If you are thinking about immigrating to the US, you should consider the tax consequences before finalizing your move here. Pre-immigration tax planning can significantly reduce US federal taxes on income, gifts, and estates. The US taxes its citizens and residents on their worldwide income. Likewise, US citizens and individuals domiciled in the US incur US estate and gift taxation on their worldwide assets.
For wealthy individuals or families, there are significant opportunities to engage in estate and gift tax planning prior to immigrating to the US to reduce their exposure to US estate and gift taxation. Similarly, there are significant opportunities to reduce income taxation through pre-immigration planning by accelerating or deferring income or deductions, or using other similar strategies, according to the comparative tax laws in the US and the country of prior residence. Also, there are certain elections and other considerations that should be contemplated prior to immigrating to the US to avoid adverse income taxation.
As part of our estate planning services, we counsel individuals and families with the complex tax issues associated with pre-immigration tax planning including implementing strategies to reduce income, estate, and gift taxes.