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The SALT Deduction Workaround

The SALT Deduction Workaround

The SALT Deduction Workaround

Karmaa Martell Profile Picture

Karma Martell

Karma Martell, Founder of KarmaCom, is a seasoned professional business commentator, writer, and marketer, and serves as virtual CMO for International Wealth Tax Advisors.

Contact IWTA

To schedule an introductory phone conference with IWTA  founder Jack Brister simply click here. Email IWTA at bloginquiries@iwtas.com Or call the IWTA New York City office at 212-256-1142

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The SALT Deduction Workaround

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) permanently extends key provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including the SALT deduction cap. From 2025 to 2029, the cap increases to $40,000, but phases down for households earning over $500,000—reverting to the original $10,000 cap for those above $600,000. 

Adoptions vary by state. 

02g IWTA 25 09 Blog Post The SALT Deduction Workaround

Pass the Salt

Crucially, the SALT cap workaround remains intact for pass-through entity (PTE) owners, offering a powerful tool to mitigate federal tax exposure by shifting state and local tax payments to the entity level.

Key Provisions

  • SALT Deduction Cap Adjustments Raised to $40,000 (2025–2029), but phased down for incomes over $500K.
  • Households earning $600K+ revert to the original $10K cap.
  • Married filing separately: thresholds are halved.
  • PTE Workaround: A key planning opportunity: Applies to partnerships, S corporations, and certain LLCs.
  • Enables state/local taxes to be paid at the entity level, bypassing individual SALT limits.
  • Reduces taxable income passed through to owners—effectively lowering federal liability.
  • May outperform itemized deductions, especially for those subject to AMT or net investment income tax.
  • IRS Endorsement & Compliance: IRS formally authorized the workaround in 2020; further guidance may follow.
  • Applies to “Specified Income Tax Payments” made after Nov. 9, 2020, or earlier if state law was in place.
  • No federal restrictions introduced under OBBBA.
  • State-Level Adoption: over 35 states have enacted PTE tax legislation.
  • Laws vary in scope, effective dates, and expiration (some ending in 2025).
  • Confirm eligibility and timing with a qualified tax advisor.

Strategic Wealth Preservation

For high-income earners in high-tax states, the PTE workaround can uphold significant deductions that would otherwise be lost under the SALT Cap. It’s a sophisticated lever for tax efficiency—especially relevant for those with complex income streams and multi-state exposure.

Jack Brister and his capable team are up-to-date with all OBBBA developments and tax law changes. We’re here for a consultation, an evaluation, and to serve as a trusted advisor and accounting partner. Whether you call Detroit, Dublin or Dubai your home, if you have investments, business, family or residences in the U.S., we can help.

Click here to set up a consultation.

 

Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Karmaa Martell Profile Picture

Karma Martell

Karma Martell, Founder of KarmaCom, is a seasoned professional business commentator, writer, and marketer, and serves as virtual CMO for International Wealth Tax Advisors.

Contact IWTA

To schedule an introductory phone conference with IWTA  founder Jack Brister simply click here. Email IWTA at bloginquiries@iwtas.com Or call the IWTA New York City office at 212-256-1142

Latest Posts

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Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Currently, three European nations, including Switzerland, impose a net wealth tax. Which other countries have a net wealth tax? Additionally, what countries levy a wealth tax specifically on certain assets?

With rising fiscal pressures, the concept of wealth taxation continues to surface in policy circles around the globe. The debate continues as Switzerland, Norway and Spain have instituted wealth taxes, while Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands levy a wealth tax on specific assets.

But as proposals are on the table in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, an OECD report argues that they disincentivize entrepreneurship and harm innovation—while collecting minimal revenue.

Download a handy tax table chart by country and read the Tax Foundation’s comments here

Download the OECD report here. .

Are you grappling with wealth taxes imposed on your assets and earnings by a foreign country? Schedule a consultation with Jack Brister, international tax expert.

Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Currently, three European nations, including Switzerland, impose a net wealth tax. Which other countries have a net wealth tax? Additionally, what countries levy a wealth tax specifically on certain assets?

With rising fiscal pressures, the concept of wealth taxation continues to surface in policy circles around the globe. The debate continues as Switzerland, Norway and Spain have instituted wealth taxes, while Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands levy a wealth tax on specific assets.

But as proposals are on the table in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, an OECD report argues that they disincentivize entrepreneurship and harm innovation—while collecting minimal revenue.

Download a handy tax table chart by country and read the Tax Foundation’s comments here

Download the OECD report here. .

