{"id":323,"date":"2026-03-10T12:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/?p=323"},"modified":"2026-05-18T18:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T18:19:09","slug":"christine-concepcion-featured-on-the-scholar-wealth-podcast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/christine-concepcion-featured-on-the-scholar-wealth-podcast\/","title":{"rendered":"Christine Concepci\u00f3n Featured on The Scholar Wealth Podcast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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On his podcast, The Scholar Wealth<\/strong>, host Stephan Shipe <\/strong>was joined by Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n, Esq. to examine how families think about cross-border living, tax exposure, and long-term planning when life extends beyond just one country.<\/p>\n

The following is a transcript from the podcast. Listen to the entire podcast here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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From the Field \u2013 Cross-Border Tax Planning with Christine Concepci\u00f3n<\/h4>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nSo next in our From the Field segment, we explore what happens when families build businesses and live across borders.<\/p>\n

Today we\u2019re joined by Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n<\/a>, an attorney who advises individuals and closely held businesses on complex international and domestic tax matters, including pre-immigration planning, expatriation, and cross-border structuring. Christine, welcome to the Scholar Wealth Podcast. To start, can you share a little bit about your background, how you got into this very interesting and complex world?<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nAbsolutely. Thank you so much for having me, Stephan. So as you said, I\u2019m an international tax attorney based in Miami. I have an office in Madrid and in Paris. And I help taxpayers, essentially either US taxpayers or individuals who will become US taxpayers, ensure that their cross border assets are being reported correctly in the US and structuring both inbound and outbound investments to limit exposure to certain US taxes and also make it efficient from a cross-border planning perspective. So my individual clients are oftentimes inbound clients who are moving to the United States temporarily, permanently, or simply just investing in the United States. And my outbound clients are US taxpayers who are moving abroad, typically Europe. That\u2019s what I\u2019m seeing most often, Europe and some Latin American countries, and they are either starting businesses or they\u2019re keeping some businesses that they\u2019ve had and they need to ensure that these structures are being maintained properly. And there\u2019s a whole toolbox of assets that we have to ensure that their tax compliance and that their tax strategy is aligned both domestically and abroad.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nSo when somebody goes and tries to make that decision and you have a closely held business, whether it\u2019s in the US or somewhere else, and the family\u2019s trying to make a decision to move somewhere, what\u2019s leading that decision? Is it being led by, Christine tells me that these are great places to move to, so I\u2019m going to pick from this list, or is it, I went on vacation there or I have family in this place, this is where I want to live, and then they come to you and you say either, this is going to be a piece of cake, or this is going to be a nightmare?<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nMost of the time they\u2019re flexible individuals, sometimes with school-age children, often not. And they have some sort of family connection or lineage in that particular country or that geography. That\u2019s, I would say, the majority of my clients. But I have some other clients who say, you know what, I\u2019ve been to France a bunch of times, I love it here, it\u2019s pretty central, and they have a great banking system and beautiful housing. So we\u2019re going to pick France. So I would say most of it, there\u2019s some sort of connection, but maybe 25% it\u2019s, you know, I love it over here and I just want to make this my second home or potentially a permanent home for the future.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nAnd when you look at that from an advice perspective and somebody comes in \u2014 because I imagine there\u2019s got to be some gut reaction to whether or not this country is going to be easy or not, or there\u2019s going to be problems that they know about. What are the things you\u2019re looking for? You mentioned a good banking system \u2014 is that high on the list? What are some of the things that are high up on the list and some things that really don\u2019t matter too much?<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nYeah, so let\u2019s say a client comes to me, a potential client. We will look at their asset list, their organization chart. And we\u2019re going to talk about their hopes and dreams and their family plans. Do they have children? Do they want to pass assets to their children? How flexible are you? What languages do you speak, if any at all? And if they really are very flexible, then we\u2019ll just pick three or four countries that they\u2019re interested in considering and then I\u2019ll hire co-counsel in those specific countries and we\u2019ll go through their asset list and say, okay, well, if this person moves to let\u2019s say France or Italy, Spain or Portugal, what are the pros and cons? How can we manage their worldwide assets if we move permanently to one of these countries? And I said the word permanently, but it\u2019s never really permanent.<\/p>\n

