Cross Border Tax Planning

Blacktower Financial Management (US) LLC provides cross-border wealth management, financial advice and tax planning services for UK citizens and dual-nationals who are resident in the United States.

Our approach retains all the character of our British origins while combining this with in-depth technical and practical understanding of US-specific cross-border wealth management and tax planning considerations.

Our service is based on listening to you and understanding your personal circumstances so we can accurately factor the cross-border regulatory and tax rules as they apply to your personal situation.

Tax implications

Residing in the United States, whether on a full- or part-time basis brings with it certain tax obligations and considerations. Blacktower Financial Management works to help its clients understand the full cross-border tax planning implications of both their US- and non-US- domiciled assets and investments. We can also help with advice in relation to all of the following:

• Transfer of UK pensions into offshore SIPPs
• Management of existing QROPS
• 401k rollovers
• IRAs
• Trading accounts
• Education plans

Whether you are a British expat who lives and works in the US or you have retired to the country but retain an interest in one or more other countries, our expertise can help you ensure that your cross-border tax planning takes account of all the important factors to help you protect, preserve and grow your wealth in a way that aligns with your interests while also respecting rules and regulations across all relevant jurisdictions.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance – FATCA

It is common to retain an interest in the UK even after you have moved to the US, whether for emotional or practical reasons or both. Perhaps you own UK real estate, or you have the UK or EU based pension, or perhaps you have some other form of investment that lies outside of the US— whatever the case, you will need to consider whether your assets are structured in a way that makes them consistent with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) as well as your personal financial goals.

FATCA came into effect in 2014 and requires US taxpayers to disclose foreign accounts and offshore assets. The US Government has made clear its determination to recover the tax from all taxable assets. As such, hidden or unreported US assets can attract severe financial penalty.

Blacktower Financial Management can help you consider not only the structure and management of your most important assets but also of any investments or accounts you might otherwise pay less attention to—even unwitting omissions in your reporting can incur penalties under FATCA.

Examples of investments that you might want to consider as tax inefficient in the UK include Offshore Investment Bonds (which can be deemed as Passive Foreign Investment Companies or PFICs), QROPS and ISAs, which although favourable from a taxation perspective in the UK are considered toxic investments in the US.

FBAR

If you have interest or signature authority in a foreign financial account which exceeds certain thresholds— including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, or other type of foreign financial account—the Bank Secrecy Act may require you to report the account annually to the Internal Revenue Service by filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

Blacktower Financial Management in the USA

The United States is home to more than 1.3 million British expats. Many work in lucrative roles within the finance, oil, gas and insurance industries. At Blacktower we work to protect and promote the interests of our clients in relation to their wealth, including cross-border tax planning.

Contact us today to discover more about the benefits of the Blacktower approach.