How to Expatriate from the US: Forms, Fees, and Exit Tax

To expatriate from the US, you appear in person at a U.S. embassy or consulate abroad, complete the required State Department forms, take a formal oath of renunciation before a consular officer, pay a $450 administrative fee, and wait for the Department of State in Washington to approve a Certificate of Loss of Nationality. The State Department paperwork is the straightforward part. The tax consequences, including a possible mark-to-market exit tax and lasting effects on any U.S. relatives who later receive gifts or inheritances from you, are where the real money and planning live.

Who Can Give Up U.S. Citizenship

Federal law lets any U.S. citizen voluntarily give up nationality by making a formal renunciation before a diplomatic or consular officer in a foreign country.¹ Two conditions govern everything that follows: the act must be voluntary, and you must intend to give up citizenship. If a consular officer suspects coercion or thinks you don’t understand the consequences, the request is denied.

You have to physically appear at a U.S. embassy or consulate outside the United States. Renunciation by mail, email, phone, or through an attorney is not allowed.¹

Age and capacity matter. You generally need to be at least 18 to demonstrate the legal intent required. The consular officer will also confirm you understand what you’re giving up: the right to live in the United States, the right to vote, the right to consular protection abroad, and, importantly, that renunciation does not by itself end your U.S. tax obligations. The officer will ask about your other nationality. The government strongly discourages statelessness, and going through with renunciation when you don’t already hold citizenship somewhere else means becoming a stateless person, with severe difficulty traveling or establishing legal residence anywhere.²

The Forms You Complete

Two State Department forms sit at the center of the process.

The DS-4079, “Questionnaire – Loss of United States Nationality; Attestations,” asks about your background, how you acquired U.S. citizenship, any other nationalities you hold, and your reasons for renouncing. It also contains the oath of renunciation language in Part II, which you sign during the in-person interview.³ Do not sign Part II until you are in front of the consular officer.

The DS-4081, the “Statement of Understanding,” is where you acknowledge the consequences in writing. It states that you will become an alien subject to U.S. immigration law, that renunciation may not shield you from prosecution for U.S. crimes, and that it may not exempt you from U.S. income tax obligations.²

You’ll also need to bring supporting documents to your appointment:

Proof of U.S. citizenship: a current U.S. passport, birth certificate, Consular Report of Birth Abroad, or naturalization certificate.
Evidence of another nationality, usually a foreign passport or foreign naturalization certificate.
A government-issued photo ID, typically your foreign passport or national ID card.

Most consulates ask you to submit scanned copies by email before your appointment so staff can spot errors early. Accuracy matters, because the DS-4079 becomes a permanent part of your federal record and discrepancies will surface at the interview.

The Fee

The State Department charges a $450 non-refundable fee to process a renunciation. That figure is a recent change: the fee was $2,350 from 2015 through early 2026, when the department published a final rule reducing it by roughly 80%. Payment methods vary, so confirm with your consulate whether it accepts credit cards, cash in local currency, or another form of payment before you arrive.

The Interviews and the Oath

The Department of State requires two separate interviews at the embassy or consulate, with at least one conducted in person.⁴ The first is usually a preliminary review, where the consular officer confirms your identity, checks your paperwork, and walks through what renunciation means. Many posts build in a mandatory reflection period between the two meetings.

At the second interview, you review and sign the forms, then read the oath of renunciation aloud, declaring that you voluntarily and intentionally renounce your U.S. nationality along with all rights, privileges, duties, and allegiance.³ The officer witnesses and co-signs. Expect direct questions confirming you’re acting without pressure. Your U.S. passport is usually collected and cancelled at this point, and you receive a receipt for the $450 fee.

Finishing the interview does not end your citizenship. You remain a U.S. citizen until Washington approves the file.

The Certificate of Loss of Nationality

After the interview, the consulate sends your file to the Bureau of Consular Affairs’ Office of Overseas Citizens Services in Washington, D.C. The local officer cannot approve renunciation alone; they facilitate the process and recommend approval based on voluntariness and intent.

The Washington review can take several months or longer.⁵ If reviewers need more information, the embassy will contact you. If approved, the Department issues a Certificate of Loss of Nationality (CLN). The effective date on the CLN is the date you took the oath, not the date Washington signed off, and that distinction matters for tax purposes. The CLN is mailed to your foreign address with your cancelled passport. Keep it. You’ll need it whenever you deal with U.S. agencies, foreign governments, or financial institutions.

The IRS Side: Form 8854 and the Exit Tax

Finishing with the State Department is only half the process. The IRS requires Form 8854, the Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement, attached to your tax return for the year you expatriate.⁶ The form certifies that you’ve complied with all federal tax obligations for the five tax years before your expatriation date. Skipping it can trigger penalties and leave the IRS treating you as a tax resident indefinitely.

Are You a Covered Expatriate?

The IRS classifies you as a “covered expatriate” if any one of three conditions applies:

Your net worth is $2 million or more on your expatriation date.
Your average annual net income tax for the five years before expatriation exceeds $211,000 (the 2026 inflation-adjusted threshold).⁷
You fail to certify on Form 8854 that you’ve met all federal tax obligations for the prior five years.

