The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has introduced a programme that will give a tax exemption to those who have relinquished their US citizenship and ensure they are compliant with their American tax obligations.
The Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens only applies to people who did not file their tax returns when they were a US citizen or resident and owe a limited amount of money to the taxman.
To qualify, individuals need to have net assets totalling less than $2m (£1.6m, €1.8m) both at the time of leaving the US and when submitting.
The outstanding tax returns for the year of expatriation and the five prior also must not exceed $25,000.
Are there any penalties?
Only taxpayers whose past compliance failures were non-willful can take advantage of these scheme.
Many in this group may have lived outside the United States most of their lives and may have not been aware that they had US tax obligations.
If people meet these criteria, they would see their tax liabilities relieved and will not face any penalties or interests, the IRS said.
It added that the purpose of these procedures is to provide relief for certain former citizens.
Continuous relief
But this only applies to people, as estates, corporations and partnerships are not part of this scheme, and they must have given up their citizenship after 18 March 2010.
People that fall under the remit of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca) are also eligible to apply.
Additionally, the US taxman said that it has not set an end date to this scheme as of yet and that it will announce a termination date if the programme was to eventually close.
