For expat Americans or for foreign-born persons living in, or having exposure to, the US, there are a mass of tax compliance and structuring issues to contend with. A new book aims to set out the scene as clearly as possible, and largely succeeds.

Whatever else may distract attention in these geopolitically fraught times, the inevitability of death and taxes can’t be denied. And in recent years, governments have attempted to not just clamp down harder on evasion of tax, which is a crime, but gone after forms of avoidance that do not pass a smell test.

This process has led to countries copying elements of the US extra-territorial approach. The US famously – or infamously, depending on one’s view – imposes taxes on its citizens regardless of whether they live in the US or thousands of miles away. (There is a scene in one of my favourite movies, Apollo 13, where one of the astronauts on the stricken craft tells Mission Control that he forgot to file his tax returns, and a flight controller said this could cause a problem. The astronaut was about to go around the Moon.) In countries such as the UK, Germany and France, they have signed up to exchange of information pacts to chase after alleged tax dodgers using foreign accounts. 

The tax affairs of persons living outside their countries of birth are complex, and challenging to understand. The business of tax planning is becoming increasingly onerous. Americans have found, for example, that it is hard to get access to financial services outside the US because they are seen as a compliance burden. To some degree, such developments might seem a rollback on globalization.

A new book aims to guide cross-border families where there is a US angle. The Cross-Border Family Wealth Guide is by Andrew Fisher, a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Certified Public Accountant. Fisher is also president and chief investment officer of Worldview Wealth Advisors, based in San Francisco. The book tries to navigate international wealth management more thoroughly than has been the case hitherto. It is organized into six parts. The first chapter contains a broad discussion of financial challenges of a cross-border life. The second details how a global family can build their net worth. In the third chapter, Fisher offers a global perspective on 401(k)s, IRAs, and other retirement savings and investment vehicles. The fourth discusses buying, owning, and selling real estate across borders. The fifth is a comprehensive primer on cross-border taxation, both in the US and abroad. Finally, the last section discusses retirement planning through a global lens.

Fisher’s own firm serves expat US citizens and Green Card holders, and foreigners living in the US or with exposure in some way to US markets and assets. The 246-page book deftly captures the complexity of the situations that people come up against, and explains it in plain language that neither dumbs down the subject matter or falls prey to the ghastly jargon of modern tax. 

The author usefully sets out different categories of persons in terms of where they live and how they are viewed by the IRS. There are among those living in the US three sub-categories: US citizen, permanent resident alien (with a Green Card) and temporary visa holder, and among those living outside the US, there are permanent resident alien (with a Green Card), US citizen and foreign citizen with assets in the US. (It gets even more challenging from there.)

Another sobering point that Fisher makes is that there is a dearth of suitable professional advice for people trying to get help with these headaches. Let’s hope books such as this encourage more growth in such expertise, which is sorely needed. The book isn’t bedside reading, but it certainly does give a level of clarity and order to this topic that has otherwise been hard to obtain. In fact, in a recent interview, Fisher told this publication that the demand for information is increasing constantly. His firm serves around 125 families.

The book examines issues such as the need for clients to ensure that where their assets are invested fits with their broader lifestyle goals, such as how currency fluctuations on foreign-based assets can hit a person who moves from one country to another. It also highlights the range of structures in the US that exist in which people hold investments and assets, pointing to their advantages and drawbacks. This is an excellent introduction to territory that has for far too long been difficult to navigate, and Fisher should be congratulated for his work in shining a light into some murky corners.

The Cross-Border Family Wealth Guide is published by Wiley.