Are you grappling with wealth taxes imposed on your assets and earnings by a foreign country? Schedule a consultation with Jack Brister, international tax expert.

Currently, three European nations, including Switzerland, impose a net wealth tax. Which other countries have a net wealth tax? Additionally, what countries levy a wealth tax specifically on certain assets?

With rising fiscal pressures, the concept of wealth taxation continues to surface in policy circles around the globe. The debate continues as Switzerland, Norway and Spain have instituted wealth taxes, while Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands levy a wealth tax on specific assets. 

But as proposals are on the table in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, an OECD report argues that they disincentivize entrepreneurship and harm innovation—while collecting minimal revenue.

Download a handy tax table chart by country and read the Tax Foundation’s comments here

Download the OECD report here. 

Are you grappling with wealth taxes imposed on your assets and earnings by a foreign country? Schedule a consultation with Jack Brister, international tax expert. 

 

Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Currently, three European nations, including Switzerland, impose a net wealth tax. Which other countries have a net wealth tax? Additionally, what countries levy a wealth tax specifically on certain assets?

With rising fiscal pressures, the concept of wealth taxation continues to surface in policy circles around the globe. The debate continues as Switzerland, Norway and Spain have instituted wealth taxes, while Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands levy a wealth tax on specific assets.

But as proposals are on the table in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, an OECD report argues that they disincentivize entrepreneurship and harm innovation—while collecting minimal revenue.

Download a handy tax table chart by country and read the Tax Foundation’s comments here

Download the OECD report here. .

Are you grappling with wealth taxes imposed on your assets and earnings by a foreign country? Schedule a consultation with Jack Brister, international tax expert.

Wealth Taxes: Leveling the Field or Stifling Growth?

Currently, three European nations, including Switzerland, impose a net wealth tax. Which other countries have a net wealth tax? Additionally, what countries levy a wealth tax specifically on certain assets?

With rising fiscal pressures, the concept of wealth taxation continues to surface in policy circles around the globe. The debate continues as Switzerland, Norway and Spain have instituted wealth taxes, while Belgium, France, Italy and the Netherlands levy a wealth tax on specific assets.

But as proposals are on the table in countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, an OECD report argues that they disincentivize entrepreneurship and harm innovation—while collecting minimal revenue.

Download a handy tax table chart by country and read the Tax Foundation’s comments here

Download the OECD report here. .

Are you grappling with wealth taxes imposed on your assets and earnings by a foreign country? Schedule a consultation with Jack Brister, international tax expert.

03 IWTA 25 05b Blog Wealth Taxes in Europe 2025

Image courtesy of The Tax Foundation

 

It Happened in South Dakota

It Happened in South Dakota

It Happened in South Dakota

Karmaa Martell Profile Picture

Karma Martell

Karma Martell, Founder of KarmaCom, is a seasoned professional business commentator, writer, and marketer, and serves as virtual CMO for International Wealth Tax Advisors.

Contact IWTA

To schedule an introductory phone conference with IWTA  founder Jack Brister simply click here. Email IWTA at bloginquiries@iwtas.com Or call the IWTA New York City office at 212-256-1142

Latest Posts

Find Previous Posts

Pandora Papers Thrusts South Dakota into Tax Haven Spotlight

The Wild West of Bank and Finance Laws

Do you get a lot of credit card offers in the mail from banks you’ve never heard of? Chances are, the bank’s HQ is in, you guessed it, South Dakota. Flip over a few credit cards in your wallet and read the fine print. Why set up an issuing bank in South Dakota? In 1981, the state abolished laws limiting the interest rate on credit cards. South Dakota is home to the big sky, (sorry, Montana) and the sky’s the limit when it comes to interest rates on your Visa or Mastercard.

In 1983, South Dakota was the first state to establish perpetual trusts. In a nutshell, perpetual trusts allow monies to remain in place for generations, with no one having to pay inheritance taxes.

Trusts are wealth structures favored by high-net-worth families and individuals, and South Dakota has a history of legislating highly favorable laws for settlors and trustees. The sweet green icing on the money layer cake is no income tax, no capital gains tax and no inheritance tax. The cherry on top are laws that ensure the investor of extreme privacy and secrecy from any blue and brown suits that may try to penetrate their personal Fort Knox. Assets held in South Dakota trusts have increased from 57 billion to $360 billion in the last 10 years.

According to the Pandora Papers, among South Dakota’s wealthy foreign opt-ins are Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso, Chinese real estate billionaire Sun Hongbin, and Guatemalan industrial products titan Federico Kong Vielman.

