The $60K Estate Tax Trap for Non-US Citizens Holding US Assets

How Americans Build a Life Abroad: Carl Richards on Risk & Mindset

Carl Richards [https://behaviorgap.com/about/] is a certified financial planner, the New York Times [https://www.nytimes.com/column/sketch-guy]Sketch Guy [https://www.nytimes.com/column/sketch-guy], and the author of Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches [https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Reimagining-Wealth-Sketches/dp/1804091715]. He moved from Utah to New Zealand with his family in a matter of weeks. His wife bought plane tickets ten days after hearing about a friend's available house. Ninety days later, they had moved. This episode covers: * How Carl became the New York Times sketch guy (a desperate drawing on a whiteboard) * Why showing up and being consistent matters more * How Carl's wife pulled the rescue cord and moved the family to New Zealand * The detox from US money and work culture that Carl did not see coming * Moving teenagers abroad during a senior year of high school * Why New Zealanders ask about holidays and weekends, not jobs * The French cafe lesson: you think this is about money. It is about food. * The worry list: a blank page. Nothing is helped by worrying. * The cognitive load of a simple grocery store in a new country * Carl's daughter's advice: you thought you were going to have an adventure without it being hard * Why Carl would spend his savings again without thinking twice Carl and host Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA discuss why most of what we worry about never happens and why moving abroad does not require a perfect plan. Resources * Read Carl's latest book Your Money: Reimagining Wealth in 101 Simple Sketches [https://www.amazon.com/Your-Money-Reimagining-Wealth-Sketches/dp/1804091715] * Subscribe to the Passport to Wealth newsletter: passporttowealth.com/contact [https://passporttowealth.com/contact] * Find a vetted cross-border advisor: passporttowealth.com/directory [https://passporttowealth.com/directory] * Are you a qualified professional serving US expats? Apply to passporttowealth.com/join [https://passporttowealth.com/join] Mentioned in this episode: www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] Passport to Wealth is a proud member of the SwissCast Network Discover more podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland SwissCast Network [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/swisscastnetwork] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth]

Moving to Europe as a US Expat: Taxes, Incentives, and the Mistakes That Are Hardest to Fix

Christian Gulizzi [https://gulizzi-consulting.com/] is a cross-border tax advisor licensed in the United States as a CPA, in Germany as a Steuerberater, and in Italy as a Dottore Commercialista. He was born to an Italian and German parent, grew up navigating cross-border complexity, and built his entire academic and professional career around it. He currently lives and works from the Italian Riviera. This episode covers: * The biggest misconception Americans have about taxes when moving to Europe * Why leaving money in US accounts does not protect it from European tax authorities * The 183-day rule and why it does not mean what most people think * How German residency can begin on day one simply by having a home there * Why a US LLC provides no protection from the tax authority where you are physically working * Italy's €300,000 foreign flat tax for high net worth individuals * The 7% flat tax for retirees moving to southern Italian towns under 30,000 inhabitants * The Impatriati regime: up to 90% income exemption for workers and researchers * The Forfettario regime: 5% flat tax for self-employed people earning under €85,000 * Why German courts have blocked tax incentive regimes as unconstitutional * Italy vs. Germany inheritance tax: €1 million exemption at 4% vs. €400,000 at 19-33% * Christian's single most important piece of advice before any move to Europe * Why pre-immigration planning is critical: fixing mistakes after residency is almost impossible We discuss the specific misconceptions that create the most expensive problems for Americans moving abroad, the legal incentive regimes Italy offers that most people never find in time to use, and why the country you choose to move to is itself a financial decision. Resources * Connect with Christian on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/christiangulizzi/?originalSubdomain=it] * Subscribe to the Passport to Wealth newsletter: passporttowealth.com/contact [https://passporttowealth.com/contact] * Find a vetted cross-border advisor: passporttowealth.com/directory [https://passporttowealth.com/directory] * Are you a qualified professional serving US expats in Europe? Apply to passporttowealth.com/join [https://passporttowealth.com/join] Mentioned in this episode: www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] Passport to Wealth is a proud member of the SwissCast Network Discover more podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland SwissCast Network [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/swisscastnetwork] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth]

