23 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

Who must file

If you are any of the following, you must file a return:

1. A nonresident alien individual engaged or considered to be engaged in a trade or business in the United States during the year.
2. A nonresident alien individual who is not engaged in a trade or business in the United States and has U.S. income on which the tax liability was not satisfied by the withholding of tax at the source.

https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/taxation-of-nonresident-aliens

 

Thanks for the above. Don't think I'd ever seen / noticed the #2 item you quoted above. Very helpful, as regards the Schwab Intl. account and the U.S. tax implications for it!

 

22 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

When your Thai wife passes her US situs assets (for instance US stocks/ETFs, cash held in a US brokerage account,...) will be subject to huge US estate tax.

 

Where does that put an international account?

5 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

Where does that put an international account?

What do you mean?

18 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

What do you mean?

 

That was questioning which accounts are considered US "situs."

 

But I've come across some information that I'll need to find IRS.gov links for.

 

US situs assets passing from an NRA to their US citizen spouse beneficary are exempt from US estate tax.

 

US citizen dies, NRA spouse beneficiary gets $13 million exemption, 40% above.

 

Marital deduction. The marital deduction is
available for transfers by a nonresident alien
to a U.S. citizen spouse or in a qualified
domestic trust (QDOT) for a noncitizen
spouse to the same extent allowed to a U.S.
citizen or resident transferor. (Code Sec. 21
06(a)(3)) Worldwide assets need not be
disclosed to obtain a marital deduction.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20221215091006/http://www.jpmfinancialservices.com/images/PDFs/EstateTaxation.pdf

 

Could be that only non-resident non-citizen decedents transferring to non-resident non-citizens are hit with the 40% tax with $60K exemption?

4 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

Could be that only non-resident non-citizen decedents transferring to non-resident non-citizens are hit with the 40% tax with $60K exemption?

Yes, apparently "An unlimited exemption is available for US situs assets transferred to a US citizen spouse."

 

https://www.ustaxfs.com/insights/us-estate-tax-concerns-for-non-us-persons-update/

 

4 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

Yes, apparently "An unlimited exemption is available for US situs assets transferred to a US citizen spouse."

 

https://www.ustaxfs.com/insights/us-estate-tax-concerns-for-non-us-persons-update/

 

 

And the NRA spouse has a ~$13 million exemption for US situs assets transferred FROM a US citizen spouse, taxed ~40% above that amount.

 

This is what I want to confirm.  NRA kids get the shaft apparently.

21 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

 

And the NRA spouse has a ~$13 million exemption for US situs assets transferred FROM a US citizen spouse, taxed ~40% above that amount.

 

This is what I want to confirm.  NRA kids get the shaft apparently.

 

Or perhaps not.

 

Keep in mind: spouses who aren’t U.S. citizens don’t qualify for the marital deduction. You can obtain a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) instead, which applies the marital deduction to assets placed in the trust. A non-citizen spouse can then access this.

 

https://smartasset.com/estate-planning/estate-tax-marital-deduction

10 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

Or perhaps not.

 

Keep in mind: spouses who aren’t U.S. citizens don’t qualify for the marital deduction. You can obtain a qualified domestic trust (QDOT) instead, which applies the marital deduction to assets placed in the trust. A non-citizen spouse can then access this.

 

https://smartasset.com/estate-planning/estate-tax-marital-deduction

US estate tax can indeed get quite complicated for non-US persons. That's why US nonresident aliens are reluctant to directly invest in US situs assets (holding company structure can be set up at a cost by lawyer to dismiss tax) to avoid their heirs a burden dealing with IRS and US inheritance get slashed.