U.S. Tax & Accounting

Green card holders are generally classified as U.S. tax residents and must report worldwide income to the United States — not only U.S.-source income but wages, business income, rental income, interest and dividends, and gains from stocks and real estate earned in Korea as well. That said, a broader reporting obligation is not the same thing as a higher tax bill. Tax already paid in Korea can be offset through the foreign tax credit, and the U.S. offers deductions and asset-management tools that don't exist in Korea.

If you plan to actually live in the U.S., build assets there, and eventually pass them on to family, long-term tax planning can let you use provisions such as the following.

For someone who settles in the U.S. long-term and builds assets there, tax options open up that don't exist in Korea. Because the requirements and effective dates differ by provision, which ones you can use — and from when — depends on how your assets are structured and when you convert to resident status.

The table below summarizes representative provisions you can use if you actually live in the U.S. and meet each provision's requirements.

In Korea, when an adult child receives a gift from a lineal ascendant, a KRW 50 million exemption applies per 10 years, after which a progressive rate of 10% to 50% applies. Assuming no gifts in the prior 10 years, gifting KRW 1 billion results in a taxable base of KRW 950 million and roughly KRW 225 million in gift tax.

In the U.S., the 2026 gift and estate tax lifetime exemption is $15 million per person, and the annual gift exclusion is $19,000 per recipient. Even if you exceed the annual exclusion, no actual federal gift tax may be due as long as you remain within the lifetime exemption — though a gift tax return may still be required.

The U.S. home-sale gain exclusion requires meeting certain conditions, such as having owned and used the home as your main residence for at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale. The exclusion is generally $250,000, or up to $500,000 if filing jointly as a married couple.

The provisions above do not apply automatically just because you obtain a U.S. green card. The outcome depends on your tax residency status in both the U.S. and Korea, your actual period of residence, citizenship, where your assets are located, and your income level, and Korean tax may also apply. It's important to review your asset structure and the timing of your residency change before you obtain your green card.

Once you become a green card holder, not only assets you newly build in the U.S. but also income and assets you already hold in Korea may become subject to U.S. tax reporting.

Before obtaining a green card, you can choose the timing of a sale or gift; after obtaining it, your options narrow. It's therefore more advantageous to check the following items before obtaining a green card, rather than sorting them out afterward.

Even for the same asset, the tax that applies and the reporting method can differ depending on whether the sale or gift happens before or after you obtain a green card.

Obtaining a U.S. green card is a change in your tax system before it's a change in your life. The starting point for tax isn't the rate — it's which country you're a resident of. Selling the same asset at the same time can produce a different filing country and tax amount depending on your residency determination.

After obtaining a green card and starting life in the U.S., you may consider yourself a U.S. resident, but under Korean tax law you may still be treated as a Korean resident. This happens because the two countries make the determination in different ways.

Two misconceptions come up often as a result: "moving to the U.S. means clearing out all Korean assets" and "getting a green card alone automatically ends Korean residency." Residency isn't determined solely by whether assets remain. Korean tax law and the Korea-U.S. tax treaty don't apply individual factors mechanically — they work through a defined sequence of steps and reach a conclusion based on the full set of facts.

If residency status isn't settled by the time you dispose of assets or income arises, it can lead to double taxation or an unexpected tax burden. Converting your residency isn't something to sort out after you leave Korea — it's something to check beforehand, together with your departure timing and your family's relocation schedule.

Even after your tax filings are complete, moving funds to the U.S. is a separate process. Sending funds from Korea abroad is subject to reporting under the Foreign Exchange Transactions Act and verification of the source of funds, separately from tax law.

Even for the same amount, the required reporting and supporting documents differ completely depending on which of these applies. Skipping a step means having to go back to an earlier one, so how you first characterize the funds determines the entire timeline.

The flow of funds needs to be backed by documentation. Keeping records from the moment you carry out a sale or gift means you won't need to recreate them later. The source-of-funds documents prepared in this process overlap substantially with the funds-verification materials required in the immigration process. Preparing tax, remittance, and immigration matters on the same timeline means you don't have to build the same documentation twice.

If a green card holder owns or sells real estate in Korea, both Korean and U.S. tax need to be reviewed together.

If your Korean real estate generates rental income, you must report it in Korea and may also need to report it in the U.S. as part of your worldwide income. Certain income tax paid in Korea can be offset against U.S. tax through the foreign tax credit. However, not all Korean tax is fully creditable, and additional U.S. tax can result depending on the income category and credit limits.

If a green card holder sells real estate in Korea, they must report capital gains tax in Korea and may also need to calculate and report the gain in U.S. dollars in the U.S.

Even if Korea's one-household-one-home exemption applies, U.S. tax can still result if you separately fail to meet the U.S. home-sale gain exclusion requirements. Conversely, for a home you actually live in within the U.S., meeting the U.S. ownership and use requirements lets you exclude up to $250,000 of gain, or up to $500,000 filing jointly.

