US estate tax for Europeans who own a US home

Do you pay US inheritance tax on a house in Florida?

The federal tax that matters here is an estate tax: it is charged on the transfer of the estate of the person who died, not on the person who receives. Section 2101 of the Internal Revenue Code imposes it on the taxable estate of every decedent who is a nonresident and not a US citizen.

For that group, the IRS says the tax applies to US-situated property, tangible or intangible, and names real estate as one example. A house is tangible property and sits where the land is. If you own a home in Florida, Virginia or New York, it is US-situated property however the loan was arranged and wherever you live. Taxes charged by individual states are outside this page, and worth asking your adviser about.

Are you a nonresident for this purpose?

The test is not the one your visa or your tax return uses. The Form 706-NA instructions call a decedent a nonresident not a citizen when they were neither domiciled in nor a citizen of the United States at death. Domicile means living in a place with no definite present intention of moving away later.

For a European who lives at home and buys a holiday or investment property, that will usually put them on the nonresident side. If you move to the United States to stay, a different set of rules applies, and your adviser will need to look at your domicile and not only your address. This guide covers the nonresident case.

What the $60,000 figure means

The IRS says that if the date-of-death value of the decedent's US-situated assets, together with the gift tax specific exemption and the amount of adjusted taxable gifts, exceeds a filing threshold of $60,000, the executor must file Form 706-NA. That figure is a filing threshold in the IRS instructions. The Code separately gives nonresidents a credit of $13,000, and in some cases a larger one, against the tax. Section 2102(b) sets that out.

For comparison, the IRS lists a filing threshold of $15,000,000 for the estates of US citizens and residents who die in 2026. That gap is why this topic catches buyers by surprise: the generous figures you may have read about do not apply to nonresidents. How the threshold and the credit combine for one estate is a calculation for an adviser. The practical message for a buyer is that one home usually exceeds $60,000 by a wide margin.

What an estate tax treaty can change

A treaty is an agreement between the United States and another country, and some of them cover estate tax. Under section 2102(b) the credit can be larger to the extent a treaty obligation requires it. The Form 706-NA instructions add that a position taken on a treaty basis must be flagged by a statement attached to the return.

The IRS lists the countries with estate or gift tax treaties, as read on 5 October 2026:

• Estate and gift: Austria, Denmark, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, plus Australia and Japan.
• Estate only: Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy and the Netherlands, plus South Africa.
• Canada: estate provisions sit inside the income tax treaty.

Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Poland and Sweden do not appear on that page. Whether that leaves you with less relief, or with relief from another source, is a question for an adviser. To check any country yourself, the IRS page points to the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation's Tax Research Platform, and the US Treasury page hosts treaty texts and technical explanations.

Why your heirs may face a US filing for one home

The duty to file attaches to the estate. When US-situated assets pass the threshold, the executor files Form 706-NA, due within nine months after the date of death unless an extension was granted. The IRS also describes a transfer certificate, issued when it is satisfied that the tax, if any, has been paid or provided for. It says a certificate is not required for property administered by an executor or administrator appointed, qualified and acting within the United States.

Think about what that means for a family in Europe. Your heirs may be asked to deal with a US authority, in English, on a US timetable, while also settling the estate at home. A buyer who has thought about this in advance can make that process shorter and cheaper for them.

Why ownership structure matters, and why to ask before you buy

Section 2104 treats shares in a company as property in the United States only if the company is a domestic one. The way you hold a US home, in your own name or in some other form, can therefore change how the estate rules apply. We do not advise on structures. Each one has consequences for income tax, for the tax in your home country, for the mortgage and for what happens on a sale, and the right answer depends on where you live and who inherits.

What we can say is that the time to ask is before the purchase. Ask the adviser what changing the way a home is held after purchase would involve. If you are also arranging finance, see foreign national loans, and note that a lender may have a view on how the property is held.

What to do before you sign

Book a conversation with an adviser who knows both the US rules and the law of your own country, since your home country will have its own rules on inheritance and tax. Bring the purchase price, your other US assets, your family situation and a draft of your will. Our country guides cover what is different in each European market, and the purchase timeline guide shows where in the process you still have room to change course.

Questions people moving from Europe ask

Continue your research

• Foreign national loans: US mortgages for buyers living in Europe
• How long a US home purchase takes, compared with Europe
• How much down payment and cash you need for a US home
• Buying a US home from the UK or the EU
• Start a personal US mortgage scan