Visas, Taxes & Healthcare in France: A Paris Immigration Attorney Explains

Daniel Tostado [https://app.zephyrcms.com/$%7B%20zed.url(%7Bmodule:'qcsguLSdmGf6Xq8ff',entity:'bEwXXernrg23hd5mG'%7D)%20%7D] is a naturalized French citizen, a dual-qualified attorney (US and France), and the founder of Tostado Avocats [https://www.danieltostado.com/], an immigration law firm dedicated to helping Americans navigate the French legal system. He moved from San Diego to France in 2010, completed a French master's degree, passed the bar on both sides of the Atlantic, and has since built a practice focused exclusively on French visas, residency permits, and citizenship pathways. He also runs a winter homeless shelter for refugees in Paris. This episode covers: * The four main visa categories for Americans moving to France (visitor, student, entrepreneur, and family-based) * Why the visitor visa is the most popular route and who it's right for * The legal gray area around remote work for US employers on a French visitor visa * How the Franco-American tax treaty protects American assets including Roth IRAs * France's healthcare system and how Americans access it from day one * The entrepreneur visa: what France wants to see in your business plan * Why selling your US home after establishing French residency can trigger unexpected capital gains * Naturalization by marriage and the timeline to a 10-year residency card * How quickly you can realistically get a French visa (spoiler: faster than most countries) We discuss the legal pathways Americans actually use to move to France, the tax and healthcare systems that await them, and the cultural realities of building a life in a country that does not automatically trust the stranger. Resources * Follow Daniel on Instagram @tostadoavocats * Listen to our episode [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reinventing-yourself-abroad-from-creative-burnout-to/id1756704689?i=1000722650067]with Céline Flores-Tavukcuoglu * Are you a qualified professional serving US expats in France or Europe? Apply to passporttowealth.com/join * Subscribe to the Passport to Wealth newsletter: passporttowealth.com/contact * Find a vetted cross-border advisor: passporttowealth.com/directory Mentioned in this episode: Passport to Wealth is a proud member of the SwissCast Network Discover more podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland SwissCast Network [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/swisscastnetwork] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth]

The $60K Estate Tax Trap for Non-US Citizens Holding US Assets

Hui-chin Chen, CFP® [https://app.zephyrcms.com/$%7B%20zed.url(%7Bmodule:'qcsguLSdmGf6Xq8ff',entity:'tp6aD2cuRbZBLoCk9'%7D)%20%7D], is the managing partner of Jade & Cowry [https://jadeandcowrywealth.com/] and has spent her career working with globally mobile families across Asia-Pacific; including her own, as the spouse of a US diplomat who has lived across multiple countries and tax systems. She is one of a small number of practitioners who understands both the technical US tax obligations that reach across borders and the cultural dynamics that make compliance so difficult to achieve. This episode covers the compliance traps that consistently catch non-US citizens, US-connected individuals, and globally mobile families who never anticipated owing anything to the IRS. In this episode * Accidental Americans and the US tax net - how people become subject to US taxation through birth, the substantial presence test, green card status, or a US spouse, without ever identifying as American * Planned citizenship and generational wealth in Asia - how affluent Asian families deliberately acquire US citizenship for the next generation and why, without comprehensive cross-border planning from the beginning, that decision creates compounding reporting obligations for decades * The $60,000 US estate tax threshold for non-citizens - why a non-US citizen holding US stocks, real estate, or RSUs from a US employer faces a 40% estate tax above $60,000, how that threshold has never been indexed for inflation, and why almost no Asian countries have estate tax treaties with the US * The non-US spouse filing trap - how a US citizen claiming a non-US spouse as a dependent or filing jointly to reduce tax liability can unknowingly pull that spouse's entire foreign financial picture into the US reporting system, creating obligations the non-US spouse never agreed to and may not know exist * Joint accounts, family business signatory authority, and FBAR - why common Asian estate planning structures (joint accounts with parents, signatory authority on family businesses) trigger US reporting requirements the account holder never considered * Territorial tax regimes across Asia-Pacific - how Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and other territorial systems interact with US citizenship-based taxation, and why holding assets in the US for diversification can create estate tax exposure that offsets the investment benefit entirely * The four-to-six month pre-move planning window - why cross-border planning needs to begin months before a move, not after arrival, and why a full financial audit including family account involvement is the mandatory starting point Resources * Connect with Hui-chin on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/huichinchen/] * Are you a qualified professional serving US expats in France or Europe? Apply to passporttowealth.com/join * Subscribe to the Passport to Wealth newsletter: passporttowealth.com/contact * Find a vetted cross-border advisor: passporttowealth.com/directory Mentioned in this episode: www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] Passport to Wealth is a proud member of the SwissCast Network Discover more podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland SwissCast Network [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/swisscastnetwork]

