United States · Tax regime
US Federal Estate and Gift Tax (post-OBBBA)
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, PL 119-21, signed 4 July 2025, permanently raised the federal estate, gift and GST exemption to USD 15,000,000 per person, or USD 30M per couple, from 1 January 2026. There is no sunset, and indexation resumes in 2027. Importantly, the act did not change the exemption for non-domiciled foreigners. That figure remains fixed at USD 60,000 against US-situs assets.
The gap between the USD 15M exemption for citizens and domiciliaries and the USD 60,000 exemption for non-domiciliaries runs 250 to 1. It is the most expensive number in US inbound planning. A foreign family holding a Manhattan apartment and a US brokerage account directly, instead of through a properly structured non-US blocker, is exposed to 40% on essentially the whole value at death.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- A 40% federal estate tax applies above the exemption. On top of that, a minority of states add their own estate or inheritance tax.
- Route type
- Tax regime, not a visa
- Physical presence
- Domicile, not residence, controls for estate tax. Domicile is a subjective test of intent, not a day count. A person can be a non-resident for income tax and still be domiciled for estate tax, or the reverse.
- Family
- The unlimited marital deduction applies only when the surviving spouse is a US citizen. Otherwise, a QDOT, a qualified domestic trust, is required. The 2026 annual exclusion for gifts to a non-citizen spouse is USD 194,000
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable
- Citizenship
- Not applicable
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- USD 15,000,000 exemption per person from 2026 for US citizens and domiciliaries, indexed from 2027USD 60,000 exemption for non-domiciled foreigners, applied against US-situs assetsTop rate of 40%
- Non-domiciled foreigners get USD 60,000, not USD 15M. US real estate always has US situs. US-company shares have US situs too, even when held in a foreign brokerage account.
- Green card holders are generally treated as US-domiciled. Taking a green card can move a family from the USD 60,000 regime to the USD 15M regime, or shift them out of a foreign estate regime into the US one entirely.
- There is no unlimited marital deduction for a non-citizen surviving spouse without a QDOT. This catches mixed-nationality couples constantly.
- Permanent here only means there is no sunset date written into the statute. A future Congress can still change it.
- Only a minority of US estate tax treaties, including the UK, France, Germany and Japan, give a foreign decedent a pro-rata share of the larger exemption. Most countries have no such treaty at all.