That third trigger is the one people overlook. Even well under the wealth and income thresholds, simply neglecting to file Form 8854 and certify compliance makes you a covered expatriate by default.

The Mark-to-Market Exit Tax

Covered expatriates face a mark-to-market exit tax under IRC Section 877A. The IRS treats all of your worldwide property as if you sold it at fair market value on the day before your expatriation date.⁸ Any unrealized gain above a statutory exclusion becomes taxable income in that year. For 2026, the exclusion is $910,000, so only net gains above that figure trigger tax.⁷

The exit tax hits hardest when you own appreciated real estate, stock portfolios, or business interests with large built-in gains. You can elect to defer payment on certain property, but interest accrues on the deferred amount and the IRS requires adequate security. Deferred compensation like pensions and retirement accounts has its own set of rules under Section 877A, and treatment depends on whether the plan is “eligible” or “ineligible.” Most people with significant assets hire a tax professional experienced in expatriation to run the Form 8854 numbers.

The year you expatriate, you file a dual-status tax return, with Form 1040-NR as your primary return and Form 1040 attached as a statement for the portion of the year you were still a citizen.⁹

The Section 2801 Tax on Gifts to U.S. Family

If you become a covered expatriate, the tax consequences reach beyond your own return. Under IRC Section 2801, any U.S. citizen or resident who later receives a gift or inheritance from you owes a special tax on the value received above the annual gift tax exclusion, which is $19,000 for 2026.¹⁰¹¹ The rate is the highest federal estate tax rate, currently 40%, and the recipient pays it.

A parent who expatriates as a covered expatriate and later leaves an inheritance to children living in the United States could trigger a 40% tax bill that wouldn’t exist if the parent had remained a citizen. Routing gifts through a foreign trust doesn’t avoid the tax; distributions traceable to a covered expatriate’s contribution are taxed the same way when they reach a U.S. recipient.¹⁰

What You Lose: Social Security, Medicare, and Reentry

Renouncing does not automatically erase Social Security benefits you’ve already earned. But collecting them from abroad as a noncitizen is harder. Generally, the SSA stops paying retirement, survivors, and disability benefits to noncitizens after they’ve been outside the United States for six consecutive calendar months.¹² Restarting payments normally requires returning to the U.S. and being lawfully present for a full calendar month.

Exceptions exist for citizens of countries with Social Security totalization agreements with the United States. These agreements, covering more than 30 countries, can allow continued payments abroad.¹³ Whether you qualify depends on your new country of citizenship and the specific terms.

Medicare is a cleaner loss. Premium-free Medicare Part A requires U.S. citizenship or permanent residence.¹⁴ Once you renounce and hold neither status, you lose access.

For future U.S. visits, you become a foreign national for immigration purposes. If you hold a passport from a Visa Waiver Program country, you may be eligible to visit for up to 90 days using ESTA, but you’ll need a new authorization reflecting your changed citizenship.¹⁵ Otherwise you’ll need a B-1/B-2 visitor visa.

One more restriction: under the provision commonly called the Reed Amendment, a former citizen determined by the Attorney General to have renounced for the purpose of avoiding U.S. taxation is permanently inadmissible to the United States.¹⁶ It has rarely if ever been formally enforced, but the DS-4081 you signed specifically warns that tax-motivated renunciation can make you excludable.

Can You Undo It?

Renunciation is designed to be permanent. A narrow administrative review process exists: you can ask the Department of State to reexamine the CLN by presenting new evidence that the renunciation was not truly voluntary or was not made with the intent to give up citizenship.¹⁷ There is no time limit, but the burden falls entirely on you. The Department applies a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, and simply regretting the decision doesn’t qualify. Successful reversals are rare, largely because the two-interview structure and reflection period are built to catch hasty decisions before the oath.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1481 – Loss of Nationality by Native-Born or Naturalized Citizen
2
U. S. Department of State. DS-4081 Statement of Understanding Concerning the Consequences and Ramifications of Renunciation or Relinquishment of U.S. Nationality
3
U.S. Department of State. Questionnaire – Loss of United States Nationality; Attestations (DS-4079)
4
United States Department of State. Relinquishing U.S. Nationality Abroad
5
U.S. Embassy and Consulates in the United Kingdom. Loss of U.S. Citizenship (i.e. Expatriation)
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8854 (2025)
7
IRS.gov. Rev. Proc. 2025-32
8
Internal Revenue Service. Expatriation Tax
9
Internal Revenue Service. Taxation of Dual-Status Individuals
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 2801 – Imposition of Tax
11
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026
12
Social Security Administration. Social Security Payments Outside the United States
13
Social Security Administration. International Programs – U.S. International Social Security Agreements
14
Social Security Administration. Medicare
15
U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Frequently Asked Questions About the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA)
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 U.S. Code 1182 – Inadmissible Aliens
17
United States Department of State. Administrative Review of Loss of Nationality Determination