USA Law and Practice Contributed by: Christopher Boyett, David Scott Sloan, Max Angel and Eric Bracy, Holland & Knight LLP
Holland & Knight LLP 701 Brickell Avenue, Suite 3300 Miami Florida 33131 USA Tel: (305) 374 8500 Fax: (305) 789 7799 Email: christopher.boyett@hhklaw.com Web: www.hklaw.com
1. Tax 1.1 Tax Regimes Federal Taxes
federal transfer taxes. Property and sales taxes are common at the state and local levels. 1.2 Exemptions US federal law provides several exemptions from estate, gift, and GST taxes. Each individual has a life - time exemption of USD13.99 million in 2025, which may be used during life or at death. For married couples, the combined exemption is USD27.98 mil - lion. Beginning in 2026, the exemption will increase to USD15 million per person under recently enacted legislation. In addition, individuals may make annual exclusion gifts of up to USD19,000 per recipient in 2025 without using any of their lifetime exemption. Other transfers are also excluded from gift tax entirely, including direct payments to educational institutions for tuition and to medical providers for unreimbursed expenses. Gifts to qualifying US charities are also exempt from gift and estate tax and may be deductible for income tax purposes, subject to applicable limits. Individuals who are neither US citizens nor domiciled in the United States are subject to transfer tax only on US-situs assets. They are not entitled to the life - time exemption and instead have a limited estate tax exemption of USD60,000. They are generally eligible for the annual gift tax exclusion. 1.3 Income Tax Planning The United States offers several income tax planning opportunities, particularly through basis adjustment at death. When a person dies, the basis of their capital assets is generally stepped up to fair market value as
The United States imposes a comprehensive federal tax regime that is relevant to individual clients, estates, trusts and foundations. This includes federal income tax, estate tax, gift tax, and generation-skipping trans - fer (GST) tax. These taxes apply to US citizens and domiciliaries on a worldwide basis, regardless of their residence or the location of their assets. The United States imposes federal income tax on the worldwide income of its citizens and residents, with rates of up to 37% and long-term capital gains generally taxed at 20%. Non-residents are taxed only on US-source income, which may be subject to with - holding or graduated rates depending on the nature of the income and applicable treaty relief. There is no remittance basis of taxation. Federal transfer taxes include estate, gift, and GST taxes. These apply to global transfers by US citizens and domiciliaries. For 2025, the unified exemption is USD13.99 million per individual. Non-citizen, non- domiciliary individuals are subject to estate tax only on US-situs assets and do not benefit from the unified exemption; their exemption is limited to USD60,000. State-Level Taxes State-level income taxes are imposed by most states, though nine – including Florida and Texas – do not levy such taxes. Several states also impose estate or inheritance taxes, which may apply in addition to
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