Splitting time between UK and USA

Baffled

23 February 2023 21:58:05

Hello,

I'm a 70yr old retired UK citizen and my partner of 5yrs is a US citizen. She was living here in the UK with her family, but her sons work has ended and they are flying home. We would like to continue our relationship and split our time between our families in the UK and USA (roughly 6 months each, with some additional travel). I am baffled by the implications of this and would appreciate this groups advice. I have done some research on the below, but would appreciate advice on any other areas to consider and where to find expert guidance. Many thanks.

Length of stay in the USA. I see a general visa is 90 days. Does this mean I can stay 90 days, go away for a week and come back again, or would I need to return to the UK for a longer period?
Tax. I see I would need to pay tax twice on my income - does this include UK pensions and investments? I also want to protect my estate upon death for my son and daughter (both UK citizens). If I meet the substantial presence test would that mean that if I passed on, my whole estate would also be subject to US tax?
Health Insurance. Does everyone have to have it? Any recommended providers?

Tanuki714

25 February 2023 01:49:14

187

@Baffled

Hello Baffled,

There's quite a bit to unpack here and to be honest, I am not sure about the UK side (familiar with the French side but most agreements are country to country).

Here's what (little) I know and the questions I would ask:

The US allow « long term tourist visas » (B1/B2) which allow you to stay for longer than the typical 90 days. The US visa guide or the official US government site will give you more details. As a rule of thumb, coming in for 90 days on an ESTA, going out for a week and coming back in will raise red flags for US immigration who are on the look out for people trying to « game the system ». There's a number of threads on this forum about the topic.
Residency is a fuzzy concept and is highly contextual in addition to being country dependent. There was a recent thread about a French citizen spending about/over 6 months outside of France (incl ~6mo in the US) on a B1/B2 who was struggling with « tax residency » concepts. As far as the US is concerned, tourists (incl « long term » tourists) are typically not US tax residents if their « main financial interests and sources of income are not in the US ». As long as you do not have US sources of income and are not considered a « legal resident » from a visa perspective (i.e. not on a work visa, green card etc.), it shouldn't be an issue. I do not, however, know what the UK rules are.
Income tax: France and the US have a tax treaty in place such that while you may have to FILE in both countries/ DECLARE assets/income streams across both countries, you typically get « credit » on one side for what you pay on the other side (GROSS simplification since it really depends on the types of incomes and a bunch of other things). But I'd see a specialized accountant/tax specialist for this particular topic since there are so many nuances (income from investments, real estate, pensions etc.). I have no idea if such a thing is in place between the US and the UK.
Estate planning is even trickier and really depends on a lot of factors. I am a dual citizen France/US and as far as I can tell, for France « residency » for the purpose of estate planning is « where the center of your « economic and social » life is » (so in my case the US) and that is the country whose laws would have jurisdiction if I were to pass without clear instructions. You are unclear in your message as to whether your US partner is a spouse or not. That matters since in most countries (incl. France and the US, I'm assuming it's the same in the UK) « official » spouses have different right from « domestic partners ». If you are NOT married, I would assume from a legal perspective you are single and if you want to make special accommodations for your partner in case of your passing you have to explicitly make the arrangements for that. To give you a quick illustration, French law does not allow cutting out descendants entirely out of your succession, while you can do so with a spouse. In the US, you cannot cut out a spouse entirely but the « minimum » for descendants is lower than in France. So again, this is highly dependent on your SPECIFIC situation. I would first find out if you even have to worry about this given your « residency » status (basically if you spend 6mo in the US, you may not be considered a fiscal resident OR a resident for the purposes of inheritance depending on the US and UK laws and may have nothing to worry about). Either way, leaving EXPLICIT and « official » instructions with the help of a qualified professional is probably the best way to make sure your wishes are honored.

This turned out to be longer than I thought and (I know) not particularly helpful to give you answers other than « talk to professionals ». My rule of thumb would be if you're not married and do not plan to get a green card or other « US dependent » visa, if the center of your economic life is still the UK, you shouldn't have to worry too much. But again, based on my limited understanding.

Good luck and let us know what you find out (so that if I'm widely off base you can set me straight, LOL).

Tanuki

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