How is the inheritance tax collected abroad?

Inheritance tax is a tax levied on the wealth left by taxpayers after their death. In order to prevent taxpayers from distributing property to their children, relatives and friends in the form of gifts when they are alive, a gift tax has been formulated. The inheritance tax and gift tax in the United States are combined and unified, so as to avoid using the difference between the inheritance tax and gift tax rates to achieve the purpose of tax evasion.

I. Comprehensive inheritance and gift tax

(1) gift tax. In the current federal tax law in the United States, inheritance tax and gift tax are combined into one, and the amount of gifts given by taxpayers before death will affect the tax amount inherited after death. They share the same comprehensive tax credit and apply the same tax rate. Therefore, the taxpayer's gift should be arranged in a unified way with the estate planning. According to the provisions of the tax law, each taxpayer can be allowed a comprehensive allowance of 600,000 yuan in his life, that is, a gift allowance of 6,543,800 yuan per year. Taxpayers must use it carefully to reduce the tax burden of inheritance and gift tax.

In the United States, it is the donor's responsibility to pay the gift tax, and the recipient does not need to pay this tax. Gifts can be cash, stocks, jewelry, annuities, life insurance, real estate, etc. For minors, it is generally necessary to go through the trust procedures for donating real estate. Usually, minors do not have the ability to sign contracts independently and can only be managed by designated guardians. Once their children reach adulthood, the guardianship relationship will automatically terminate.

According to the American tax law, whether the property is transferred directly or indirectly, as long as the donee does not pay a considerable price to the donor, it is in line with the gift tax. Direct transfer of property includes the sale or exchange of property; Indirect transfer of property includes loan cancellation, insurance contract transfer, property transfer trust and interest-free and low-interest loans between relatives and friends.

According to the American tax law, the basic conditions to meet the gift are: 1, and the donor must be mentally normal and have the ability to act; 2. Donors must be willing to give; 3. The recipient did not refuse the gift; 4. The donee has all the legal and substantive rights of the gift; 5. After the gift, the donor has no right to withdraw the gift; 6. The donee failed to pay the equivalent exchange gift.

However, charitable donations, transfer of property between husband and wife, payment of other people's education and medical expenses on behalf of others, and not using the joint bank account of the investor are not required to pay gift tax.

Taxpayers who receive gifts or bequests of more than 654.38 million yuan from foreign individuals within one year must report to the tax bureau, otherwise they will be fined 5% every month, with the highest penalty rate of 25%. However, the money is related to the tuition and medical expenses of the donee, and it is directly remitted to the relevant educational and medical institutions without declaration.

(2) Inheritance tax

The legacy left by death includes the unique property of the deceased and the property belonging to the disabled, accounts receivable, pension, pension, life insurance, etc. , should also be included in the total estate, but all living debts and expenses incurred due to death should be deducted, including loans, accounts payable, medicines, burial and funeral expenses, as well as various taxes, certification and administrative expenses, gifts and qualified donations to the surviving spouse's property. According to the tax law, each person has a tax-free gift of $600,000, and the comprehensive tax credit calculated according to the tax rate is $65,438+092,800 yuan.

(3) Tax rate

The inheritance and gift tax in the United States has progressive tax rates, with the lowest tax rate of 18% and the highest tax rate of 55%. Please refer to the following table:

Table of inheritance and gift tax rates

Minimum tax rate of net comprehensive tax payable%

0-$ 10000 0 18

$ 10000-20000 $ 1800 20

$20000-40000 $3800 22

$40000-60000 $8200 24

$60000-80000 $ 13000 26

$80000- 100000 $ 18000 28

$ 100000- 150000 $23000 30

$ 150000-250000 $38800 32

$250000-500000 $70000 34

$500000-750000 $ 155800 37

$750000- 1000000 $345800 39

$ 1000000- 1250000 $365800 4 1

$ 1250000- 1500000 $448300 43

$ 1500000-2000000 $555800 45

$2000000-2500000 $780800 49

$2500000-3000000 $ 1025800 53

More than $3,000,000 55

(4) tax allowance

1997 The revised tax law greatly improved the tax exemption for gifts.

Annual allowance tax credit

1997 $60000 $ 192800

1998 625000 202050

1999 650000 2 1 1300

2000 675000 220050

200 1 675000 220050

2002 700000 229800

2003 700000 229800

2004 850000 287300

2005 950000 326300

After 2006100000345800

Due to the adjustment of tax allowance, plans such as inheritance, will and trust will be revised. The new tax law allows the comprehensive tax allowance for family-owned enterprises to be 600 thousand, and the special tax allowance to be 700 thousand. Family business A family business, family members must control the business, and need to own more than half of the ownership and participate in management. Family members refer to immediate family members such as husband and wife, parents, children and grandchildren. The deceased must be an American citizen or a foreign resident. Family businesses cannot be listed companies, and more than 35% of their income must come from individual holding companies.

