US estate tax for Swiss residents (Interactive Brokers)

M

mickelopickelo

New member
Hi
I am a CH citizen and resident (not US person) with an Interactive Brokers account and I'm looking into the US Estate Tax topic. I want to get a general understanding of: what is considered to be a US situs asset for estate tax purposes?

I currently have the following kind of positions in my portfolio:
1) US Stock
2) US domiciled ETFs
3) non-US stock
4) non-US domiciled ETF
5) Cash: CHF, EUR, CAD, USD

I assume 1+2 are clearly US situs assets but what about the rest?

Appreciate your help!
Michael
 
Hi

mickelopickelo said:
I assume 1+2 are clearly US situs assets but what about the rest?
Click to expand...
I would think that if you hold USD through a US bank, that would also count towards the limit. But holding USD in a Swiss broker should be fine.

That being said, you should not stress too much over it: only CH residents with net worth of more than 15 million USD will pay any estate tax.
 
Baptiste Wicht said:
Hi


I would think that if you hold USD through a US bank, that would also count towards the limit. But holding USD in a Swiss broker should be fine.

That being said, you should not stress too much over it: only CH residents with net worth of more than 15 million USD will pay any estate tax.
Click to expand...
Thanks! I am bit unclear if Interactive Brokers is considered a Swiss broker. When wiring money into the accounts the beneficiaries are always outside of Switzerland even for CHF wires. For CHF as an example, the account title / beneficiary is:
Interactive Brokers LLC
One Pickwick Plaza
Greenwich, Connecticut 06830
United States

Whereas the the beneficiary bank is:
CITIBANK N.A.
41 Berkely Square
London W1J 5AN
United Kingdom

Any thoughts?
 
The problem is that you would have to know exactly where they put your money. I think it's safer to assume that cash held by IB is held in the US. They have multiple banks to hold cash, so I am not sure where the cash of an individual investor is held. And if one investor has a lot of cash, they even have a program to split that money across multiple banks.
 
I also got an answer from Interactive Brokers. Of course the leave the final decision up to the US courts and IRS but in their view, this is how it is:

If you have the following types of investments in your portfolio:
1) US Stock
2) US domiciled ETFs
3) US T-Bill
4) non-US stock
5) non-US domiciled ETF
6) Cash: CHF, EUR, CAD, USD

1 + 2 + 3 + 6 would be considered US assets. Number 4 and 5 would not be considered as US assets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top