US estate tax exposure for non-residents — free calculator
Works out what proportion of an estate is exposed to US estate tax, and therefore how much treaty relief is pro-rated to.
- 15+Years of cross-border experience
- 18,000+Clients served
- 5.0Google rating
- 4Global offices — India, USA, Canada & UAE
Works out what proportion of an estate is exposed to US estate tax, and therefore how much treaty relief is pro-rated to.
Enter your figures
An estimate for planning only. Rates and thresholds used here are the assumptions stated on this page; we confirm every figure against the issuing authority for your own tax year before anything is filed.
How the estimate is built
US estate tax reaches assets situated in the United States regardless of the owner's residence, and the amount that passes free of it for a non-resident is far smaller than for a US person. Where an estate tax treaty applies, the relief is pro-rated by reference to the ratio of US-situs assets to the worldwide estate. Managing the ratio means changing how the US assets are held, not where the owner lives.
Your next step
A calculator narrows the range; it does not settle a filing. One call now is worth more than a filing season of guessing.
Checked and signed off for the 2025 and 2026 filing seasons by Udit Gupta, Cross-Border Tax Expert, Legal Quotient Consultants. Written as general guidance, not as a recommendation for your situation. Talk it through with us before acting on it.
Where US non resident tax calculator comes into this file
This is the page to read on US non resident tax calculator. It takes US estate tax exposure for non-residents in order — the test that decides who is affected, the returns and forms that follow from it, and a fee quoted in writing before anything starts.
People also search for: feie vs foreign tax credit.
Why choose Legal Quotient for US estate tax exposure for non-residents calculator
The fee is fixed before we start
Quoted from your documents and agreed in writing. The number you accept is the number you pay.
We say early if it is not our work
If a file needs something this practice does not do, you hear that at the start rather than after a bill.
18,000+ clients served
Individuals, expats and corporations across India, the USA, Canada and the UAE have filed with us — 15+ years of cross-border work.
The reporting penalties get named early
The heaviest exposure on a cross-border file is usually a disclosure form, not the tax. We identify which ones apply before a deadline turns into a penalty.
What these engagements turn on
Portfolio scheduled line by line to establish situs
A retired couple held an investment account managed at home that they had never thought of as American. The work went through the portfolio line by line, marking each holding with the reason it was or was not US-situs, then set the total against the worldwide estate to give the exposure ratio. Several holdings that looked foreign sat inside the net and several that looked American did not. The engagement produced a schedule the couple can update themselves as the portfolio changes, together with a written basis for each classification.
Holiday property reviewed before a sale could complete
A sale of a United States property by an estate had reached the point where the buyer's title company wanted evidence that the American estate position had been addressed, and the family had not known there was one. The work established the situs value, the worldwide estate against which relief would be pro-rated, and what the clearance procedure requires. The engagement produced the filed position and the documentation the closing needed, with a record of the valuations relied on and where each of them came from.
Exposure ratio recalculated after the worldwide estate changed
A client's worldwide estate had changed substantially following a business sale, while the American holdings stayed exactly as they were. Because treaty relief for a non-resident estate is pro-rated on the ratio between the two, the exposure had moved without anyone touching the US assets. The work recalculated the ratio on the new figures and set out how the position would look under several different ways of holding those assets. The engagement produced a revised plan and a note of the events that should trigger the next recalculation.
Ownership of US shares restructured while the holder was living
An individual holding shares in US corporations wanted the position dealt with while the choice was still theirs to make. The work compared holding the shares personally against the alternatives available, across both the estate exposure and the income tax and reporting consequences each route brings, and discarded two structures whose ongoing cost outweighed the exposure they removed. The engagement produced a written comparison, the reasoning for the option adopted, and a list of the filings the new arrangement carries with it.
Executors took an estate through the US clearance procedure
Executors administering an estate outside the United States found a single American holding and no guidance on what to do with it. The work identified the US-situs assets, valued them at the correct date, established the worldwide estate figure the treaty pro-ration depends on, and made the disclosure that claiming the relief requires. The engagement produced a filed return, the clearance the transfer agent had been waiting for, and a written record for the beneficiaries of how each figure was arrived at.
Family who assumed emigration had removed the exposure
A family had left North America some years earlier and treated the move as having closed the question. The work explained that the tax follows where assets are situated rather than where the owner lives, scheduled what remained in the United States and established the exposure ratio against the worldwide estate. The engagement produced a current position paper, a shortlist of the holdings worth restructuring and the ones not worth the cost of doing so, and a record of the advice for the family's own files.
US Estate Tax on Assets a Canadian Did Not Know Were Exposed
US shares and US real estate sit inside the US estate tax net regardless of where the owner lives. The treaty provides relief that is proportionate rather than automatic, and the calculation depends on the worldwide estate.
Read how this one runsMoving Money Out of India and the Certificates It Needs
A remittance out of India needs its tax position certified before the bank will process it. The file establishes the character of the funds, produces the certification, and keeps the position consistent with the returns already filed.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services
International Tax Planning & Advisory
Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.
U.S. & Cross-Border Tax Returns
Expat & Emigration Tax
Non-Resident Canadian Tax
Transfer Pricing & BEPS
Tax Treaties & Withholding
Cross-Border Estates & Trusts
Global Investments & Reporting
Cross-Border Corporate Tax
India Tax for NRIs & Returning Residents
Canadian Tax with a Foreign Element
UAE Tax for Expats & Their Home Country
Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide
Global E-commerce & Marketplaces
- Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
- Marketplace withholding reviews
- Inventory nexus & PE analysis
- Multi-currency books reconciled
Technology & SaaS
- Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
- IP structuring with real substance
- Equity for cross-border teams
- U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Professional Services Firms
- Reg 105 / 102 waivers
- Permanent establishment risk
- Partner mobility planning
- Cross-border withholding recovery
Cross-Border Real Estate
- Section 216 rental returns
- FIRPTA withholding recovery
- Section 116 clearance
- Treaty credit optimization
Importers, Exporters & Manufacturers
- Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
- Customs value vs transfer price
- Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
- Country-by-country reporting
Athletes, Artists & Entertainers
Performance income is taxed where earned — Regulation 105 in Canada, withholding agreements in the U.S. — with special treaty articles overriding the usual rules.
Performance income is taxed where the performance happens, and the deduction is usually taken at source on the gross fee before expenses. Recovering the difference is a filing exercise in the other country, and it only works if the tour, the residency and the withholding certificates were documented while the work was being done.
- Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
- Multi-state & country calendars
- Touring income allocation
- Royalty & image-rights withholding
Remote Workers & Digital Nomads
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
Investment Funds & Holding Companies
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
