Extreme Tax Saving Strategy by Hollywood Actor Johnny Depp

Hollywood movie star of the movie Pirates of the , Johnny Depp has decided to move out of his long time foreign country of residence of France and move back to America in a tax saving strategy.

Dual citizens or people living in two tax treaty country should take note.

Johnny Depp and his French singer/actress partner Vanessa Paradis had moved to France in the 1990s to live away from the Hollywood spotlight with their two children.

According to the French immigration rule, if he lived in France for more than 183 days, in a calendar year, he will become a permanent resident of the country and will have to pay income tax on his worldwide income to French Government. But as a US citizen he must also report and pay taxes to USA Federal government.

To avoid double taxation Johnny Depp decided to give up his long time residency in France in favor of USA. He has moved back to USA with his family.

I doubt that he would have fell in the trap of double taxation by both USA and French government on his worldwide income. Usually all the developed countries have tax treaty with each other and the country of tax residence will give credit to the tax payer for all the foreign taxes paid to the other country

It is a brilliant move by anyone, who has option to move to any lower tax base country to take tax residency in that country. Becoming a tax residence of another country does not mean that you have to give up your citizenship of your primary country. Citizenship and Tax Residence are two entirely different legal status.

We are one of Vancouver, BC’s cross border tax experts. Contact us for a free consultation, if you have cross border tax issues.