Pre-Immigration Planning

Plan Before You Move. Protect What You’ve Built.

Moving to a new country can create significant tax and financial implications. We help individuals and families understand potential U.S. tax exposure, plan around assets and income, and make informed decisions before establishing residency. Strategic planning. Cross-border insight. A confident start.

U.S. tax residency can create worldwide income tax and filing consequences. The most valuable planning usually happens before residency begins, when a broader set of options is still available.

Pre-immigration planning addresses the timing of residency, asset basis and built-in gain, foreign companies and trusts, investment holdings, and any historical filing issues. An early review can identify restructuring or disposition opportunities, reduce avoidable exposure, and establish a clear first-year compliance plan. Once residency begins, the same conversation usually turns from planning to remediation — and remediation is slower, more expensive, and far more limited in what it can achieve.

The planning window, stage by stage:

12+ MONTHS OUT

Map the full asset picture — companies, trusts, insurance, and investments — and identify how U.S. residency may affect each.

RESTRUCTURE WHILE OPTIONS REMAIN

Evaluate built-in gains, PFIC holdings, entity and trust structures, and other positions that become harder to address after residency begins.

PLAN THE RESIDENCY START DATE

Day counts, visa timing, applicable elections, and residency-start rules settled before the move.

BEGIN WITH A COMPLIANCE ROADMAP

First-year returns, foreign asset disclosure, estimated tax, and a filing calendar built around the new profile.

Full scope

  • Residency start-date planning and day-count strategy
  • Pre-residency basis and disposition analysis
  • Review of foreign trusts, holding companies, and insurance products
  • PFIC exposure identification before residency begins
  • Mapping of the U.S. filing obligations that will apply
  • Expatriation and exit tax planning for those leaving the U.S. system

Contact Us

Start with a conversation

Most clients come to us at a turning point — a restructuring, a first year of U.S. filing, a notice that arrived without warning. Tell us where things stand and we’ll tell you plainly what the work involves, what it will cost, and what we would do first.
 
Initial consultations are complimentary. Every inquiry is reviewed by a partner and answered within two business days.