. Department of State. Informational Packet for Renunciation of U.S. Nationality
7
U.S. Department of State. DS-4082 – Witnesses Attestation Renunciation/Relinquishment of Citizenship
8
U.S. Department of State. DS-4083 – Certificate of Loss of Nationality of the United States
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8854
10
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32 – 2026 Inflation Adjustments
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 877A – Tax Responsibilities of Expatriation
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6039G – Information on Individuals Losing United States Citizenship
13
Social Security Administration. Your Payments While You Are Outside the United States
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens