Glossary / Tax and structure

Situs

Situs is the legal location of an asset for tax purposes, which for shares is generally the country of the issuing company and for funds the country of domicile, regardless of where the owner lives or where the asset is held.

It is the concept that decides which country may tax an asset on death. It has nothing to do with which broker holds it or which currency it is priced in.

A Dubai resident holding US shares through a Swiss bank still holds US situs assets.

Where people get it wrong

Believing the custodian's location changes it. Moving the account does not move the situs.

The framework behind it Fund domicile, and the sixty thousand dollar trap sets out the rule, the arithmetic and where it breaks.

Read the framework

Related terms

US estate tax for non-residents A person who is neither a US citizen nor US domiciled is subject to US federal estate tax on US situs assets above an exemption of sixty thousand dollars, at rates rising to forty percent. Fund domicile A fund's domicile is the country in which it is legally established, and it determines the withholding tax the fund suffers on its holdings and the estate tax exposure of the person who owns it. Tax residency Tax residency is the status that determines which country taxes your worldwide income, decided by each country's own statutory tests rather than by your nationality or your visa.

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