For U.S. real estate, the title and ownership structure you settle on at acquisition carries through to rental income reporting, disposal, and inheritance down the line. Changing the ownership structure later is treated as a transfer or gift under tax law and itself becomes a taxable event, so the decision made at acquisition effectively governs the entire holding period.

When a Korean resident acquires U.S. real estate, obligations arise on both the Korean and U.S. sides, and that structure changes again once a green card is obtained. Property tax, income tax, and estate tax regimes vary significantly by state, so where you plan to settle also needs to be factored in. Because the range of adjustments narrows after acquisition, reviewing your options before signing a contract is what preserves your choices.

Green card holders may need to include dividends and trading gains from Korean stocks, funds, and ETFs in their U.S. income tax return.

Long-term capital gains on stock and similar assets held more than one year in the U.S. can generally be taxed at federal rates of 0%, 15%, or 20% depending on income level, though the net investment income tax (NIIT) and state income tax may add to that. Funds and ETFs organized in Korea may qualify as a PFIC under U.S. tax law, so it's important to review your holdings before obtaining a green card.

Equity in a Korean corporation is the asset with the most items to review at the time of obtaining a green card. At the same time, because you can choose when dividends, salary, and equity transfers happen, it's an asset where you can design the sequence to match your immigration timeline.

A majority shareholder of a Korean corporation needs to review whether to clean up their equity at the time of departure. Because the criteria and requirements are set by law and can be determined in advance, the sequence between your green card timeline and your equity clean-up schedule should be fixed ahead of time. Dividends, salary, and proceeds from an equity sale are also funds whose source and flow can be documented. These records support the verification materials required at both the tax-filing and fund-transfer stages, so how and when you make these payments should be reviewed together with the steps that follow. Restructuring equity or converting an entity takes considerable time to execute, and the valuation date determines the outcome. Working backward from your timeline preserves the options available to you.

The U.S. differs from Korea in how gift and estate tax is assessed and in the size of the exemptions. In Korea, the recipient of a gift generally bears the gift tax, but in the U.S., the person making the gift generally bears the filing and payment obligation. Because the taxpayer differs, both countries' systems can apply separately to the same gift.

The 2026 U.S. federal annual gift tax exclusion is $19,000 per recipient. Exceeding it may require a Form 709 gift tax return, but no actual federal gift tax may result as long as you remain within the $15 million lifetime gift and estate tax exemption. However, U.S. gift tax residency isn't determined identically to the income tax green card test — domicile, including intent to reside permanently in the U.S. and your actual center of life, can also be reviewed.

A properly made gift that a green card holder receives from Korean parents is generally not itself subject to U.S. income tax for the recipient. However, if the total gifts and bequests received from a foreign individual or foreign estate in a year exceed $100,000, a Form 3520 information return may be required. Any Korean gift tax must be reviewed separately, so the absence of U.S. gift or income tax should not be read as meaning there is no tax at all.

In Korea, the heir files and pays estate tax, and property a green card holder inherits from abroad is generally not itself subject to U.S. income tax. However, exceeding $100,000 triggers a Form 3520 information filing requirement, and if inherited Korean real estate or stock is later sold, the gain must be reported in the U.S. Because the inheritance search and valuation process runs alongside registration and title-transfer procedures in Korea, it helps to manage both countries' practical steps on the same timeline.

Green card holders can take advantage of U.S. tax provisions, but must also report worldwide income — including income from Korea — and certain foreign assets to the United States. Not every green card holder needs to make every filing below; which ones are required depends on income level, financial account balances, assets held, corporate equity, and whether gifts or inheritances are involved.

If a green card holder holds Korean bank accounts, brokerage accounts, funds, or certain insurance accounts, they need to check whether FBAR and Form 8938 apply.

If the combined maximum balance of your non-U.S. financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year, FBAR filing may be required.

If you hold foreign financial assets above certain thresholds, you may need to attach Form 8938 to your U.S. individual income tax return. FBAR and Form 8938 have different filing agencies, thresholds, and coverage, so filing one does not automatically exempt you from the other. Foreign real estate held directly by an individual is generally not itself subject to FBAR. However, a Korean financial account that receives rental income, or an ownership structure through a foreign entity, may require separate reporting.

Global Tax Group Daeyang is a specialized tax and accounting group handling the tax matters of individuals and businesses with assets and income spanning Korea and the U.S. When each country's tax work is handled by a separate provider, clients are left to coordinate the overlap between the two systems themselves. At Daeyang, professionals holding both countries' tax credentials and practical experience work as one team across our Korean and U.S. organizations.

Tax outcomes are often determined less by how you file than by how your assets are structured. We design the equity structure of your corporation, how real estate and financial assets are held, and the sequence and timing of transferring assets within the family, all together. The same asset can produce a different tax outcome depending on which country holds it and how, so settling the structure in advance widens your options later.

We run everything on a single timeline — from a tax diagnostic before you obtain a green card, through Korea-U.S. filings afterward, to foreign exchange reporting and source-of-funds verification at the asset-transfer stage, and support if a tax audit follows. We design around your U.S. immigration timeline and your Korean asset structure together, and we don't stop at the design — we see it through to execution.