What&#39;s the point of an inheritance tax on movable property? Can&#39;t valuable property be shipped to a country without the tax, and be inherited there? This probably wouldn't happen for property that's low value and bulky, like furniture. But for property like yachts, planes, artwork, jewellery, etc., it seems easy to move it to a country without inheritance taxes since the relocation costs would only be a small percentage of the total value. Am I missing something here? (I know the U.S. has a special law to tax overseas citizen, which almost no other country has. But the inheritance tax system predates that, and international travel was still straightforward back then for those with means.) EDIT: Originally mentioned luxury cars but then realized it isn’t a good example as cars need to be legally imported back into the country, and thus pay import taxes, to be useful. This doesn’t apply to planes or yachts though in countries that allow foreign flagged yachts or foreign registered planes to operate. Personal items such as jewellery would probably also not have any import taxes imposed when the heir brings them back.
In germany inheritance tax (Erbschaftsteuer) taxes someone receiving an inheritance (or a gift - they are treated the same). If the heir is (inheritance tax) resident in Germany, German inheritance tax is due in principle on the whole received property, regardless of where that property is. Paid foreign inheritance tax on particular types of property and in accordance with tax treaties can be deducted. (Details: see §21 ErbStG and §121 BewG) Wrt the scenario in the question: if that foreign country collects low/no inheritance tax, the heir gets accordingly low or no deduction from the due German inheritance tax. Whether the &quot;more mobile&quot; property in the question counts as foreign property or not depends on whether the deceased was German resident in the sense of inheritance tax law or not (e.g. moved their residence to the foreign country &gt; 5a before their death), but again, that wouldn't lower the total amount of taxes due, it only shifts who gets them. In order to actually avoid German inheritance tax on the mobile property of the question, the heir would need to move their tax residency away from Germany.
You are talking about "joint tenancy." I am familiar with bank accounts having multiple owners characterized as "Joint tenants with rights of survivorship" (JTWROS). This keeps the account out of probate: a death certificate simply removes the name of any owner who dies. But a probate court afraid that a deceased may not have enough assets to satisfy debts can still freeze the account for the duration of probate. These really are not tools for estate planning. For example, you can't use them to avoid gift or estate taxes. Also a JTWROS account is fully exposed to the liability/creditors of every owner. So no, a JTWROS does not shield assets from creditors. Finally, encumbrance of or distribution from a JTWROS account requires the consent of every owner. Any unresolved disputes are probably headed to court.
Typically it works like this: Sales Tax: Owed in the state that the sale is made (in your case, New York). This is difficult in the internet age with businesses operated with no physical presence in a state. Technically sales (and local taxes) are due depending on where the item that was sold is delivered, so if you shipped an item made in Texas to New York, New York sales taxes would be due on that item. These taxes would be paid to the state of New York. Same for all 50 states. This is a huge burden on small businesses and is not usually enforced. Most small businesses only collect sales tax on items sold to the state that the business is operating from (in your example, you would only collect Texas state sales tax). Income Tax: This is the corporate tax levied by the state that the business is operating in, in this case it would be Texas. Since Texas does not have a state income tax, there would be no income tax. However Texas does have a Franchise Tax that would be due (this is due from all business organized or operating in Texas) The state that the business is registered in may have its own taxes which would be on the income of the business and would be specific to the state that the business is registered in. These can also be in the form of registration fees, annual fees, franchise fees, etc.
I think the key word here is &quot;assume&quot;. A person, N, who is clearly the next of kin of a recently deceased person D may not assume that s/he is D's sole heir, or indeed is D's heir at all. N must wait until D's will (if any) is known, and an executor or administrator is lawfully appointed. Only the executor may lawfully dispose of D's property, by conveying it to specified beneficiaries, selling it, giving it away, or by any other means. Anyone who does so without the proper executor's authority is probably technically guilty of theft, although in a case like the one in the question, a prosecution would be very unlikely. But N would be liable to any heir H for the value of items properly left to H but disposed of by N. H might not choose to pursue such a claim, but would be legally able to. N should remember that the value, monetary or sentimental, of objects may not be known to N, and may be much greater to H than N is aware of. I suppose that in the case of objects of slight value which must be dealt with promptly, such as perishable food on D's premises, reasonable steps would not be objected to.
My friend should have taken his property with him, but presumably the host can't just keep it, especially after reaching out to them? Correct. However, the host does not have to do anything to facilitate its return i.e. they don’t have to post it to you. So long as they keep it for your friend to collect and don’t appropriate it for their own use, they are not breaking the law. If they do appropriate it, that is called theft or its tort equivalent, conversion. As my contract was with Airbnb and the host works from them, is there any responsibility on their part, e.g. Could I hypothetically open a small claims case against them? Or would any small claims case be directly against the host themselves? This is not true. You and the host each have a contract with Airbnb for the use of the platform. The contract for the accommodation is between you two and doesn’t involve Airbnb at all. In any event, there is no contractural issue here.
It doesn't work, just like transferring the copyright to a young person to make it last longer doesn't work. In places where the length of copyright depends on the death of someone, it always depends on the death of the author. You can transfer copyright, but you can't change who is the author. If I write a book, and some copyright law says the copyright ends 70 years after the death of the author, then it ends 70 years after my death. It doesn't matter who owns the copyright. PS. That dead person has heirs. If there are no relatives alive, then the government of their country will inherit everything (in most countries, there might be exceptions). Your plan fails for that reason as well. PS. See "Just a guy's" answer for another, completely different, reason why this scheme doesn't work.
