Do I file Form 706 even if no tax is owed?
Estate, gift or death filing obligations of this kind are generally required on the facts rather than on the tax result, so a nil position does not remove one. Executors of US citizen and resident estates above the filing threshold, and those making a portability election.
What happens if I have missed Form 706 for several years?
Missed years are dealt with as a package rather than one at a time, because the route chosen for the first year affects the relief available for the rest. We map the years and the obligations before anything is filed.
Is Form 706 the same as the other reports I already file?
No. The US estate tax return for a citizen or resident decedent, including foreign assets and foreign death taxes paid. Satisfying a different obligation, even one covering the same accounts or entity, does nothing for this one.
My mother was American but lived abroad for most of her life?
Her estate is assessed on worldwide assets, not only on anything American. A US citizen who spent a life abroad usually leaves an estate that is almost entirely foreign, and that does not take it outside the return's reach. What decides whether a return is required is the size of the worldwide estate measured against the filing threshold, plus any election the surviving spouse wants to make. The practical work is an inventory across countries and currencies, which takes longer than families expect.
Do we still file if the estate is below the threshold?
Sometimes yes, by choice. A return is also the vehicle for the portability election, which preserves the unused part of a deceased spouse's exemption for the survivor. Where the survivor may later hold a larger estate, filing an otherwise unnecessary return can be the sensible decision. It has to be taken deliberately and early, with the inventory done properly, because the election rests on a complete return rather than on a short one prepared to tick a box.
We already paid inheritance tax abroad, is that taken into account?
Foreign death taxes paid are part of what the return deals with, so the foreign filing and the US one have to be reconciled rather than run in parallel. In practice that means matching asset schedules across two systems that classify and value things differently, and establishing what was paid, on what, and when. Families who treat the two administrations as unrelated usually find the figures do not agree, and the reconciliation is then done under time pressure at the end.
How do we value assets that are in different currencies?
Each asset is valued at the date of death and converted on a consistent, documented basis. The discipline matters more than the choice: one convention, applied across the whole inventory, recorded in the file. Estates spread over several countries are where this breaks down, because each local adviser supplies figures in their own currency on their own date and nobody states the rate used. We fix the convention before collecting valuations, so the schedules add up when they arrive.
Can the estate be distributed before the US return is filed?
Distributing first is where executors create personal exposure. The estate's worldwide assets sit in the base, and the foreign probate and death-tax filings have to be reconciled with the US position before anyone can be confident what remains. Beneficiaries press for early distribution, particularly where the foreign administration has already concluded. The safer sequence is to establish the inventory, quantify the US position, and then release, with the reasoning written down so the executor can explain the delay.
Who is responsible for filing when the executor lives outside the US?
The person administering the estate carries the obligation wherever they live, and being abroad changes the logistics rather than the duty. In practice a foreign executor is assembling records from institutions that will not correspond easily, working alongside a local probate process, and making decisions about elections under a system they have never used. The role does not transfer by appointing local advisers. It is discharged by getting the inventory, the valuations and the filing right.
Do non-residents pay US estate tax?
Yes, on US-situs assets — and with a far smaller exemption than a US citizen or domiciliary receives, which is why exposure can arise at values people assume are safe. US real property, tangible property located there and shares issued by US companies are generally in; foreign-issued securities and certain deposits generally are not. An estate tax treaty, where one exists, can improve the position considerably. See US estate tax for non-resident aliens.
What is FIRPTA withholding?
FIRPTA is the US regime that treats a foreign person's disposition of a US real property interest as taxable and makes the buyer withhold on the gross proceeds to secure it. Because the deduction is on the price rather than the profit, it routinely exceeds the real tax — sometimes on a sale made at a loss. A withholding certificate applied for before closing can reduce it to something closer to the actual liability. See the FIRPTA withholding certificate.
