United States · Estate US shares count wherever they are held

The exemption you get is not the one in the headlines.

A non-resident who is not domiciled in the US gets a US-situs estate tax exemption of $60,000. A citizen gets a figure in the millions. Everything turns on one unintuitive question: which of your assets the US treats as sitting inside its borders.

Get a fixed quote Back to who we help Receiving US income?

Where the asset sits

US-situs$60,000 exemption

Non-US-situsOutside the net

What counts as US-situs

Assets held by a non-domiciled individual

Inside the net

US-situs assets

US real estate, and shares in US corporations wherever the account holding them happens to be. This is the category that surprises people, because a foreign brokerage does not change the answer.

$60,000 exemptionEstate tax applies

Outside the net

Non-US-situs assets

Assets the US does not treat as located within it for estate purposes. The boundary is defined by specific rules rather than by intuition, and it does not always follow where the asset feels like it is.

Generally exemptDefinition is technical

Why this matters

Situs decides everything, and it is not intuitive

Four things that catch non-resident families out.

AssetsUS shares count, wherever heldStock in a US corporation is US-situs even in a foreign brokerage account, which surprises almost everyone

ThresholdA fraction of a citizen’s exemption$60,000 of US-situs assets, above which estate tax can apply at substantial rates

GiftsGift rules are defined separatelyWhat counts as a taxable gift for a non-resident follows different rules again, and cash and property are not alike

ReliefOnly some countries have an estate treatyA small number exist, and where one applies it can change the position materially — but most people are not covered

How each side plays out

Three stages, followed down both sides

This is planning work. Almost everything useful happens while you are alive and holding the assets, which is why leaving it is the one genuinely expensive choice.

01

What you hold today

US-situs

Property, US shares and certain other interests. Valued at market for this purpose, so a long-held holding can carry far more exposure than it appears to.

Non-US-situs

Holdings the rules place outside the US net. The classification is technical, and assuming an asset is safe because it is held abroad is where people go wrong.

A situs audit of everything you ownSorting the holdings into categories is the whole foundation of the exercise

Exposure quantified on today’s valuesThe number your family would actually face, not a general warning

02

Lifetime transfers

US-situs

Gifting US property during life has its own rules, which do not mirror the estate rules. Some transfers help the position and others achieve nothing.

Non-US-situs

Generally outside the US gift net, which is precisely why the composition of what you hold is worth reviewing well before it matters.

How US real estate is heldReviewed for estate exposure and income tax together, because the best answer rarely serves both

Treaty position, checked properlyAgainst your country of domicile rather than assumed either way

03

On death

US-situs

A US estate tax return may be required, and assets can be difficult for the family to access until the position is cleared with the IRS.

Non-US-situs

Generally outside the US return altogether, though the composition still has to be evidenced rather than simply asserted.

The estate return, prepared for the executorAlongside whatever clearance is needed before assets can be released

Working with your advisers at homeThe US piece has to sit inside the estate plan you already have, not beside it

Is the exposure mostly US property?

Rental income, FIRPTA withholding on sale and the net-basis election sit alongside the estate question rather than instead of it. That combination is handled by US Real Estate CPA — our property practice, and a Taxule firm.

Go to US Real Estate CPA

The cost of getting it wrong

Your family finds out, not you

Holding US shares in a foreign account

Where the account sits does not change the situs of the underlying stock, and the exposure is measured at market value.

Still US-situs

Assuming the headline exemption applies

The multi-million figure belongs to citizens and domiciliaries. A non-resident’s exemption is a small fraction of it.

$60,000 only

Leaving it until the estate is being administered

By then the structuring options have gone and only compliance remains.

Too late to fix

Restructuring without checking the income side

A holding structure that improves estate exposure can worsen the income tax and reporting position considerably.

Traded one for another

Common questions

What families ask first

My US shares are held through a bank in my own country. Does that help?

Generally not. Stock in a US corporation is treated as a US-situs asset regardless of where the account or custodian sits, so moving the account abroad does not move the asset for these purposes. It is the single most common misunderstanding we see.

Is the exemption really only $60,000?

For a non-resident who is not domiciled in the US, yes — that is the long-standing figure and it is not inflation-linked. The multi-million exemption reported in the press applies to citizens and domiciliaries. Where an estate tax treaty exists between the US and your country, it can improve the position significantly.

Can I just gift the assets away now?

Sometimes, but the gift rules for non-residents are defined separately from the estate rules and do not simply mirror them. Gifting US real estate is treated differently to gifting other assets, and some transfers achieve nothing at all. It needs modelling before anything moves.

How is this priced?

A fixed fee for the review, scoped from what you hold and where you are domiciled. Any restructuring work is quoted separately once the exposure is known. Agreed in writing before anything begins.

Next step

Tell us what you hold in the US.

Property, shares, accounts, and where you are domiciled. That is enough for us to size the exposure and tell you whether it is worth restructuring. This only works while there is still time to act on it.

Start scoping