U.S. Estate & Gift Tax for Nonresidents
A U.S. citizen can leave $15 million free of federal estate tax. A nonresident can leave $60,000 of U.S. assets. Above that, the rate reaches 40 percent.
We identify which assets are exposed, apply treaties where they help and design ownership so that the exposure is removed before it matters.
The exemption gap is the largest in the U.S. tax system.
U.S. real estate, shares of U.S. companies and tangible property located here are U.S.-situated assets in a nonresident’s estate. Bank deposits and most portfolio debt are not.
The $60,000 threshold is not indexed and has not changed in decades. A single Manhattan apartment exceeds it many times over.
Gift tax follows different situs rules: gifts of U.S. real property and tangible property are taxable; gifts of U.S. shares generally are not. The difference is a planning opportunity.
The numbers behind nonresident estate planning.
Current federal and New York figures.
Domicile, not citizenship or visa status, decides which exemption applies. A green card holder living abroad may still be a U.S. domiciliary. Sources: IRS, Nonresidents With U.S. Assets Must File Estate Tax Returns; IRS, Rev. Proc. 2025-32; IRS, Gift Tax for Nonresidents Not Citizens; New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, Estate Tax.
What we do in nonresident estate and gift planning.
Situs and exposure analysis
Which assets are U.S.-situated, what the tax would be today and what treaties change.
Removing exposure
Holding companies, trusts and ownership changes that take assets outside the U.S. estate.
Non-citizen spouses
Qualified domestic trusts, annual exclusion gifts and planning where one spouse is a U.S. citizen.
Lifetime gifts
Gifts of intangibles, timing and documentation that use the gift tax rules to advantage.
Domicile planning
Facts that establish or avoid U.S. domicile, for green card holders and long-term visitors.
Form 706-NA and compliance
Estate tax returns for nonresident decedents, transfer certificates and release of U.S. assets.
How the planning runs.
Measure, then restructure, then maintain.
Inventory
U.S. and worldwide assets, residency history and family.
Measure
Exposure under the Code and any treaty, federal and New York.
Restructure
Entities, trusts and gifts implemented in the right order.
Maintain
Annual review as assets, residency and law change.
Lawyers who plan the structure and defend it.
Structure before the move, the investment or the sale.
Residency timing, entity choice, trusts and elections are decided together, with the home-country result in view. We coordinate with your accountants and counsel abroad so the plan works in both places.
Compliance and controversy in the same hands.
Foreign asset reporting, penalty exposure, streamlined and voluntary disclosures and IRS examinations. The firm also litigates and arbitrates, so a plan is written knowing how it will be tested.
Exposure is created by a purchase and removed by a plan.
Removing it afterward costs more than avoiding it.
- Review every U.S. asset against the situs rules
- Check whether an estate tax treaty applies to your country
- Plan for a non-citizen spouse separately; the marital deduction does not apply
- Document domicile facts if you spend significant time in the United States
- Assume U.S. bank deposits and U.S. shares are treated the same; they are not
- Gift U.S. real property directly; it is a taxable gift
- Rely on a will alone; it does not change the tax
- Ignore New York’s own estate tax on New York property
From the firm’s writing.
U.S. Pre-Immigration Tax Planning: the $60,000 Estate Tax Exemption
Why nonresidents face a different system.
Read the articleU.S. Trust for Non-U.S. Families: Attorney Guide
Structures that address U.S. exposure.
Read the articleGreen Card Taxes: Stay or Exit
Domicile and what it means for estate tax.
Read the articleFrequently asked.
U.S. real estate, tangible property located in the United States and shares of U.S. corporations, among others. Bank deposits, most portfolio debt and shares of non-U.S. companies generally do not. The classification is asset by asset.
The United States has estate and gift tax treaties with a limited number of countries. Some provide a larger pro-rated exemption or change situs rules. Income tax treaties do not help with estate tax. We check the specific treaty.
Transfers to a non-citizen spouse do not qualify for the unlimited marital deduction. Lifetime gifts are limited to an annual exclusion, $194,000 in 2026. At death, a qualified domestic trust can defer the tax.
Often yes. Shares of a non-U.S. corporation are generally not U.S.-situated. The structure must be respected in form and substance, and it has income tax and reporting consequences that are weighed first.
New York imposes estate tax on real and tangible property located in the State, even for nonresidents. The 2026 basic exclusion is $7.35 million, but the federal $60,000 problem is usually the larger one.
Other areas of the practice.
Inbound and outbound services, from pre-immigration planning to offshore compliance. Back to the overview.
U.S. assets and a non-U.S. estate?
A confidential consultation. We will tell you what is exposed today and how to remove it.