Pre Immigration Tax Planning

PRE-IMMIGRATION TAX PLANNING

Focused on Planning for the Future

Citrin Cooperman’s goal in providing pre-immigration tax planning services is simple: to minimize our client’s exposure to U.S. federal income, gift, and estate tax by leveraging existing tax laws, regulations, and administrative guidance, while employing novel strategies designed to achieve optimal financial outputs.

The U.S. tax system contains unique rules that apply to the taxation of foreign income and the reporting of foreign assets which are not typically seen in other countries. Many foreign nationals who immigrate to the United States are unaware of these rules. We strongly emphasize the importance of prospective planning prior to becoming a U.S. tax resident. An ounce of prevention in this regard can result in substantial tax savings.

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Taxes in Ten - International Tax Series: Inbound Pre-Immigration Planning for Foreign Nationals

Services Included

Our suite of pre-immigration tax planning services touch upon the following areas:

Controlled foreign corporations and planning to minimize the application of the Subpart F and GILTI rules;

Establishing tax efficient investment structures for partnerships and ventures with foreign investors;

Compliance with foreign bank account and FATCA reporting requirements;

Advising trustees, beneficiaries, and grantors on the efficient settlement and operations of foreign trusts or U.S. trusts with foreign beneficiaries;

Setting up charitable vehicles which qualify for favorable tax treatment both in the U.S. and abroad;

Analyzing U.S. income tax treaties for various issues including reducing or eliminating the tax on certain items of income, re-sourcing of income to avoid double taxation, and leveraging rules to determine U.S. tax residency;

Reporting and planning for nonresident aliens with U.S. investments or effectively connected income;

Foreign tax credit planning and optimization to minimize the imposition of U.S. tax on foreign-source income;

Analyzing Totalization Agreements for nonresidents who come to the U.S. to work for foreign employers; and

Advising on the acquisition and disposition of U.S. and foreign real estate by resident and nonresident aliens.

How Citrin Cooperman Can Help

As an independent member firm of Moore Global, we are able to connect with tax professionals in 110 countries throughout the world. This allows us to address not only our clients’ U.S. pre-immigration tax planning needs, but also to ensure that they receive a holistic overview of how relocating to the U.S. may affect them and their families tax positions abroad.

Ongoing U.S. Tax Compliance Services

Once a foreign national becomes a U.S. tax resident, a host of unique filing and reporting requirements apply with respect to their foreign income, assets, and transactions.

Our team has decades of international tax compliance experience. We take an integrated approach to pre-immigration tax planning and compliance, so that we are able to leverage this experience to see that all of our planning recommendations are appropriately reported to the IRS and foreign taxing authorities, and that our clients’ ongoing compliance obligations are satisfied in a timely, efficient, and accurate manner.

As laws governing international taxation and reporting are constantly evolving, we stay abreast of changes that may impact our clients filing positions and communicate them concisely so that our clients can make informed financial decisions before their returns are due.

Visa Considerations - Ways to Obtain Resident Status in the U.S.

The US government offers an array of options for gaining lawful entrance to the United States. Visas can be either non-immigrant visas for a temporary stay, or an immigrant visa for a permanent stay (i.e., green cards). Generally, the type of non-immigrant visa you may obtain has no impact on whether you will or will not be treated as a resident alien under US tax principles; however, foreign nationals who obtain immigrant visas should be aware that they will be treated as US residents simply by virtue of having a green card. In addition, green card holders are subject to additional rules that govern how much time they must spend in the United States and conditions under which they are allowed to leave the US for an extended basis.

We perform pre-immigration tax planning for all foreign nationals coming to the US, regardless of their visa category. However, we have a particular focus on foreign nationals who seek to obtain employment-based immigrant visas – specifically those applying for entry under the EB-5 Program, also known as the Immigrant Investor Program. Congress recently expanded the availability of EB-5 visas and changed the investment minimum rules to encourage additional foreign investment in the United States.

EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program

On March 15, President Biden signed a law that greatly expanded the EB-5 Investor Program by providing additional allocations of visas to qualified foreign nationals, their spouses, and unmarried children under the age of 21, and by reducing the capital investment requirements applicable to foreign nationals who wish to immigrate to the United States under the purview of an EB-5 Investor Visa.

In exchange for investing a minimum amount of capital in a US-based commercial enterprise which will create at least 10 jobs for qualified US employees, eligible immigrant investors and their families are given a means to legally enter the United States and a fast-tracked method to obtaining a green card.

Given current economic conditions, the need for substantial outside capital investments in US commercial enterprises is at an all-time high, and we anticipate that there will be a marked increase in applications for the new EB-5 Investor Program.

Due to the complexity and reach of the US tax system, the core of our suite of services offered to EB-5 investors focuses on pre-immigration tax planning. Our goal in providing such planning is three-fold: First, to briefly introduce our foreign national clients to the complexities and nuances of the US federal tax system, including income tax rules, estate and gift tax rules, and information reporting rules which are endemic to the United States. Second, we strive to identify tax inefficiencies in our clients’ current business structures, succession planning, and personal holdings. Third, we minimize our clients’ US tax exposure by proposing creative and novel strategies to leverage existing tax laws and regulations to achieve optimal tax results.