钟昊申：美国税务问题——夫妻其中一方移民时的房地产情况

本文描述的情况：夫妻其中一方移居美国，而另一方留在国内经营家族企业。一方或双方在美国投资了房地产并出租。

This post describes a scenario in which one spouse emigrated to the US as a green card holder, while the other remained in their home country to run a family business. One or both spouses purchased real property in the US as investment and collected rent.

本文以下述情况为例，说明美国税法与家庭法的交叉适用情况。

配偶A及孩子获得绿卡后移居美国德克萨斯州。

配偶B留在国内，未转绿卡。

出差期间，配偶B（非移民）在德州投资了房产，产权登记在B名下。夫妻双方默认此登记方式方便，不是赠与。该房屋出租了。

数年后，他们听闻德州提案禁止中国公民拥有房地产，于是将产权过户给配偶A。夫妻双方默认不是赠与。

This post uses the following scenario as an illustration of how US tax law and family law intersect.

Spouse A and the children obtain green cards and emigrate to the US, living in Texas.

Spouse B remains in the home country and did not obtain a green card.

During a business trip, spouse B purchased a house in Texas as investment property, recording title in B’s name. The spouses agreed to record ownership this way as a matter of convenience, not as a gift. The house is rented to tenants.

Several years later, they hear about proposals in Texas to ban Chinese nationals from owning real estate, so they transfer title to spouse A. They did not intend the change of title to be a gift.

房产所有权决定美国征税方式。

How the US taxes real estate transactions depends on the owner of the property.

美国法院一般用房产所在地的法律确定所有权。美国有50个州，每个州都有不同的法规。

夫妻财产的州法分为独立财产制和共有财产制。在独立财产制下，夫妻各方保留自己的财产。在共有财产制下，婚姻期间获得的财产由夫妻双方共同拥有，但赠与和继承财产除外。

德州适用夫妻共产制。

US courts generally use the law where the real property is located to determine its ownership.[1] There are 50 states, each with different rules.

US state law on marital property is divided into separate property and community property regimes. Under separate property regime, each spouse retains their own property. Under community property regime, property acquired during marriage is shared between spouses, with exceptions for gifts and inheritance.

Texas is a community property state.[2]

由于婚姻法与房地产法之间的交叉适用，房产人不一定被认为是实际所有人。

在我们的假设情况下，非移民配偶（配偶B）使用夫妻共同资金在德州购了房屋，并将产权登记在B名下，原因是买房时仅配偶B在美国，但他们不认为该交易是赠与。在这种情况下，根据双方的意图，该房屋仍属于夫妻共产。

数年后，他们听闻德州提案禁止中国公民拥有房地产，于是将产权过户给配偶A（移民配偶）。由于此次转让发生在购房之后，德州严格依据产权登记认定所有权，因此配偶A成为该房屋的唯一所有人。

Because of the intersection between marital law and real property law, the person whose name is on the property is not always the owner.

In our scenario, the nonimmigrant spouse (spouse B) used community funds to buy a house in Texas and recorded title in B’s name. The spouses agreed to do so because that spouse happened to be in the US at the time of purchase, and they did not intend the transaction to be a gift. In this situation, the house remains community property, following the spouses’ intent.[3]

In our scenario, several years later, they hear about proposals in Texas to ban Chinese nationals from owning real estate, so they transfer title to the spouse A (the immigrant spouse). Because this transfer occurred after acquisition, Texas follows the title strictly, and spouse A became the sole owner of the house.[4]

在婚姻存续期间，美国国税局（IRS）按50-50的比例对共有财产来源的所得征税。这与离婚或遗产的分割是两回事。例如，德州法要求离婚时对财产公平分割，赋予法院较大的自由裁量权，可以不按照50-50的比例分割，但联邦所得税，不考虑公平分割的问题。

During marriage, the IRS taxes income from community property on a 50-50 basis.[5] This is separate from the division of marriage upon divorce or death. For example, Texas orders the courts to divide property equitably upon divorce, giving them wide discretion to depart from 50-50, but analysis of equitable division is not required for federal income purposes.[6]

移居美国的配偶（配偶A）因有绿卡而成为美国税务居民。留在国内的配偶（配偶B）是非居民外国人。当一方配偶为非居民外国人时，美国按以下征税：

在我们的假设情况下，购房后、配偶间产权转移之前，德州法认定房屋属于夫妻共产，租金属于夫妻共产。因此，即使房屋登记在配偶B（非移民配偶）一人名下，双方各申报一半的租金。

产权转移之后，该房屋成为配偶A的独立财产。因此，无论德州将该租金归类为共有财产还是独立财产，都只有配偶A申报租金。

The spouse who emigrated to the US is a US tax resident because of their green card.[7] The spouse who remained in the home country is a nonresident alien. When one spouse is a nonresident alien, the US has specific rules on taxation of income[8]:

In our scenario, after purchase but before the interspousal transfer, the house in Texas was community property. Rent from the house was community property.[9] Thus, both spouses report half the income in the US, even though spouse B (the nonimmigrant spouse) was the sole owner of record.

After the transfer, the house became spouse A’s separate property. Thus, only spouse A reports the rent from the house, regardless of whether Texas classifies the rent as community property or separate property.

配偶B居住地可能要求收入与产权登记相等。这种情况下，在产权转移之前，配偶B可能有双重征税的问题，因为产权登记显示配偶B独有房屋。因此，配偶B需在居住地申报全部租金，但配偶A缴了美国所得税的一半。配偶B在为配偶A所缴的美国税款申请抵免时可能会遇到问题。

It is possible that spouse B resides in a jurisdiction that expects income to match title. In such a situation, spouse B may have issues with double taxation before the transfer, because title indicates they own the entire house. Thus, they would report the entire rent in their home jurisdiction, but spouse A paid half the US income tax. Spouse B may have issues claiming a foreign tax credit for the US tax paid by spouse A.