IWTA founder Jack Brister weighs in: “Though it is true that South Dakota, along with Wyoming, have strong state-level asset privacy laws, it should be known that these laws don’t allow U.S. or international persons a means of U.S. tax avoidance.

U.S. persons are always subject to U.S. tax no matter where they reside or where their assets are located.  Trustees are held liable for the appropriate tax reporting and payment of tax due and no state law can remove these federally-mandated responsibilities.

The skinny on the matter is that the U.S.-legislated law in which the premise is a trust, even those established under U.S. law, are foreign trusts unless specific criteria are met. The purpose for enacting such a broad definition of what a foreign trust is was to cast a wide net to ensure U.S. persons could not use such structures to avoid their tax responsibilities without facing severe penalties.  In doing so, the U.S. limited its ability to tax trusts established in the U.S. by foreign persons where the trust had no U.S. assets or income and the beneficiaries were not residing in the U.S.

This is because the U.S. has no authority to tax foreign persons if they are not deemed to be U.S. residents and have no U.S. assets or income. Reminder: capital gains and most interest income are tax-exempt. Business income and real property gains are subject to taxation.

These rules apply equally to a foreign trust.  Therefore, when a trust is established under state law where the primary fiduciary responsibilities are with a foreign person and not the U.S. trustee (generally a U.S. trust company), and the trust has no U.S.- sourced income, the trust treated as a foreign person, which means there is insufficient nexus to the U.S., resulting in the U.S. having no legal taxing authority.”

Which U.S. States Have the Most Trusts According to the Pandora Papers?

According to Axios, trusts held in the states listed below account for about 1 trillion dollars in secretly-held assets. According to Bloomberg, South Dakota state data alone show one half trillion dollars of wealth in trusts.

Which US states have the most trusts in the Pandora Papers?

How the U.S. Treasury Views Americans’ Reporting of Foreign Assets

The U.S. Bank Secrecy Act demands that foreign banks disclose assets and accounts held by U.S citizens, and that U.S. citizens report those accounts or face a penalty, with $10,000 being the threshold of compliance. FBAR, the Foreign Bank Account Report, is the most-commonly filed disclosure form, while those with assets over $200,000 if living abroad and $50,000 if living stateside, are required to file FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) form 8938. For more on FATCA filing rules, see our blog post. For more on FBAR rules and compliance see the IWTA FBAR primer.

FATCA and the Banking Secrecy Act (BSA) are under the jurisdiction of FinCen, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Treasury. FinCen investigations take place worldwide, supporting partner countries in combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other financial crimes.

One might assume that the U.S. would bring the same level of scrutiny to those transferring foreign wealth to U.S. financial institutions and shell companies, but that is not the case because the U.S. has no legal jurisdiction to assert taxing authority.

Why the U.S. is Becoming a Favored Foreign Tax Haven

Although the USA supports the OECD’s global tax effort, they have refused to sign on to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) which pledges inter-country cooperation in reporting financial assets and accounts to outside jurisdictions. The CES was formed in 2014, per the request of the G20. 112 countries currently participate in the CRS.

The power and autonomy of individual state governance makes it possible for U.S. states to create what amount to independent tax havens under the umbrella of the USA. According to Axios quoting a study by Israeli academic Adam Hofri-Winogradow, 17 of the world’s 20 least-restrictive jurisdictions for trusts were American states.

Will Congress and The Fed Intervene?

On October 6th, 2021, members of congress introduced “The Enabler’s Act.” The Act would expand the 1970-era Bank Secrecy Act to legislating accountability to parties typical in aiding and abetting money laundering and tax evasion, such as accountants, lawyers, investment advisors, and even public relations professionals and art dealers.

The new provisions would in effect expand FinCen’s 2020 Anti-Money Laundering Act. According to The Hill, not only will the Enabler’s Act improve the chances of catching violators, it would close a loophole in the securities laws that currently exempts investment advisers from the same reporting and procedures that are required of broker-dealers, — in at least some circumstances.

The law does not call out registered investment advisers per se, but its definition of investment professionals is broad and could close the loop. Thus, a new set of whistleblowers may come forward with new insights and information regarding the shadowy world of dark money.

West May Still be Best

It should be noted that unless the Treasury Department revises the definition of a foreign trust for tax purposes, The Enabler’s Act, if passed, is not likely to impact the ability of foreign persons to use the U.S. as a place to establish wealth structures which may avoid their home country tax laws.