The world-famous professional soccer player Lionel Messi recently signed a deal with the MLS team, Inter Miami FC, and will be living in Florida. After multiple years of living in Europe, it must be nice to live in the sunshine state.
Moving to the United States comes with a lot of changes, not only for athletes, celebrities, and wealthy businesspeople but for every foreign person coming to America. Before a foreign person can come to work in the United States, they need to apply for a visa, an endeavor that should not be difficult for Lionel Messi. We are confident that he will be able to obtain a P-1 or O Visa, despite his known troubles with the Spanish government for tax fraud.
Once here, and having complied with the very important immigration status, any foreign person should learn about their tax obligations in the U.S. Surely, Messi’s decision to play with a team based in Florida became easy when he realized how tax-friendly this state is –considering his previous story with Spanish taxes, this piece of information was well received. And why is that? Florida makes it simple for citizens to transfer wealth. Estate, inheritance, and gift taxes do not exist in the Sunshine State. Additionally, business owners profit from the state’s very low corporate income tax.
Florida indeed has a lot of attractive tax rules, but let’s not forget about federal taxes. And yes, in case you were wondering, federal income taxes apply to foreign individuals and can have a great impact on players like Messi, that have assets outside the United States because foreign individuals that become “U.S. tax residents” must report their income and assets around the world. If you want to know how can you become U.S. Tax Person, read our article How Is It Determined If I Am A U.S. Tax Resident?
But back to Messi, he is not a U.S. Citizen, and will probably stay in the country with a non-immigrant visa; he will likely become a U.S. tax resident based on his presence in the U.S. As Messi learned the hard way in Spain, it’s important to know the tax obligations. Not knowing your tax obligations in a country is not an excuse for not complying with them. And even though Messi paid fines in Spain and was sentenced for tax fraud, we hope that will not impact his move to the U.S. or his visa applications as in many cases happens.
If you are a foreign individual thinking about, coming to the U.S. to work, invest, or live here. Remember that it’s crucial to learn about your tax obligation, no matter how unattractive the thought may be. And learn about that before your big move. Engage in some pre-immigration tax planning with an experienced attorney.
At Legacy Counsel, we can help you review your assets, and how they will impact your taxes in the U.S. if you are planning to move to the United States. If you want more information about this, schedule a 15-minute free call here.
