So you’ve taken on the role of executor of your dear friend, Sally’s estate. It just so happened that Sally owned a vacation property in the United States. You’ve come across a couple of blogs in the last few weeks that suggest her estate may owe some taxes to the IRS. You have no idea whether this is true and what you may need to do. You decide to keep reading these blogs to see if they’ll help you.
As the thermometer continues to hover around the zero degree mark, many of us who live north of the 49th parallel begin to think about heading south to take up residence in one of the many sunnier climes the United States has to offer.
So you are a Canadian citizen and resident, surely ‘Uncle Sam’ has no right to your Estate on your death. Unfortunately ‘Uncle Sam’s’ arm – his estate tax arm that is – can reach across the border to impose taxes on the Estate of a non-resident/non-citizen of the United States.
So you reside in Canada but you’re a U.S. citizen, surely ‘Uncle Sam’ has no right to your Estate on your death. Unfortunately, regardless of whether a U.S. citizen resides in the United States, U.S. citizens are subject to U.S estate taxes when the pass away based on the value of their worldwide estate. A credit is available which does alleviate some of the tax burden by exempting a certain amount from the U.S. estate tax net.
