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Posted by aspgary,  1 reply

I’m in the final stages of interview with a firm called KPMG. I am a US citizen married to a British woman who holds US citizenship aswell, but never renounced her British citizenship. If hired I plan to move my family there, fulfill the 3 year requirement for British citizenship based upon my marriage to a British citizen, apply for citizenship and renounce my US citizenship. As I understand it during this three year period I will have to pay US taxes on earnings in excess of $95000 and file income taxes each of those three years.

My question are: 1. Is my understanding correct above 2. Even though my wife has US citizenship now, the UK still recognizes her as a British Citizen – right? 3. if #2 is correct, then I can apply for citizenship after 3 years time in country? 4. given that #2 & 3 are correct, I can then renounce my US citizenship and have no further connection / responsibility to the US IRS. 5. Should I renounce immediately to avoid having to be double taxed on my income (US and UK)?

Any additional comments, recommendation or advice would be most appreciated

 

1 reply

George

Though I can’t guarantee my answers are correct what you’ve stated sounds correct to me. For your specific points:

1. Your company should offer some kind of tax equalisation plan so that you don’t pay any more tax than you should, also you won’t be double taxed as the UK and US have a double taxation treaty. KPMG should also offer you specific advise as I’m sure they deal with expats moving around the world the whole time.
2. The UK should still recognise her citizenship so you should be able to apply after 3 years in the UK, have a look here for more details on the process: https://www.gov.uk/becoming-a-british-citizen
3. Once you’ve obtained UK citizenship then yes you can renounce your US citizenship, here is some guidance on the process: http://www.expatinfodesk.com/expat-guide/relinquishing-citizenshi…
4. You can’t however start this process immediately though as you can’t renounce your US citizenship until you have citizenship and a passport of another country.

Hope that helps, good luck with your move.

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