美国一般不对配偶间资产转让征所得税。但当转让配偶为非居民外国人时，不适用此项豁免。

在我们的假设情况下，配偶B（非移民配偶）是非居民外国人，并向配偶A（移民配偶）转让了房产。因此，该转让适用所得税豁免。

In general, the US does not impose income tax on interspousal transfers.[10] But the income tax exemption does not apply when the spouse making the transfer is a nonresident alien.[11]

In our scenario, spouse B (the nonimmigrant spouse) was a nonresident alien and made a transfer to spouse A (the immigrant spouse). Thus, the transfer is not exempt from income tax.

美国对非居民外国人处置美国不动产权益（USRPI）有特殊规则（FIRPTA规则）。产生的收益或损失视为美国行业或业务实际相关的收入（ECI）纳税，并且大多数豁免条款不适用。但对于赠与造成的收益计算无特殊规则。

在赠与中，实现金额为转让人所免除的债务金额。收益或损失为实现金额减去调整后计税基础。通常，赠与人没有收益，但如果房屋已折旧很久，以致调整后计税基础低于抵押贷款余额，则该赠与可能触发收益与所得税。

The US has special rules for nonresident aliens who dispose of US real property interest, called FIRPTA rules.[12] The gain or loss is taxed as income that is effectively connected with a US trade or business, and most nonrecognition provisions are ignored.[13] But there are no special rules for calculating gains in the case of a gift.

In a gift, the amount realized is the debt discharge from the donor.[14] The gain or loss is the amount realized minus adjusted basis.[15] Usually, this means there is no gain or income tax, but if the house had been depreciated significantly such that the adjusted basis is below the mortgage balance, the gift can trigger a gain.

当非居民外国人处置USRPI时，受让方必须预扣所得金额的15%。

处置包括赠与。在赠与中，实现金额为受让方因赠与而承担的债。如果房屋没有抵押贷款，一般无需预扣。但如果有抵押贷款，受让方必须预扣抵押贷款余额的15%，而转让方配偶需报税申请退还预扣税款。

When a nonresident alien disposes of US real property interest, the recipient must withhold 15% of the amount realized from the disposition.[16]

Disposition includes a gift.[17] The amount realized during a gift is the debt that the recipient assumed from the gift.[18] If there is no mortgage on the house, then withholding is generally not required. But if there were a mortgage on the house, the recipient spouse must withhold 15% of the mortgage balance, and the donor spouse would have to file a tax return to claim a refund of the withholding.

收益由所有人纳税，同时考虑家庭法的规定。因此，在购房之后、产权转移之前，收益将由双方配偶平均纳税，因为房产属于夫妻共产。在产权转移之后，收益将仅由配偶A（移民配偶）纳税，因为房产已成为配偶A的独立财产。

The gain is taxed to the owner, accounting for family law. Thus, after purchase and before the transfer, the gain would be taxed to the spouses equally, because it was community property. After the transfer, the gain would be taxed to spouse A (the immigrant spouse) only, because it was spouse A’s separate property.

美国的赠与税率高达应税赠与价值的40%。

美国居民和公民享有统一的终身遗产税与赠与税免税额15,000,000美元，并根据通货膨胀调整。

非居民外国人没有终身赠与税免税额，但享有年度赠与税免税额。配偶间赠与的年度免税额为194,000美元，并根据通货膨胀进行调整。如果受赠人不是配偶，年度免税额为每受赠人19,000美元，并根据通货膨胀进行调整。

在我们的假设情况下，房屋开始是夫妻共产，但配偶B（非移民配偶）将其房屋一半价值的产权转让给了配偶A。就此部分，配偶B享有194,000美元的赠与税免税额。

The US has a gift tax up to 40% of the value of the taxable gift.[19]

US residents and citizens have a shared lifetime estate and gift tax exclusion of $15,000,000, adjusted for inflation.[20]

Nonresident aliens do not have a lifetime gift tax exclusion, but they have an annual gift tax exclusion. For interspousal gifts, the annual exclusion is $194,000, adjusted for inflation.[21] For recipients other than the spouse, the annual exclusion is $19,000 per recipient, adjusted for inflation.[22]

In our scenario, the spouses owned the house as community property, but spouse B (the nonimmigrant spouse) transferred their half to spouse A. Thus, there was a gift of their half of the house, for which they would have $194,000 of gift tax exclusion.

美国遗产税高达应税遗产价值的40%。

美国居民和公民享有统一的终身遗产税与赠与税免税额15,000,000美元，并根据通货膨胀进行调整。非居民外国人仅享有60,000美元的固定免税额。

在我们的假设情况下，在购房之后、产权转移之前，德州房屋属于夫妻共产。因此，该房屋价值的一半将被计入每位配偶的遗产中。取决于配偶A（移民配偶）在海外拥有的财产数额，其可能无需缴纳任何遗产税。但配偶B（非移民配偶）很可能面临较大的遗产税风险。

The US has an estate tax up to 40% of the value of the taxable estate.[23]

US residents and citizens have a shared lifetime estate and gift tax exclusion of $15,000,000, adjusted for inflation.[24] Nonresident aliens, however, have a fixed exclusion of $60,000, not adjusted for inflation.[25]

In our scenario, after purchase but before transfer, the Texas house was community property. Thus, half the value of the house would be included in each spouse’s estate. Depending on how much property spouse A (the immigrant spouse) owns abroad, they may not have any estate tax to pay. But spouse B (the nonimmigrant spouse) likely has a substantial estate tax risk.