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International money transfer

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I live in South Carolina. My question is actually quite simple. My husband, who is a German citizen not American, has a mother in Germany who recently passed. She left him €100,000 which we need to transfer over to the United States. He’s already paid the death tax in Germany I live in South Carolina. My question is actually quite simple. My husband, who is a German Citizen and not American, has a mother in Germany who recently passed. She left him €100,000 which we need to transfer over to the United States. He’s already paid the death tax in Germany. Do we have to pay taxes on the inherited money when we transfer it over?
 


FlyingRon

Senior Member
There's no inheritance tax in SC or federally. The transfer has to be reported, but there should be no tax. Talk to a representative of your bank when setting up the transfer. They should know the process.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
If the gift/inheritance is 100k or more it needs to be reported to the IRS on form 3520, which can be downloaded from irs.gov. As previously stated, there will be no tax, it simply needs to be reported.
 
Thank you both for the information. I already spoke to the bank and they were unable to give me any information and referred me to my tax preparer. My tax preparer is seasonal and therefore I couldn’t get an answer back there either. Either way. The money is coming in increments so I told my husband he should wait until December when all the money is available and bring it all over in one go so we only have to report to the IRS one time
 

Dandy Don

Senior Member
There is no need for you to wait until December--start receiving your money NOW. Since your money is coming in increments, that means those payments will each be under the $100,000.00 minimum requirement for reporting. You do not even need to fill out a Form 3520 since there will be no tax liability. You need to find out if the money is coming from a foreign trust (ask the attorney who handled his mother's estate whether the money is coming from a trust) or not (is it just money from a normal estate proceeding?).

The way the rule reads is that the amount must be $100,000.00 or more in order for you to need to report it on Form 3520 so in your case that is not applicable. If you have any questions about this now or later, you should contact a professional CPA and not just a regular tax preparer who may not be that familiar with foreign estate matters.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
There is no need for you to wait until December--start receiving your money NOW. Since your money is coming in increments, that means those payments will each be under the $100,000.00 minimum requirement for reporting. You do not even need to fill out a Form 3520 since there will be no tax liability. You need to find out if the money is coming from a foreign trust (ask the attorney who handled his mother's estate whether the money is coming from a trust) or not (is it just money from a normal estate proceeding?).

The way the rule reads is that the amount must be $100,000.00 or more in order for you to need to report it on Form 3520 so in your case that is not applicable. If you have any questions about this now or later, you should contact a professional CPA and not just a regular tax preparer who may not be that familiar with foreign estate matters.
Some CPAs are not very familiar with individual tax and some CPAs are not familar with tax in general. It all depends on how they have specialized.

OP needs a tax professional who is familiar with form 3520 and how and when it is used.
 

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