Trusts and Foundations
Setting up or benefiting from a trust before the move can create heavy U.S. reporting and tax once you're a resident.
What This Is
Trusts, private foundations, and similar structures are common in Latin American estate planning. The U.S. looks through them: if you set one up, or you benefit from one, you may be taxed on its income and required to report it in detail every year, even if you receive nothing.
Distributions from a trust that has been accumulating income for years can be taxed especially harshly when they reach a U.S. resident.
Why the Date Matters
Whether a trust is a problem depends heavily on how it's drafted and who controls it — and those things can often be changed before the residency date. After it, changes to the trust or distributions from it are events the U.S. can tax. If you are connected to a trust in any way, this is the area to look at first.
What a Paid Assessment Does
A licensed accountant reviews how each structure will be classified for U.S. purposes, what it will cost in tax and reporting, and which options exist before the date. Changes to trust documents are legal work, outside accounting practice — where that's needed, we say so and recommend a qualified attorney. We do not name or refer you to any firm.
See Whether This Applies to You
The free assessment checks this and five other areas against your residency date.