A Closer Look at Cross-Border Estate Planning for Foreign Investors Utilizing Estate Tax Treaties and Corporate Structures
By Anthony Diosdi Foreign investors generally have the same goals of minimizing their income tax liabilities from their U.S. real estate and business investments, as do their U.S. counterparts, although their objective is complicated by the very fact that they are not U.S. persons. That is, non-U.S. investors must be concerned not only with income taxes in the United States, but also income taxes in their home country. Further, the United States has a special estate tax regime that is applicable to non-resident aliens that must be considered by foreign investors. Specifically, U.S. federal law imposes a transfer tax upon the privilege of transferring property by gift, bequest, or inheritance. This transfer tax takes the form of an estate tax. The tax is measured against a tax base that includes…