If you give up US citizenship or surrender a green card you've held for many years, the IRS does not just let you walk. There's a final form (Form 8854), a final tax calculation that pretends you sold everything you own the day before you leave, and a permanent rule that taxes any future gift or inheritance you give to a US relative at 40% - forever, with no expiration. The exit tax doesn't apply to everyone. Whether it applies to you depends on three specific tests at the moment of expatriation. Get them right and you walk clean. Get them wrong and the cost can be in the hundreds of thousands.
The exit tax under IRC §877A applies to two groups: US citizens who renounce their citizenship, and long-term residents (green card holders for at least 8 of the last 15 tax years) who surrender or abandon their green card. Both groups must file Form 8854. Whether the actual exit tax applies depends on the three covered expatriate tests below.
You're a "covered expatriate" if you meet any one of these three tests. Most expatriates with substantial assets meet at least one. Some meet all three.
| Test | How It Works |
|---|---|
| Net Worth Test | Net worth of $2 million or more on the date of expatriation. Calculated using fair market value of all worldwide assets minus liabilities. Includes US and foreign property, retirement accounts, business interests, the family home. Mortgages and other debts reduce net worth, but the threshold itself is unchanged - $2M has been the line since the rule was enacted. |
| Income Tax Test | Average annual net US income tax over the 5 years preceding expatriation exceeds the threshold. For 2026 expatriations, the threshold is $211,000 (was $206,000 for 2025; adjusts annually for inflation). This is total federal income tax, not income - so you need to have actually paid tax above this amount on average for five consecutive years. |
| Compliance Certification Test | You must certify on Form 8854 under penalties of perjury that you complied with all federal tax obligations for the 5 tax years preceding expatriation. Any unfiled return, any FBAR miss, any unpaid balance, any incomplete Form 8938 - blocks certification. If you can't certify, you're a covered expatriate regardless of net worth or income tax. |
Two groups can qualify for an exception to covered expatriate status even if they meet the net worth or income tax tests, but only if they pass the compliance certification:
If you became a US citizen at birth and a citizen of another country at birth, and as of your expatriation date you continue to be a citizen of and taxed as a resident of that other country - and you have been a US resident for not more than 10 of the 15 tax years ending with the year of expatriation - you escape covered expatriate status by virtue of the net worth and income tax tests.
Individuals who relinquish citizenship before age 18.5 and who were never a US resident for more than 10 tax years also qualify for the exception.
Both exceptions still require the Form 8854 compliance certification - they only address the net worth and income tax prongs.
If you are a covered expatriate, the day before your expatriation date is treated as if you sold everything you own at fair market value. The resulting gain (after the exclusion) is taxed at regular US rates as if it were realized capital gain.
The first $910,000 of net unrealized gain is excluded from the mark-to-market tax. This was $890,000 for 2025, adjusts annually. For someone with modest unrealized appreciation in their portfolio, the exclusion may eliminate the exit tax entirely. For someone with a large appreciated stock position or a successful business interest, the exclusion is a small fraction of total gain.
The mark-to-market regime applies to most worldwide property of the covered expatriate, including:
Three categories of property are not subject to the basic mark-to-market regime - they have their own treatment:
The mark-to-market tax can be a substantial cash outflow with no actual sale to fund it. IRC §877A(b) allows the covered expatriate to elect to defer payment of the exit tax on specific assets until the actual sale.
The deferral comes with conditions:
This is the rule that surprises people the most, and the one that has the longest reach.
Once you're a covered expatriate, any gift or bequest you give to a US citizen or resident is subject to a 40% tax in the hands of the recipient. There is no annual exclusion. There is no expiration. There is no statute of limitations. This rule applies for the rest of your life and after your death.
The recipient (the US person receiving the gift or bequest) is the one who pays the tax, not you. They report the gift on Form 708 (the §2801 return) and remit the tax. If they don't know you were a covered expatriate, they're presumed to be receiving a covered gift unless they can document otherwise.
The only way to avoid §2801 exposure for future generations is to not be a covered expatriate at the moment of expatriation. This is the strongest argument for careful pre-expatriation planning - the exit tax itself is a one-time hit, but §2801 is a lifelong drag on future generosity.
You file a final dual-status return for the year that contains your expatriation date - resident period for the part of the year before expatriation, non-resident period after. See our dual-status returns article for the mechanics.
Form 8854 (Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement) is attached to the final return:
Penalty for failure to file Form 8854 is $10,000 per year, and the IRS will treat you as a covered expatriate by default if you fail to file - regardless of your actual numbers.
Even after the year of expatriation, Form 8854 must continue to be filed annually if any of the following apply:
The annual filings continue until the deferred items are fully resolved (paid out, distributed, or terminated).
The exit tax applies not just to citizens but to "long-term residents" - green card holders for at least 8 of the past 15 tax years.
The 8-of-15 count: you are a long-term resident if you held lawful permanent resident status (i.e., a green card) for any portion of 8 of the 15 tax years ending with the year your status terminates. Even one day of green card residency in a tax year counts as a "year" for this purpose.
A green card holder who is a tax resident of a treaty country can claim non-US-resident status under the treaty residency tie-breaker (e.g., Article IV of the US-Canada treaty). For most US tax purposes, this works - but for §877A purposes, claiming the treaty tie-breaker actually triggers an expatriation event on the date the treaty position is taken. So a green card holder cannot use the treaty to avoid the exit tax - taking the treaty position is itself the expatriation.
Plan the timing well in advance. The 5-year income tax averaging means a single high-income year before expatriation can push you into covered status. If you have control over the timing of a large bonus, business sale, or stock vesting, consider the impact on the 5-year average.
Clean up prior compliance before announcing intent. The Streamlined Procedures (for non-willful past failures) and the Relief Procedures for Certain Former Citizens (for those who were already non-citizens) require that they be initiated before the IRS contacts you. Once you announce or take steps toward expatriation, the available paths narrow.
Get fair market value documentation. Net worth and mark-to-market valuations need to be defensible. For closely-held businesses, real estate, and illiquid assets, get a qualified appraisal as of the day before expatriation. The IRS has been increasing audit attention on Form 8854 valuations - documentation matters.
Consider gift planning before expatriation. Once you're a covered expatriate, all future gifts to US persons are §2801 events. Gifts before expatriation are subject to normal US gift tax rules (with the lifetime exemption available, currently far above $13M). For someone planning to gift substantial wealth to US-citizen children, the timing of gifts vs. expatriation matters significantly.
Don't underestimate the renunciation fee, even though it's now lower. Effective April 13, 2026, the State Department fee for renouncing US citizenship dropped from $2,350 to $450. This is a State Department fee, separate from any tax. The fee for surrendering a green card (Form I-407) has always been $0.
For Russian-speaking and other immigrant clients near the LTR boundary: the difference between holding a green card for 7.5 years vs 8.5 years is not trivial - the latter brings full LTR status and the §877A regime, the former does not. If permanent residence is genuinely no longer the plan, surrender before crossing the line.