First of all, these individuals want to do like a five-year test run and see how it goes. And then they might decide to stay. But at a certain net worth, what I have seen is that no one\u2019s permanent anywhere. And they\u2019re very flexible in going from one country to the next so that they don\u2019t trip over certain tax rules that are going to overcomplicate their situation. And oftentimes they just say, you know what, I would love to be in France permanently, but after \u2014 France has an estate tax rule where if you\u2019re there for five years, you\u2019re considered a domicile provided that there\u2019s certain indicia that you\u2019re not yet a domicile. So you kind of have five years to play around with and they might just want to take advantage of those five years and live out this great life in France. But then they say, you know what, let\u2019s go to the next country because there\u2019s no way in hell that we\u2019re going to become French domiciles for estate tax purposes.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s this flexibility, which is fantastic, but they\u2019ll just continue hopping around. And the question becomes, well, is it practical to continue hopping around every few years? And for the first two or three years, it might be practical. It might not be that difficult because it\u2019s not that hard to settle down for a few years. But life circumstances change and you just never know what\u2019s going to happen. So while they might want to hop around, who knows what happens in the future. But that is one of the considerations. Just the tax considerations for estate tax planning are sometimes so onerous that they\u2019re like, we\u2019ll be here for a little while and then we\u2019ll just figure it out later.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nAnd that would be on the personal side, but if you had a business, do you typically see the business kind of stays behind? Is that the idea? Because I imagine that structurally adds a lot more complexity than moving around residences, especially if you\u2019re not dealing with any domicile concerns.<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nYeah, so if your business is US based, we often \u2014 we\u2019re talking about individuals with closely held businesses, as opposed to the Elon Musks of the world that are a majority shareholder or a significant shareholder in publicly traded companies. So we\u2019re talking about entities where the owners, where the client, is able to control and have more flexibility with.<\/p>\n

So these types of entities, what we can do is \u2014 let\u2019s take a client, for example, that wants to move to Spain. I see this all the time. I\u2019m a US citizen and I have an S corporation, but I want to move to Spain. Well, Spain doesn\u2019t recognize what we consider pass-through tax treatment for this S Corp. So we typically have to restructure that S Corp here in the US, sometimes to a corporation, so that we can do some tax planning on the Spanish side. So if you use that logic for Spain, that\u2019s going to happen also for different countries. So just as long as we\u2019re flexible in the US \u2014 subject to certain limitations, like you can only change your tax classification every certain number of years in the US \u2014 we can still be flexible in the US and then they can continue moving on to whatever countries, just as long as they\u2019re compliant with the local tax requirements and also thinking ahead probably six months to a year in advance of moving to the next country and becoming a tax resident in that country.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nCan you dive into that concept of tax resident? Because I know that always throws people off. It\u2019s like I\u2019m a tax resident of this country, my business is actually in this country, and I\u2019m a permanent resident over here. How does all that work just from a definitions perspective?<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nSure. So if we\u2019re thinking about US citizens, a US citizen and a green card holder, they are tax residents regardless of where they live. So that\u2019s a very important key for US individuals who want to move abroad. If you\u2019re a US citizen, you\u2019re going to be subject to US income and estate tax no matter what and no matter where you live. If you\u2019re a green card holder, you are an income tax resident and you are presumed to be an estate tax resident. You\u2019re able to rebut that position under certain circumstances, but that\u2019s for another podcast. But then when we\u2019re talking about a US person moving abroad, we have to look at whether that US person is a tax resident of the particular country. So for example, you hear a lot about the 182 days, whether you \u2014 so most countries say that if you\u2019re in that country more than 182 days, you are a tax resident of that country. Now we have to look at whether we have a tax treaty with that other country. And regardless, we still have to look at each country\u2019s tax residency rules. I have a client from Spain that is not a US citizen, but they have US assets and they have a lot of Spanish issues that we deal with together.<\/p>\n

