Expats giving up passports because they no longer want to pay taxes

So, we can safely assume that you have more than 25 accounts. Spare a thought for us poor folks.

Ha! Nope! I'm just sloooooow. I double checked the pounds---->dollars thing like four times, and my bank doesn't have an easy way to figure out what the highest amount in each account was so I had to trawl through a few months to double check as we tend to use my account to transfer money from place to place so it will spike and then be empty.

Not posh, just persnickety.

It could be worse. Eritrea, the only other country to tax by citizenship, sends out agents to collect the 2% income tax. If you don't pay, your relatives back in Eritrea suffer. See:

http://www.afrol.com/articles/36196

Mind you, I'd prefer a flat 2% to paying accountants, worrying about FBAR, FATCA, PFIC etc.

Mind you, I'd prefer a flat 2% to paying accountants, worrying about FBAR, FATCA, PFIC etc.

Indeed.

So, we can safely assume that you have more than 25 accounts. Spare a thought for us poor folks.

On the strategy of keeping 25 or more active accounts, so that you do not have to fill out the details of each in the FBAR; I remember that in an earlier thread on this topic, someone observed that you could include your TfL Oyster Card for the purposes of increasing the number of accounts to twenty-five or more.  Anyone have other suggestions of prepaid accounts (etc.) that could possibly qualify?

(I realise that if you take advantage of the "25+" rule, you have to make sure you keep good records in case the authorities ask for them later on.)

If your up for some 'intensive' reading:

"The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on Thursday issued a final rule that amends the regulations under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) regarding Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), to clarify when an account is foreign and therefore reportable as a foreign financial account and the definition of key terms like “signature or other authority.” From this site:
http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/Web/20113893.htm

The full released document as recorded in the Federal Register for 24 Feb. 2011:
http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2011/pdf/2011-4048.pdf

I've only had a quick scan, but I don't think we're going to learn anything new regarding types of accounts.