Renouncing US citizenship from the UK, step by step

What should be in order before you renounce US citizenship?

US tax compliance for the five tax years ending before the expatriation date. Form 8854 asks the leaver to certify, under penalty of perjury, that every federal tax obligation for those years was met. Someone who cannot certify is a covered expatriate whatever their wealth, so the tax work normally comes before the embassy appointment.

The three covered expatriate tests, the exceptions for some dual citizens from birth and for minors, and how a UK pension enters the net worth figure are set out in our post on the covered expatriate tests. The point for planning is timing. The Instructions for Form 8854 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) measure the certification over the five tax years that end before the expatriation date, so the date chosen for the oath fixes which years have to be clean.

Where years are missing, the usual route for a UK resident is the streamlined filing compliance procedures (opens the official IRS page in a new tab), which ask for three years of returns and six years of FBARs. That window is shorter than the certification window, so the work is scoped with Form 8854 in mind. Our IRS streamlined filing service handles that stage, and our PFIC reporting service deals with the fund forms most often missed by people holding ISAs.

• Income tax returns filed for each of the five years, with UK tax credited where it applies
• Information returns such as Form 8621, Form 8938 and Form 3520 filed where they were due
• FBARs filed with FinCEN for any year the reporting threshold was crossed
• Any tax, interest and penalties for those years paid
• A draft balance sheet of worldwide assets and liabilities as at the planned date

What if you have already renounced without filing?

Then the order cannot be followed, and the question becomes whether a narrower IRS procedure applies. Former citizens who never filed as US citizens or residents, and who meet strict net worth and tax limits, may be able to file six years of returns and owe nothing. Everyone else files under the normal rules.

The relief procedures for certain former citizens (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) apply only to people who gave up citizenship after 18 March 2010, had net worth below $2 million both on the expatriation date and when the submission is made, and whose total tax for the six years falls under a ceiling set by the IRS. Our post on relief for former US citizens who never filed works through each condition.

The IRS page describes two further routes for former citizens who did file their returns but either never sent Form 8854 or left income off earlier returns. In each case a late Form 8854 goes in with a signed statement explaining the reasonable cause.

How do you book a renunciation appointment at the US Embassy in London?

By joining the embassy's waitlist. The embassy's page on loss of US citizenship says demand is high and that it may take several months before an appointment can be offered. When a name reaches the top of the list, the embassy emails the next steps, including the documents to send and an initial interview conducted by email.

Before then, the embassy asks each person to read the State Department and IRS material on the consequences of a Certificate of Loss of Nationality and to complete the applicable parts of Part I of Form DS-4079, the questionnaire on loss of nationality. Part II must not be completed or signed before the final interview.

Renunciation is personal. A parent or guardian cannot take the oath for someone else, and the embassy invites minors, people who would become stateless and some others to email it before starting. Our expatriation service can run the tax work alongside the waitlist.

What happens at the final interview and oath?

The applicant brings the original documents previously sent by email, meets a US diplomatic or consular officer, reviews the answers already given, and signs the required sections of Part II of Form DS-4079, which contain the oath of renunciation. The fee is paid immediately afterwards, only if the person chooses to go ahead.

The State Department describes the process as two separate interviews, with the oath taken in person at the second. The officer's role is to be satisfied that the person is acting voluntarily, intends to give up citizenship and understands what follows. Someone who cannot complete the interview in English needs two disinterested witnesses.

The fee is non-refundable and is not returned if the request is later denied. A State Department final rule reduced it substantially with effect from April 2026, and the embassy's page shows the current amount. The embassy generally keeps the US passport and any naturalisation or citizenship certificate while the case is decided. Someone who needs to travel to the United States on that passport before approval should say so at the second interview.

When does the Certificate of Loss of Nationality arrive?

Usually some months after the oath. The embassy sends the file to the State Department in Washington, which decides whether the legal requirements are met and may ask for more information first. If the request is approved, the embassy emails the applicant and issues the certificate. If it is refused, a denial letter follows.

For tax purposes, the expatriation date of someone who renounces before a consular officer is the date of the oath, not the date the certificate arrives, provided the certificate later confirms it. Where more than one qualifying date applies, the instructions to Form 8854 take the earliest. The deemed sale for a covered expatriate falls on the day before that date.

The certificate matters well beyond the IRS. UK banks and platforms that ask about US status under FATCA generally need to see it before they stop reporting the account, which our post on a FATCA letter from your UK bank covers.

• The oath date fixes the five-year certification window and the split of the final year
• The certificate proves the date; until it is issued the date is provisional
• A refused request leaves the person a US citizen, with filing duties continuing

What US returns are due for the year you renounce?

A dual-status return covering the part of the year as a citizen and the part as a non-resident, with the initial Form 8854 attached. Income up to the expatriation date is taxed as for a citizen. Afterwards only US-source income and certain US-connected income remain within US tax.

Publication 519 (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) says a dual-status taxpayer who is not a US resident on the last day of the year files Form 1040-NR, marked as a dual-status return, with a Form 1040 attached as a statement of the income for the resident part of the year. The 1040-NR is due on 15 April for someone who received wages subject to US withholding, and later for someone who did not. Form 4868 can extend it. Form 8854 goes in with the return by its due date, including extensions.

Failing to file Form 8854, or filing it incomplete or wrong, carries a separate penalty for that year unless the failure was due to reasonable cause and not wilful neglect. A covered expatriate who defers the exit tax, holds a deferred compensation item or benefits from a non-grantor trust files Form 8854 each year afterwards as well. Our Form 8854 page explains each part of the statement.

A worked example: a US citizen working as an architect in Edinburgh, British by naturalisation, filed every return and has net worth under the threshold. She takes the oath in London in the spring. Her US return for that year covers her UK salary and savings income up to the oath date as a citizen, crediting UK tax. After that date, only her small holding of US shares remains in view.

What does not change after you renounce?

UK tax, the past, and some US exposure. A UK resident pays UK tax on the same basis after renouncing as before. Years spent as a US citizen stay open on the normal rules, and US-source income, US assets and gifts from covered expatriates keep a link to the US system.

UK liability turns on the Statutory Residence Test (opens the official HMRC page in a new tab), not on nationality, so the UK return is unaffected. On the US side, dividends from US shares are then taxed as paid to a foreign person: withholding is 30% by default and generally 15% under the treaty once a Form W-8BEN (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) is given to the broker. US-situated assets can still fall within US estate tax on death, on the rules for non-citizens.

For covered expatriates there is a further point. US citizens and residents who later receive gifts or bequests from a covered expatriate may owe tax on them under section 2801, so family members in the United States can be affected. The expatriation tax (opens the official IRS page in a new tab) rules for covered expatriates also tax deferred compensation, including some pensions, in their own way.

None of this means renouncing is the right or wrong decision, and the answer depends on the facts. If you want the tax side reviewed before booking, you can contact US UK Tax Returns. The full sequence, from catching up to the final return, is in our guide to IRS streamlined filing from the UK.

• UK income tax and capital gains tax still follow UK residence
• Unfiled or incorrect returns from citizenship years remain open to assessment
• US dividends and other US-source income stay within US withholding
• Gifts and bequests from a covered expatriate to US persons may be taxed in the recipient's hands