International tax strategy and compliance for multinational businesses and individuals with foreign income, assets, and operations, structured so the plan holds up in two tax systems at once.
A United States person who owns ten percent or more of a foreign corporation that Americans control files Form 5471 with each return, and until it is filed the assessment period for the whole return stays open. That is cross-border tax: the substantive rules are hard, but the reporting rules do the damage, and they are triggered by ownership, residence and signature authority rather than by income.
A foreign national generally becomes a resident for income tax when days in the country, counted whole this year, one third last year and one sixth the year before, reach 183, with at least thirty-one of them this year. From then on worldwide income is taxable here, foreign accounts that together exceed ten thousand dollars go on an FBAR, and a foreign mutual fund in the portfolio is a passive foreign investment company with a punitive regime of its own.
The firm's international and offshore structuring work dates from 2014. We represent clients in matters before the IRS, and where years were missed the streamlined procedures let a non-willful taxpayer file three years of returns and six of FBARs and close the matter.
International tax planning for multinational businesses and individuals with foreign income, assets, and operations, mapping how the United States and the relevant foreign jurisdictions each tax the same activity and how those systems fit together.
Structuring for U.S. persons earning income or holding assets abroad and for foreign persons with U.S. income, assets, or operations: entity selection, holding structures, and the financing arrangements that connect them.
Analysis of whether and how an income tax treaty applies to a given arrangement, together with the foreign tax credit and other mechanisms that relieve double taxation across jurisdictions.
Guidance on the annual U.S. reporting of foreign financial accounts, specified foreign assets, and foreign income, identifying which forms and thresholds apply and keeping the filings accurate and on time.
Formation and ongoing analysis of foreign corporate entities, holding companies, and related structures, with attention to the controlled-foreign-corporation rules and the reporting they trigger.
Tax structuring for international acquisitions, joint ventures, and foreign investments, including the withholding, basis, and attribute considerations that shape how a transaction is taxed on each side.
Ongoing compliance support for clients with cross-border footprints, including coordination of U.S. filings with foreign obligations and counsel on correcting prior reporting gaps where they exist.
Representation in matters before the IRS arising from international positions, in examinations, information-reporting questions, and disputes, supported by sound analysis and a clear record from the outset.
The foreign tax credit is limited, basket by basket, to the United States tax on that basket's foreign-source income, so tax paid at a higher foreign rate is stranded. Excess credits generally carry back one year and forward ten. Source rules set the limit, so the argument is about source before it is about rate.
A foreign investor's United States dividends, interest and royalties bear thirty percent withholding unless a treaty or exemption applies; income from a United States trade or business is taxed on a net basis, by return; and a sale of United States real property carries fifteen percent withholding on the gross price. Structure chooses among them.
The FBAR is filed with FinCEN, reaches accounts you merely sign on, and is triggered at ten thousand dollars in aggregate. Form 8938 is filed with the return, reaches a wider class of foreign assets, and starts at higher thresholds that turn on filing status and where you live. One does not satisfy the other.
Relying on a treaty to reduce United States tax generally requires Form 8833 with the return, and omitting it is penalized even if the position was right. The limitation-on-benefits article comes first: a holding company must pass an ownership and base-erosion test or an active-trade test, not merely be resident in the treaty country.
A controlled foreign corporation's passive income and most of its operating income land in its United States shareholders' income the year earned, dividend or no dividend, under subpart F and the GILTI regime, renamed net CFC tested income for tax years beginning after 2025. An individual shareholder may elect corporate treatment on those inclusions.
Gifts from a nonresident individual totaling more than one hundred thousand dollars in a year are not taxed but must be reported on Form 3520, and silence is penalized at five percent a month, up to twenty-five. A foreign trust distribution goes on the same form; omit it and the penalty is thirty-five percent.
We chart every point where the client's income, entities, and accounts touch a taxing jurisdiction, starting with residency and source rules, because each country's claim on the same dollar starts there. The map surfaces the collisions before any structure is drawn.
Entity choice, holding tiers, and financing are set against the CFC rules, withholding regimes, and the specific treaty articles, limitation-on-benefits among them, that decide whether relief is available.
Before anything is signed, the structure is run through both tax systems on the same facts: where each layer of income lands, when it is recognized on each side, and how far the foreign tax credit or a treaty absorbs the overlap without stranding attributes.
FATCA, FBAR, and foreign-entity information returns are calendared as a standing annual regime, and every position is documented as it is taken, so the file that reaches the next filing year, or the next IRS reviewer, already explains itself.
A cross-border plan is only as sound as the second jurisdiction says it is.
It starts with three maps: where each person and entity is resident for tax, where each item of income is sourced, and what each country withholds at its border. Those three decide whether the same dollar is taxed twice and whether a treaty or a foreign tax credit relieves it. Only then is a structure drawn, because an entity chosen before the maps are made tends to be the wrong one. The annual reporting is designed at the same time, not discovered the following April.
Outbound planning concerns U.S. persons and businesses earning income or holding assets abroad, through foreign subsidiaries, overseas operations, and foreign investments. Inbound planning concerns foreign persons and businesses with U.S. income, assets, or operations. Each direction raises different rules on withholding, the foreign tax credit, controlled foreign corporations, and treaty eligibility, so the analysis depends on which way the activity flows and where the parties are resident.
The FBAR, FinCEN Form 114, is due April 15 with an automatic extension to October 15 for anyone whose foreign accounts together exceeded ten thousand dollars at any point in the year, including accounts held only with signature authority. Form 8938 is filed with the income tax return for specified foreign assets above thresholds that depend on filing status and residence. Foreign corporations, partnerships and trusts bring Forms 5471, 8865 and 3520, and an unfiled 5471 keeps the whole return open to assessment.
The United States has income tax treaties with many countries that can reduce or eliminate double taxation, lower withholding rates, and assign taxing rights between the two jurisdictions. A treaty's application, and what it provides, depends on the parties' residence, the type of income, and the treaty's specific provisions and limitation-on-benefits rules. We analyze whether and how a treaty applies to a given arrangement before any relief is relied on.
Foreign entities and accounts can be used for legitimate diversification, business, and planning purposes, provided they are properly structured and fully reported. The line that matters is compliance. U.S. persons must report foreign income and assets and pay the tax that is due. We help clients structure cross-border holdings in a way that meets their objectives while satisfying U.S. and foreign reporting and compliance requirements, and we do not assist with concealment of income or assets.
It depends on why. A non-willful omission can usually be corrected through the streamlined filing compliance procedures: three years of amended returns and six years of FBARs, a signed certification of non-willfulness, and a penalty of five percent of the highest year-end balance for a taxpayer living in the United States, or none for one living abroad. Where the facts suggest willfulness, the IRS voluntary disclosure practice is the route, and it begins with a preclearance request before any return is filed. We represent clients in matters before the IRS in both.
Tax structuring for business combinations and restructurings, including the cross-border considerations that arise in international deals.
Explore →Tax planning for securities, derivatives, and finance transactions, including instruments that cross borders and currencies.
Explore →Estate, gift, and trust tax planning, including the treatment of foreign assets and beneficiaries in a cross-border estate.
Explore →Representation in IRS examinations, appeals, and disputes, including positions arising from international filings and reporting.
Explore →Reviewed by Jonathan D. Herpy, Sr., Senior Partner · Last updated October 2026 · Educational overview · Not legal advice
One partner is accountable for the whole matter, and you have that partner's direct line. Chicago, London, and Dubai work to the same standard.