For green card spouse, annual gift exclusion is $160,000 from citizen spouse. This means gift under this amount will not have any tax consequences. (Gift between citizen spouses are unlimited).
For amount over $160,000, the citizen spouse just need to report the amount $X on his tax return and deduct from the citizen's estate tax exemption ($11 million).
And when citizen spouse die, the green card spouse would have the estate tax exemption of ($11 milllion - $X). (inheritance between citizen spouse are unlimited).
So to recap: annual gift exclusion of $160,000 means gift under $160,000 from citizen spouse to non-citizen spouse is completely tax free. Any amount above $160,000 will be deducted from estate tax exemption. So that green card spouse only pay tax when the life time gift + estate is > $11 million.
以前一直以为公民、绿卡只是选举权的不同。现在知道遗产税也是不同的，房产、现金资产等都要缴税，没有unlimited marital deduction.虽然可以建立trust, 但是只是推迟缴税而已，而且principal 不能动，只能用收益。如果有不准确的地方，欢迎大家指正和讨论
房子title 选择joint tenancy, 这样就不走probate, 也不存在赠与或继承，没有遗产税，对吗
共同财产一个拥有者死去，另一个拥有者把死者除名就可以了。
For green card spouse, annual gift exclusion is $160,000 from citizen spouse. This means gift under this amount will not have any tax consequences. (Gift between citizen spouses are unlimited).
For amount over $160,000, the citizen spouse just need to report the amount $X on his tax return and deduct from the citizen's estate tax exemption ($11 million).
And when citizen spouse die, the green card spouse would have the estate tax exemption of ($11 milllion - $X). (inheritance between citizen spouse are unlimited).
So to recap: annual gift exclusion of $160,000 means gift under $160,000 from citizen spouse to non-citizen spouse is completely tax free. Any amount above $160,000 will be deducted from estate tax exemption. So that green card spouse only pay tax when the life time gift + estate is > $11 million.
这个16万仅仅是每年免税赠与的上限。多出16万的赠与可以从11米的遗产税免税额里面减去。
美国联邦收的是遗产税，而不是继承税。遗产税看的是死者的身份，而不是继承人的身份。
你是美国人，你的遗产税是看你的身份，所以你的遗产享受11米的免税额。
只有，非美国居民的外国人，在美国的遗产，超过6万元就要收遗产税。但是这个是看死者是外国人的遗产。不适用于死者是美国人，继承人是外国人。