Quote Originally Posted by steve9 View Post
Dean Riley, head of group tax at Kiwi Bank, covers the FIF trader/investor distinction in this seminar :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHpq...outu.be&t=2975
Not really crystal clear under FIF. Again like most financial advisers in NZ, they always come out saying "go seek a tax specialist...."

Shortly after the FIF question they briefly talked about US Estate Duties on Joint account holders. The lady may not be crystal clear on US estate taxes ; she did say YES for sole individual that dies, their US holding will attract US estate taxes regardless of amount (interestingly, for US residents the threshold for estate / death taxes doesn't apply unless after $11.5M). But on the issue of joint accounts ; she should clarify too that the joint account holder that dies is also subjected to US estate taxes on their 'original' contribution portion to buy the asset. She should also mentioned there's a $60K NRA exemption. But i'm not holding any faith to these NZ financial advisers... more or less they're all out farming it by telling clients "Go see a tax specialist". I can assure in Canada or in the US, CFP registered advisors won't tell you to go see a tax specialist and will have most of that tax info at hand.

https://www.frankhirth.com/news/us-t...non-us-persons

"If assets are held jointly, each individuals contribution to the acquisition of the US asset should be carefully documented. If contribution amounts are not clearly understood, the IRS could operate a “worst-case scenario” approach and include 100% of the value of the asset within the estate of the first joint owner to die."