Moving to Italy as a US Expat: Italian Tax Incentives, Raising Kids Abroad, and the $25K Tax Mistake

What does it actually cost — financially and logistically — to move to Italy as a US expat and raise a family there? In this episode of Passport to Wealth, financial planner Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA sits down with Danielle Shumway, founder of Ciao Family Travel, to break down the real numbers: Italy's Rientro dei Cervelli tax incentive, US expat tax obligations, Italian healthcare and schools, and the $25K mistake that comes from not filing US tax returns abroad. Danielle Shumway [https://www.instagram.com/ciaofamilytravel] moved to Italy in 2015 with her Italian husband, an 18-month-old, and a four-month-old. The original plan was five years: take advantage of Italy's Rientro dei Cervelli tax incentive, let the kids grow up bilingual, stay near family, and return to the US. A decade later, she has four children, Italian citizenship, and a family travel business called Ciao Family Travel [https://ciaofamilytravel.com/] — and she is still in Italy. In this episode, Arielle Tucker, CFP®, EA [https://app.zephyrcms.com/$%7B%20zed.url(%7Bmodule:'2DeJQDAz75kpRHkXg',entity:'9aaLSMFNaMeYWP6NW'%7D)%20%7D] sits down with Danielle to cover the financial and logistical realities of raising a family in Italy as a US citizen. The conversation covers what the Italian tax incentive actually offers, why Danielle's husband stopped his US citizenship process the month he was set to sign the papers, and what it cost when years of unfiled US tax returns caught up with them. In this episode: * Italy's Rientro dei Cervelli tax incentive - how it works, who qualifies, what happens after year five, and why holding three or more children plus a home can reduce your Italian tax rate to near zero * US citizenship-based taxation and non-US spouses - why Danielle's husband halted his citizenship application, what green card holders face if they hold status outside the US for more than eight years, and the exit tax implications most families do not see coming * Corporate relocation as a move-abroad strategy - how an Amazon internal transfer handled immigration, housing, and dual-tax-system support, and why starting with your current employer is one of the lowest-friction paths to living abroad * Italian healthcare for pregnancy and birth - monthly blood work, structured prenatal appointments, the epidural decision that must be made four weeks before delivery, and why postpartum recovery felt cold compared to US standards * Italian school system from age three - the Montessori-forward scuola dell'infanzia, government versus private spots, the points-based enrollment system, and what the transition into first grade looks like * The $25,000 tax compliance mistake - what happens when a US citizen abroad stops filing tax returns, how Danielle found out, what it cost to fix, and why a cross-border CPA is not optional * Traveling 50+ countries with children - the 70/30 outdoor rule, why stress gave Danielle a phantom toothache in the Czech Republic, and how private guides changed how the family travels Resources * Follow Danielle on Instagram @ciaofamilytravel * Are you a qualified professional serving US expats in France or Europe? Apply to passporttowealth.com/join * Subscribe to the Passport to Wealth newsletter: passporttowealth.com/contact * Find a vetted cross-border advisor: passporttowealth.com/directory Mentioned in this episode: www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] www.passporttowealth.com [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/passport-to-wealth] Passport to Wealth is a proud member of the SwissCast Network Discover more podcasts for English-speaking Switzerland SwissCast Network [https://passport-to-wealth.captivate.fm/swisscastnetwork]