And the question has always been, well, if the husband lives in a foreign country, let\u2019s say he lives in Dubai, and then the wife and kids live in Spain, the question is, well, is the husband a Spanish tax resident? And oftentimes the answer is actually yes. Let\u2019s assume that he\u2019s in Spain for 70 days. Spain is actually going to say, you know what, he\u2019s actually a Spanish tax resident because his center of vital interest is Spain. His kids are there, his wife is there, he might have some assets there like a long-term lease or he owns a home. So Spain is going to attract all of his income into Spain even though it was earned abroad. So each country is different, but you have to always consider, is there a day count? And even if you don\u2019t meet the day count, is there an exception for center of vital interest that is going to attract residency despite not meeting the day count.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nInteresting. And then the businesses, I imagine, once all that moves, you\u2019re dealing with fiscal years and calendar years, depending on different countries, of when that transition happens and where the business is taxed.<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nYes. And then that\u2019s where tax planning comes into play because does a US person have a US corporation? Does he have a disregarded entity like an LLC owned by one person? And then the complexities are abundant. And let\u2019s say we have a US entity earning US source income, but then the person earning that US source income, let\u2019s say he\u2019s living abroad \u2014 Spain might say, you know what, all of that income is attributed to the owner of the business and he\u2019s going to pay 100% tax, or he\u2019s going to be taxed on 100% of that income because he lives in Spain. Another issue is, well, that\u2019s the personal income tax issues. But what about corporate? Does that US corporation have a taxable presence now in Spain?<\/p>\n

And so now we have to look at permanent establishment rules under local rules, under the treaty. And so not only do we have to think about the individual, but we also have to think about what the company\u2019s tax exposure is to that country. And you saw a lot of this during the pandemic. You had a lot of US companies whose employees decided to go move to Portugal, to move to Mexico, any \u2014 pick a country. And so the question for tax attorneys became, well, does that company now have a taxable presence in whatever country by virtue of having X amount of employees? Then you have to look at the function of the employee. Are we talking about someone who does back office IT or is that employee actually signing contracts on behalf of the company in the foreign country? So the levels of complexity, we can talk for hours about this.<\/p>\n

But I think the important issue is to make sure that the client is aware of the complexities and to be able to issue spot \u2014 at least know that it\u2019s complex enough that he or she needs to reach out to a competent tax advisor.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nAnd where do you see people moving right now? In the sense you mentioned a lot of Americans moving to Europe. Are there any particular countries, I guess, in Europe or South America, Latin America \u2014 all the different places that you tend to specialize in \u2014 that you would say, this is the hot spot right now, everyone\u2019s moving over to this country. And why? What\u2019s causing that?<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nYou know, I think because I have offices in Spain and France, I probably attract that type of clientele. So that\u2019s what I see the most of. But also Belgium. There\u2019s a lot of US citizens living in Belgium. And so I think those are the three main countries that I service. And I think the reason why people are leaving \u2014 I think social media has a lot of influence on where people want to live. People also want to just experience a different lifestyle and they might be running away from the United States for political reasons. And I think when it\u2019s a political issue, my role is to also tell the client, look, you need to make sure that this is a logical decision as opposed to an emotional decision. And it might start emotionally, but then it turns into a logical decision to move abroad.<\/p>\n