The will further states property shall be sold and offspring are to split the proceeds. However, the will does not specifically designate who inherits the property/deed. This is an instruction regarding who inherits the property. It means that the executor of the probate estate (in an official capacity), who takes title by operation of law upon appointment, is directed to sell the property rather than to distributed it in kind. Will there be legal or financial problems with a foreign executor? Not necessarily. Generally, the main issue is that a foreign executor must sign a document expressly submitting to the jurisdiction of the probate court when appointed in addition to other documents that are signed by all executors. Pre-death, in the will, would it be better to designate the American resident offspring as executor? Not necessarily. Hands on administration of the estate and dealing face to face with a local probate lawyer is easier for a resident of the state where the assets are located and the decedent resides, but in these days of telecommunications this isn't a decisive factor. The relative competencies of the prospective executors is more important. If both offspring agreed, can the overseas offspring easily transfer executorship to the American offspring, or will there be legal or financial consequences? Assuming that they are the only interested parties in the estate, they can do so. You can't be compelled to serve as an executor just because you are nominated by a will to do so. If one person declines to serve, the person with next highest priority which would likely be the other sibling, may apply to the probate court to be appointed. The main financial consequence is that typically, whoever does the job is entitled to reasonable compensation from the estate for their services. Would there be legal or financial deed ownership issues, since neither offspring specifically inherited the property? No. Could a court order the property to be auctioned out from under the offspring? If all interested parties agree, they can defy the will. The normal process, however, is for the executor to follow the will and to sell the property in a commercially reasonable manner, typically by engaging a real estate agent to handle the sale. If the executor fails to take action, and an interested party objects, it would be more common for a probate court to remove the executor and appoint another one, than to order a sale at auction, which would typically be a course of last resort. This said, under appropriate circumstances, the court of probate jurisdiction would have authority to order an auction of the house. Most commonly, a court order to sell a decedent's house at auction would arise when the decedent (i.e. the dead guy) only owned an undivided partial interest in the house (called a tenancy in common interest) and the non-deceased third party co-owner of the house (perhaps a brother or ex-wife of the decedent) declined to cooperate in selling it. If a court determines the overseas executor offspring receives the property deed, the overseas executor wants to remain executor but give deed to American offspring for easier selling of the property, would the property have to go through titling and closing costs for the transfer, and then again for property sale to a third party? This question reflects a fundamental misunderstanding about how probate works. Title to the property vests in the estate by operation of law upon the death of the decedent. The executor has authority, once appointed, to take actions such as signing a deed to a third-party buyer, on behalf of the estate. There is no intermediate closing and transfer of title to vest title to the property of the decedent in the name of the estate before it goes from the estate to the third party. The net proceeds of the sale to the third party (after costs of sale and prorations of things like property taxes and prepaid insurance) are then placed in a bank account for the estate and paid to the heirs after expenses of administration are paid. There is nothing that makes it significantly harder for an overseas executor to close than a domestic one. The title company handling the sale emails the deed (and any other paperwork that needs to be signed) to the executor. The executor prints the documents to be signed, signs the non-notarized documents, and signs the deed in the presence of his friendly neighborhood notary in the foreign country where the executor lives, who notarizes the deed. The executed deed, together with a document called an apostille proving that the notary is really a notary, is sent back to the title company (probably with a scanned copy by email and a hard paper copy following by express delivery). Coordinating time zones may be a pain depending on the location of the particular foreign country in question (but the closing does not have to happen for all parties at exact the same time), and if the overseas executor is someplace primitive and remote with no internet access or computers or printers or faxes and no notaries, that could be a problem. But there are increasingly few places like that in the world.
Direct taxes were understood at that time as taxes directly on individuals such as a flat-per-person head tax (poll tax,aka a capitation) or an ad valorem (by value) property tax. Taxes on imports and exports, and excise or &quot;use&quot; taxes, such as a tax on the manufacture and sale of whiskey, were not considered to be direct taxes. In 2007 a US Court of Appeals said, in Murphy v. Internal Revenue Service and United States, (case no. 05-5139, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit) that: &quot;Only three taxes are definitely known to be direct: (1) a capitation [ . . . ], (2) a tax upon real property, and (3) a tax upon personal property.&quot; In section 17 of Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company (link below) the Supreme Court wrote: Ordinarily, all taxes paid primarily by persons who can shift the burden upon some one else, or who are under no legal compulsion to pay them, are considered indirect taxes; but a tax upon property holders in respect of their estates, whether real or personal, or of the income yielded by such estates, and the payment of which cannot be avoided, are direct taxes. This opinion goes into great detail on the history of the apportionment clause, and of direct and indirect taxes. See also The Wikipedia article on Direct Tax. After a na6tional income tax was imposed in 1894, it was held (in 1895) to be unconstitutional under this provision. This was in Pollock v. Farmers’ Loan and Trust Company, 157 US 429 (1895). An earlier income tax was passed in 1861, and repealed about 10 years later without challenge. The 16th amendment was passed (ratified in 1913) to declare income taxes not to be subject to this provision. See History of the US Income Tax and the LII page on Income Tax. To the best of my understanding, no current federal tax is considered a direct tax subject to apportionment under this provision. Indeed the apportionment requirement, which was copied from the previous articles of Confederation, was so awkward that taxes which would be subject to it were never or almost never imposed, but ways were found to make any desired taxes not &quot;direct&quot;. This provision is, accordingly, obsolete as far as taxes go.