Zhulik, living in Budochka, Belarus, apparently inherited $1 million from his/her US elder, tax-free, with no known US filing obligations and didn’t renounce US citizenship. No FBAR, no FATCA, no nothing. Yet, so far, no Americans have accused the dog of not paying his/her “fair share” or of “evading” US taxation. Must dogs be required to file FBARs too?
MINSK, March 31 (RIA Novosti) – A dog from the small village of Budochka in Belarus inherited almost $1 million from a US citizen of the Belarusian origin, local Respublika daily reported.
The ten-year-old dog by the name of Zhulik (Swindler) inherited the fortune from late John Fyodorov, who was born in Budochka, but migrated to the United States after the World War II.
According to Zhulik’s owner Vasily Potapov, Fyodorov visited the small village in Belarus in 2007 and said the dog reminded him of his dog Valet that died in 1950s.
Valet was ill at that time and deciding between an expensive surgery for the dog and buying a ticket to Sacramento, Fyodorov chose the latter. The dog died and since then Fyodorov could not forgive himself for the death of best friend.
Maria Protasenya, a lawyer from Minsk, confirmed that a special bank account was opened for the dog and it currently boasts $993,700.
It’s not actually a “US dog” since it doesn’t live in the US and it’s owner is not an Americsn citizen. However, it is an interesting question as to what is expected of such pets if they lived in the US, or even more interestingly, belonged to a US person abroad.
I wonder if there are any legal precedents. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were, and if thete aren’t there will be. Sooner or later, someone will think of trying to avoid taxes by leaving their money to a pet
As I understand it, dogs are exempt from citizenship status and are only taxed by the US government if they live in the US where their money is then required to be in a taxable trust who’s earnings are taxed at 35%. So, a US citizen or not, a dog who does not live in America is not taxed by America since a US trust is then not required. In Russia it appears that a dog only needs to have a bank account and they won’t be kicked out of the bank for being a “US person”.