And I say, okay, if you move to the United States without doing anything, this is the world of hurt that you\u2019re going to be in. And typically it\u2019s a world of hurt because the people moving here have significant assets. So step one is looking at what they have and step two is restructuring what they have. And hopefully they have the foresight to say, let me engage in this process a year before moving abroad so that we can do this in the most efficient way.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe
\nSo a lot of what we\u2019ve been talking about has been kind of one direction, US moving out to a different country. But one of the things you do is help people invest in the US. One of the big things that I\u2019ve always seen \u2014 I\u2019d love for you to maybe confirm or not confirm the thought \u2014 is that it\u2019s a lot easier for someone who\u2019s not a US citizen to invest in the United States, or in businesses or real estate in the United States, than it is for me as a US citizen to go invest in a business in Spain or real estate in Spain or Belgium. Is that true? And what are the big differences there?<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nYes, it is absolutely true. And the reason is because the United States \u2014 most countries that we\u2019re dealing with, we\u2019re talking about capitalist countries with some social programs. But at the end of the day, there\u2019s nothing like the United States where you can go on sunbiz.org for Florida, for example, and form an entity and have the confirmation in a few days.<\/p>\n

And if you need it even sooner, Delaware \u2014 you can form an entity and have confirmation that it was formed in two hours. The next step is getting the bank account. You have access to the banking system. So I don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s very quickly, but it\u2019s a lot faster than most countries. And I want to draw a parallel to two deals that I recently did. One, I needed to form an entity in India. It took us seven months to form the entity.<\/p>\n

Okay, so we have been delaying all of this tax planning just because of that one entity formation. In Spain, it\u2019s a lot faster than that, but it still takes \u2014 you can\u2019t form an entity on the same day. You have at least a two month timeframe from the time that you form and get your bank account to the time that you\u2019re able to launch the business. Okay, so if a foreign individual came to me and said, hey, Christine, I plan on buying real estate in the United States and I already have a foreign company, I can form that structure in days. Okay, I can do it incredibly quickly, but the same is not true when I\u2019m trying to form a structure abroad. And it\u2019s always the foreign part that takes the longest. And it\u2019s just simply that this country is built on being a founder of a business. It\u2019s built on small business enterprises. So without a doubt, it\u2019s easier to come to the United States than to go abroad.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s great. No, perfect. And thank you for confirming that \u2014 that\u2019s what I\u2019ve always thought. You\u2019re the one to ask to see if that is true or just something I\u2019ve noticed anecdotally. But as we wrap up today, I really appreciate you getting into some of those details. Anything you\u2019d like to share with listeners about that move or things to consider, anything that you think maybe you missed that you\u2019d want to really drive home saying, listen, before you do this, obviously, they\u2019ve got to call you.<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nYeah, so I want to drive home again the planning. Planning in advance is crucial. And the second part is if you\u2019re a non-US person and you want to invest in the United States, you have great rules in the US for you to avoid a lot of taxes, obviously legally. So you have a lot of structuring opportunities that we do not have as US persons.<\/p>\n

And so before you even sign that contract to purchase real estate, make sure that you have a tax attorney working on that structure for you. And whoever tells you to buy in a US LLC and then transfer it later \u2014 that doesn\u2019t work. It can work, but it\u2019s still going to be a lot more complex to restructure that investment on the backend than if you do it at the front end. And it\u2019s not that hard to build the first part of your international tax structure and leave it until you\u2019re ready to purchase because it\u2019s not that expensive to maintain it. But when you have a deal coming in and you want to purchase that deal really quickly, you might not have enough time to set up the international tax structure for purposes of closing that deal in the most tax efficient way.<\/p>\n

Stephan Shipe:<\/strong>
\nPerfect. Love it. Thank you so much for coming on today and sharing some of this with us.<\/p>\n

Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n:<\/strong>
\nThank you so much. Have a great day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On his podcast, The Scholar Wealth, host Stephan Shipe was joined by Christine Alexis Concepci\u00f3n, Esq. to examine how families think about cross-border living, tax exposure, and long-term planning when life extends beyond just one country. The following is a transcript from the podcast. Listen to the entire podcast here. From the Field \u2013 Cross-Border […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,18],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-insights","tag-u-s-tax-compliance"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325,"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323\/revisions\/325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concepcionlaw.iscopedata.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}