Denise Rich Ditches U.S. Citizenship, Millions in Taxes
Denise Rich, the former wife of pardoned billionaire Marc Rich and grammy-award nominated songwriter, has dumped her U.S. citizenship, a move that will save her tens of millions of dollars in taxes.
The 68-year-old Rich, who was born in Worcester, Mass., renounced her American passport in November, according to her lawyer. She now has Austrian citizenship, which she was able to acquire through her late father.
Rich was among the 1,800 Americans who renounced their citizenship last year, reported the IRS.
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She made the move "so that she can be closer to her family and to Peter Cervinka, her long-time partner," according to her lawyer.
By no longer being a U.S. citizen, Rich is expected to save at least tens of millions of dollars in U.S. taxes.
Rich's wealth is in part due to her career as a talented songwriter. She has written songs performed by Aretha Franklin, Marc Anthony and Jessica Simpson.
Even though her move to Austria will save her tons of money, Rich will still be forced to pay an "exit tax," before permanently leaving the United States.
Denise Rich is also known for getting her ex-husband Marc Rich a presidential pardon from Clinton by donating to the Clinton library and Democrats. The billionaire commodities trader fled the U.S. in 1983 after being indicted on charges of tax evasion, fraud, racketeering and illegal trading of oil with Iran. The couple divorced in 1996.
Rich is among the growing number of Americans giving up their U.S. citizenship. Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin traded in his U.S. passport for citizenship in Singapore just before the company went public in May. Singapore has no capital gains tax. Saverin has denied that his move was related to Facebook's I.P.O.