Normally, the inheritance tax is declared within 9 months after the death of the donor. The tax law allows the first 6,543,800 yuan estate to be paid in installments, and enjoys a low interest rate of 2%. The interest rate of other taxes and fees can enjoy 45% of the usual installment rate.

Each taxpayer can give the donee a gift allowance of 6,543,800 yuan per year. If parents have three children, parents can give each child 6.5438+0 million yuan each year, and * * * 60,000 yuan can be exempted from gift tax.

II. Donation, leaseback and external donation

(1) Donation and leaseback

For taxpayers with higher income and higher tax rates, trusts are usually set up to give them machinery, equipment and real estate. Give it to the trust beneficiary, who is often the taxpayer's children, and then rent these properties back from the trust beneficiary to continue to use, so as to achieve the purpose of saving taxes.

(two) the declaration of foreign gifts

The United States is an immigrant country, and many taxpayers have close relations with foreign countries, and foreign gifts often occur. 1996 "small business job security act" stipulates that every American receives gifts from abroad exceeding 10000 yuan every year, and he must report to the tax bureau. Americans here refer to foreigners or residents with American citizenship; Gifts include living gifts and posthumous bequests; The declared amount refers to the accumulated amount, and the so-called right exceeding 6,543,800 yuan refers to the gift of foreign companies or overseas partnerships. If the donor is a foreign individual or heritage, the accumulated gift needs more than 6,543,800 yuan to declare. The declaration time of foreign gifts is the same as that of individual income tax every year. Those who fail to report on time will be fined 5% of the donation amount every month, with a maximum fine of 25% of the donation amount.

Third, estate planning.

Estate planning is to make proper arrangements for the future property after death before the death of the parties, so that the estate can be distributed according to the wishes of the parties, reducing the tax burden and avoiding future certification procedures. Estate planning is mainly about making a will.

(1) Wills and distributions

The so-called will is the will that the parties make a written statement on the disposal of property after death, so the testator can properly handle the estate according to his own wishes before his death. If there is no will, the inheritance will be distributed in turn according to the laws of each state: 1, and the husband and wife * * * have property belonging to the widow; 2. The exclusive or personal property of the deceased (1) The property of a single person with children belongs to the children; (2) Married with one child, half of the property belongs to the surviving spouse and the other half belongs to the children; (3) For married children with more than two children, one third belongs to the surviving spouse and two thirds to the children; (4) Married without children, half belongs to the deceased and the other half belongs to parents. If both parents die, they will be distributed to other children of parents, such as brothers and sisters of the deceased; (5) unmarried and childless, the property belongs to the parents, and if the parents die, it is distributed to the other children of the parents.

(2) Types of wills

In the United States,/kloc-anyone over 0/8 years old and mentally sound can make a will.

1, handwritten will. The testator's autograph and date are not important. It is important that the will must clearly state the will of the estate disposal. Once a handwritten will is altered or added, the law will not recognize it.

2. A formal will. A formal will usually takes the form of a legal will, and the testator should sign, date and clearly explain the way to deal with the estate, usually with more than two witnesses present.

Although there is a will, there is death when there is a will, and inheritance still needs court certification. If the deceased has not made a will or the will is invalid, it is necessary to go through the formalities of intestate authentication. The authentication process is time-consuming and expensive, and it has to be announced, so many testators try to avoid the authentication process by means of trust and property ownership.

