Paying more in Denmark, punished by the U.S.: an expat’s tax dilemma

"It’s time-consuming, expensive and stressful for normal people to handle their U.S. expat taxes... I don’t want to give up my citizenship. I love my country. I have family here. But I’m being put in a terrible, unsustainable situation."

— Eva from Denmark and Florida

Dear Congress,

I moved to Denmark in 2022 to do a PhD. When I left, I told my mom, "It's just 3 years, I'll be back."

She said, "You're going to fall in love with a Danish man and never come back---I just know it."

I said, "Don't be ridiculous."

I met and fell in love with a Danish man at my university, and we were married about a year later. I'm currently back in the U.S., but I'll be traveling back and forth as we figure out where we're going to end up long-term. We've been working on the immigration paperwork, but we don't know when we'll be together in the U.S.

And who knows, after a few years, we might end up in Denmark again. If that time comes, I would like to have the option to save up for retirement in Denmark without incurring nightmarish U.S. tax reporting requirements.

I have cried over the stress and confusion of figuring out how to file purely informational forms that are expensive for a tax preparer but too complicated for me to understand. Like that a foreign pension/retirement account is somehow a foreign trust, and none of the tax paperwork makes any sense.

High-tax country

No one moves from the U.S. to Denmark to pay less in income taxes. Income tax rates in Denmark are higher than the combined Federal and State rates in every State and are among the highest in the world. This income tax is in addition to a 25% Value Added Tax on everything you buy.

It’s time-consuming, expensive and stressful for normal people to handle their U.S. expat taxes.

As an American living in Denmark, my options would be to spend crazy amounts of time and money on a second tax return (on top of the Danish one) and learn to live with some of the double taxation that isn't mitigated by the treaty... or give up my U.S. citizenship. I don't want to give up my citizenship. I love my country. I have family here. But I'm being put in a terrible, unsustainable situation.

Please eliminate citizenship-based taxation, including double taxation and complex reporting, to end the financial burden on Americans living abroad and support the legislation that has been introduced by Congressman Lahood of Illinois.

Sincerely

Eva from Denmark and Florida