US Expatriate Tax and Finance Conference

Federal and state tax changes

Alex Jones and Glenn Snow of Frank Hirth started the conference with a comprehensive federal and state tax update. They emphasised two important federal tax points.

First from 1 January 2018 the maximum personal federal tax rate has reduced from 39.6% to 37%. The US regime is well known for allowing individuals many deductions from their taxable income. Most of these have now been eliminated or reduced under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). One exception is charitable donations for which an individual can now deduct donations of up to 60% of their income (previously 50%). Many of the US tax reform provisions are due to ‘sunset’ (expire) on 31 December 2025 after which the previous rules will be reinstated.

Second US citizens must make an annual report to the US Treasury of their non-US bank accounts. The Internal Revenue Service...