(3) Types and applications of trust

If one of the husband and wife is unwilling to transfer the property to a third person other than the husband and wife, and is unwilling to give up the tax credit for each person's comprehensive inheritance gift, they can consider setting up a trust and putting 600,000 yuan into the trust, with one of the husband and wife as the beneficiary, and this 600,000 yuan is excluded from the total inheritance. The so-called trust is a way to transfer ownership to beneficiaries through legal means. There are many kinds of trusts, such as revocation trust and irrevocable trust, lifelong trust and inheritance trust. Generally speaking, a lifetime trust is adopted, that is, the trustee is established according to his wishes before his death. Usually, the trustee will choose an administrator to manage the trust property. Lifetime trust is divided into revocable trust and modifiable trust. The trustee has not completely lost control of the property before his death. After his death, he can arrange the estate according to his wishes at birth. This kind of trust is the most welcome. An irrevocable trust refers to a trust that cannot be terminated once it is established. If the trust is properly established, the gift tax can be reduced or exempted in the process of gradually transferring the property, thus affecting the inheritance tax. However, if the trust belongs to children under the age of 14, the profits generated by the trust exceed 1200 yuan, and the trustee will pay taxes at a higher tax rate. The advantage of testamentary trust is that the beneficiary can be said to be underage or incompetent in the trust, and the trust manager can directly manage the property. In addition, if the plan is correct, the inheritance tax can be reduced and exempted, which has the benefit of protecting the rights and interests of minors.

Four. Property ownership and property right registration

At present, the most common property ownership in the United States is:

(1) Succession * * * has property. Inheritance of property * * * Some people each own the same proportion of property rights. If one of them dies, the property of the deceased will be automatically transferred to other people without authentication.

(2) own property separately. Under this kind of property ownership, the transfer from intestate to certified estate must go through the certification procedure. The proportion of property owned by the property owner need not be equal, but the amount of each contribution should be equal to the proportion of ownership, otherwise it may involve gifts or income tax.

(3) Husband and wife have property. That is, each has half ownership. If one of the spouses dies, the property is inherited by the surviving spouse, and this part is not subject to inheritance tax. Under the marital property system, all the property purchased during the validity of the marriage belongs to the marital property.

(4) Personal property. Personal property is called personal property. Specifically, it is divided into unmarried men and women, unmarried men and women, and married men and women who have unique property because of their different marital status.

Verb (abbreviation of verb) the development trend of American inheritance tax

The current US President George W. Bush accepted the presidential nomination at the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, saying: Every family, every farmer and every businessman should be free to leave their hard-earned money to their relatives without paying inheritance tax.

After Bush took office, he began to move towards the goal of abolishing inheritance tax. On February 8, 20001year, the Bush administration submitted a plan to Congress aimed at phasing out the inheritance tax. On May 26th, the US Senate and the public finally passed the bill. On June 7th, President Bush signed the bill, which made the American inheritance tax reform plan a formal law, and it was implemented on June 6th, 2002 +2002 10.

The core content of the reform is to increase the pre-tax deduction of inheritance tax and reduce the marginal tax rate year by year from 2002, and finally officially cancel this tax in 20 10. At first, the US Congress had two different views on this reform, * * * and basic support within the party, while the majority of the Democratic Party opposed it. After many explanations, some Democratic Party members also changed their attitudes and supported the reform, which is an important reason for the smooth passage of the reform plan. American public opinion also has two opinions on reform: for and against.

Reasons for opposing the reform: First, inheritance tax is a tax for the rich, and the abolition of this tax will affect the function of tax to adjust income distribution and realize social equity; Second, inheritance tax is a supplement to personal income tax, which can prolong the intergenerational transfer of income, avoid the family influence of the dynasty and be conducive to social progress; Third, although there are many loopholes in inheritance tax, it can be made up through reform and there is no need to abolish it; Fourth, the income from inheritance tax has reached a certain scale, which has certain financial significance.

There are three reasons for the reform: first, the inheritance tax is essentially a death tax, but from the perspective of social justice, death should not be taxed; Second, the inheritance tax is essentially a trap for the rich, which is not conducive to capital accumulation; Third, there are too many loopholes in inheritance tax, which can be avoided after tax planning. However, it is difficult to collect and manage, and the income scale is small, accounting for only 1.5% of federal tax and 3.5% of personal income tax. Income is not commensurate with cost.

It is understood that the United States levied inheritance tax in 19 16, gift tax in 1930, and combined the two taxes in 1976, collectively known as inheritance tax. At present, American estate tax payers account for about 2% of the total population, and their annual income is only about 30 billion yuan. After this reform, the inheritance tax and gift tax in the United States will be gradually decoupled, and finally the gift tax will be retained and the inheritance tax will be abolished.