Hello
Are there any countries in the world that charge the equivalent of the
U S Estate Tax on its citizens?

Dear regino-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. The
answer is yes; there are some countries that do levy and estate tax
(aka, inheritance tax) similar in varying degrees to that of the US.
Some of them are:

PUERTO RICO
http://www.finance.cch.com/pops/c50s15d170_PR.asp

IRELAND
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland

UNITED KINGDOM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_Tax_%28United_Kingdom%29

HONG KONG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_Duty_Ordinance_Cap.111

Other nations have a tax variously equivalent to US estate or
inheritance tax that is known my a name given to it by its host
language:

Austria charges ?erbschaftsteuer?, which has some of the features of a gift tax. 

Belgium, a multilingual nation, uses the terms ?droits de succession?
and ?successierechten?, taxes on beneficiaries which are collected at
the federal level but distributed to the regional level.

France uses the term ?droits de succession?, taxes on beneficiaries. 

Germany charges ?erbschaftsteuer?, a tax on beneficiaries. 

The Netherlands charges ?successierecht?, a tax on beneficiaries. 

Switzerland has no ?erbschaftssteuer? at national level. However in
the various cantons, three possibilities (a tax on the estate, a tax
on the beneficiaries, or no tax) exist.

WIKIPEDIA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inheritance_tax

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



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ESTATE TAX

INHERITANCE TAX

Thank you very much for your prompt answer.

One difference between US estate tax and those in many other countries
is that the estate of the deceased in the US is liable for paying the
tax, whereas in other countries the beneficiaries are.  This can have
ramifications that need an experienced advisor's help.