Thanks for sharing this.

It seems like only US situ assets would fall under the Estate Tax as a non-resident (ie US domiciled ETFs, cash in broker account)

You could get around this by buying ETFs from different exchanges

Eg. Instead of SPY, buy VUSA (GBP) / VUSD (USD) on the LSE - this also gets around the 30% Withholding tax a bit - as the ETF is Ireland domiciled it internally pays 15% rather than 30% in its holding and dividends are paid out gross.

I'll worry about this when I get older, if I were to die tomorrow I don't think anyone would know where I have my savings / broker accounts anyway

This post has been edited by rjb123: Nov 16 2014, 06:16 AM

Well from what I read on the estate taxes - US domiciled ETFs are classed as US situ assets, as is cash kept in a broker account, so one should be able to stay underneath the $60K threshold by switching some holdings over to ETFs not traded on USA exchanges , such as Ireland domiciled, or Luxembourg domiciled.

As you get older it would also be possible to transfer holdings out to another broker - eg. TD International (Luxembourg) I have an account there too but it's not currently being used due to the high trading fees - however it may be an option to transfer there later (I'm only 27, not too concerned about estate tax yet!)

Yes - I have Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade, TD International (not used yet)

VUSA/VUSD actually has lower expense ratio by 0.02% than SPY for example, only downside is trading charges are a bit higher on LSE compared to US markets. Anyway with IB you have plenty of options, can build up portfolio of ETFs which aren't US domiciled then when getting older transfer over to Luxembourg based broker for example.

Other option seems to be to set up an IBC or trust offshore and hold your investments there .. might be worth looking at if holdings become large

This post has been edited by rjb123: Nov 16 2014, 10:51 AM

Yeah, I've seen the IB announcement before also.

Anyway, in 30-40+ years time the tax laws will have probably changed again multiple times so I'm not overly concerned at this stage about estate tax.

FYI, here's the fees if you buy ETFs through TD Luxembourg (really not worth it if you're topping up frequently)

TDAM I use for commission free ETF and enrolled in DRIP which IB doesn't offer

FYI, IB charge is waived with balances over $100K

Currently a bit unorganised, as I started off with commission free ETFs on TDAM which I'm now looking to switch mostly to the below from LSE resulting in no 30% withholding tax:

VUSA
VUKE
VMID
VERX
VFEM
VAPX

I have some BND

But still quite cash heavy at present - ready for any dips

This depends where "home country" is

I've been in Malaysia for 4-5 years, will I stay here for another 5-10 years, will I retire here? I have no idea.

As such I mix it up by holding different currencies and adjust once I'm closer to retirement age (some time away, unfortunately!)

You can try Interactive Brokers or TD Ameritrade

If you use Interactive Brokers for example, you can purchase alternative ETFs - such as VUSD/VUSA listed on LSE and domiciled in Ireland, this halves withholding taxes.

eg. instead of SPY, purchase
Yes, IB is minimum $10000 USD, TD Ameritrade I think less.