USA Death and Taxes
Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 6:53 am
In Canada, there is deemed disposition of the fair market value of your property. The increase in value starting from the date of purchase up to the owner’s death is taxable as capital gain on the financial tax return. On the other hand, the system in the U.S. works differently. They impose an estate tax that’s levied on fair market value across all property owned on date of death instead of deemed disposition with potential tax liability.
The future of the U.S. estate tax is the most talked about issue today. At the end of the year, the current regime would be expired. This issue is critically important to two groups of people: Canadians owning a U.S. property and U.S. citizens that are living in Canada. This U.S. tax applies to all citizens, even to those living in other countries. It also covers non-U.S. citizens who died with properties in the U.S. (like stocks in U.S. companies or U.S. real estate).
Currently, U.S. citizens have a $3.5 million exemption from their estate. However, non-citizens, such as Canadians owning U.S. assets, would only be entitled to pro-rated exemption under Canada-U.S. tax treaty. This means that when you have a worldwide estate (like a Canadian home for instance) that would total below US$3.5 million, you don’t need to worry about taxes - for now at least.
Tags: Canada, citizens, death, estate, estate tax, financial tax fair market value, market value, property, tax, U.S.