graeme0001

I am very shortly moving to Washington DC. I have sold both a business and my home. When I transfer the money to the US will there be any tax implications?

Thanks

Graeme

Bill_S

A simple transfer of funds into the US is not a taxable event.

Dan725

As Bill says.

farmerwife

Yep - what Bill and Dan said.

"Render unto Caesar". If taxes are due on your capital gains, it depends which Caesar you are subject to at that time. A separate subject.

rew1000

Provided you realise the capital gain prior to relocating to the US, the relevant Caesar should be the UK, but you could need to consider carefully how to file your US taxes for this year, as the default position is likely to treat you as a US resident for the whole of 2008 (and so owing US capital gains tax on all worldwide gains in 2008).

meauxna

You seem like the right person to confirm this.. is it your understanding that entry with an Immigrant Visa (rendering the individual a Permanent Resident/green card immediately) makes one subject to the 'report worldwide income' basis for the entire year?
ex: my DH entered in November and was subject to the PR test for the entire calendar year.

It made no difference to us at the time, but I want to make sure I have the correct understanding.

rew1000

I think you're right: there are two things that will make an alien "resident" for tax purposes - "substantial presence" (basically in the US for more than half the year) or the "green card test".

You then have two ways to avoid paying tax on the non-US income: "Foreign Earned Income Exclusion" (where residents/citizens can exclude up to $85000 of foreign earned income) or filing a first year "Dual Status" return (where you split the year into "nonresident" and "resident" parts).

[Info gleaned from http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p519.pdf and hanging out on BritishExpats...]

Dan725

Hmm, I'm not sure on that either - I wouldn't bet on the the entire year, probably a percentage thereof would be my uninformed off the cuff guess.