Who we help
US property is usually where this tax begins.
For most international families, a home in Miami or an apartment in New York is their first and largest US asset. It is also the clearest US estate-tax exposure there is: real estate is unambiguously US-situated, it cannot be moved, and it is the hardest thing to sell quickly when a bill comes due in cash. If you own US property, or are about to, this page is for you.
The short answer
US real estate owned by a non-US person is US-situated in full, from the day of closing, and is taxed at rates reaching 40% above a $60,000 exemption. The value counted is the market value on the date of death, not what you paid. The bill is due in cash, generally within nine months, and heirs usually must clear US probate before they can sell or transfer the property. A single-member LLC generally does not change any of this, because it is disregarded for US estate-tax purposes.
The silent trigger
Exposure attaches at closing, and no one mentions it.
The day you take title, the full market value of the property becomes part of your US-situated estate, measured against a $60,000 exemption. Nothing in the closing folder says so. The exposure then grows quietly, year after year, as the property appreciates. Most owners learn of it only when a relative dies and the estate meets Form 706-NA for the first time.
A common myth
Holding it in an LLC does not make it disappear.
Many families are told an LLC solves the problem. It generally does not. For US estate tax, a single-member LLC is disregarded and the property is treated as owned directly, and even an interest in a US LLC is generally treated as US-situated. The structure that can change the situs, a non-US holding company, carries its own income-tax and reporting costs and is rarely right for a family home. The honest answer is that ownership structure matters, but not the way the closing agent implied, and it should be decided with an attorney before you buy.
Why real estate is the hardest case
You cannot wire a bedroom to the Treasury.
US estate tax is due in cash, generally within nine months. A portfolio can be sold in an afternoon; a building cannot. Under a deadline, executors list the property in whatever market exists that year, often below its value, sometimes to a buyer who knows the family has no choice. The family can lose the home twice: once to a forced sale, and once to the tax the sale was meant to pay. Liquidity is the whole game, and it is exactly what real estate lacks.
If any of these is you
Different reasons to own, the same exposure.
- 01A vacation or second home, and the months each year that go with it.
- 02An investment property, or a portfolio of them, held for yield and for dollars.
- 03A home bought so a son or daughter can study and live in the US.
- 04A landing pad for a move you may make later, or may not.
- 05Simple diversification: hard US assets, in the currency you trust most.
Every one of these is US-situated in full, and counted the same way against the same $60,000.
What we do about it
Measure it first, then make sure the property is never the thing that pays.
We start with the number: your estimated exposure, and whether your country's treaty position changes it. Then we size and place US life insurance so the tax is paid from insurance proceeds, in cash, on time, and the property stays in the family. Where title or ownership should be adjusted, we coordinate the cross-border attorney who does it. One plan, one point of contact, the property protected rather than sold.
We show you the real number, not a scary one.
If a treaty, your ownership, or the size of the property means the exposure is small, we will say so plainly. We would rather tell you there is little to do than sell you something you do not need. The point is that you decide with the real figure in front of you, not a surprise your family inherits later.
Common questions
What property owners ask us.
- What happens when a foreign owner of US property dies?
- The estate must report the property to the IRS on Form 706-NA and pay the tax, generally within nine months, in cash. Heirs typically also have to clear US probate before the property can be sold or transferred, which adds months and puts the matter on the public record.
- Does holding the property in an LLC avoid the estate tax?
- Usually not. A single-member LLC is disregarded for US estate-tax purposes, so the property is treated as owned directly, and an interest in a US LLC is itself generally US-situated. The structures that can change this carry their own income-tax and reporting costs, and are rarely right for a family home.
- Does a mortgage on the property reduce the tax?
- It can, but the answer turns on the type of loan. A nonrecourse mortgage generally reduces the taxable value of the property, while a recourse loan is typically deductible only in proportion to your worldwide estate. This is a question for a cross-border attorney, and it is worth asking before you finance a purchase, not after.
- Can my heirs simply sell the property to pay the tax?
- They often have to, and that is precisely the problem. A building cannot be sold in an afternoon, the deadline is fixed, and probate usually has to be cleared first. Families frequently sell into whatever market exists that year, below value, to a buyer who knows they have no choice.
- I spend winters in Florida. Does that make me a US resident for this tax?
- Not by itself, and not by any day count. Residency for estate tax is domicile: physical presence plus an intention to remain indefinitely. Winters in a home you own, a Florida driver's license, a local club and children in a local school are all factors an examiner weighs together. The risk runs the opposite way from what most owners expect: if you are found to be US-domiciled, the tax reaches your worldwide estate, not just the US property.
The exposure is decided at the closing table, and almost no one is told.
See what your US property would owe.
Put your property into the estimator and see the exposure in about 90 seconds. No email required to see the result.
