"nonresidents not citizens" - what does it mean?

In the context of gift or estate taxes, we often encounter the phrase "nonresidents not citizens", examples:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/20.2102-1

"Estates of nonresidents not citizens"

https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-bu ... ted-states

"Gift Tax for Nonresidents not Citizens of the United States"

Is it grammatically correct? Are there phases like this in common English like "neighbors not friends" etc?

Does it mean "nonresidents who are not citizens"? I feel the modification is not necessary, because if someone is a citizen then she cannot be a nonresident.

A nonresident who is also a noncitizen can be subject to estate and gift taxes.

Why do you think a citizen cannot be a nonresident? Do you think all U.S. citizens live in the U.S.?

The use of the phrase is fine, particularly in a heading that is intended to give the gist of the subject ot the rest of the material.

Why do you think a citizen cannot be a nonresident? Do you think all U.S. citizens live in the U.S.?

I do not think a citizen can ever be a nonresident, even they live outside of the US. On the other hand, a noncitizen can be a resident. So I think a nonresident not citizen (nonresident alien) is used to differentiate a resident not citizen (resident alien).

To summarize, there are the following 4 combinations:

a resident citizen (exists)
a resident not citizen (exists)
a nonresident not citizen (exists)
a nonresident citizen (does not exist)

Do you mean "in your opinion" or "in tax law"?

Do you mean "in your opinion" or "in tax law"?

In tax law.

Check out Sec. 911(d)(1)(A) for an example of where the tax law discusses a U.S. citizen that is a resident of a foreign country and not a resident of the U.S.

But here's another fact that may help your understanding: U.S. citizens are subject to tax on all their worldwide income, whether they are residents or not. That's different from most other countries, as I understand, where citizens that are nonresidents generally don't pay income tax to that country.

This is a big issue for U.S. citizens who go to live in other countries (U.S. citizen, but U.S. non-resident). They are subject to tax in the U.S. (unless there's a special exclusion in a treaty or the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, etc.) Many of them choose to give up their citizenship just so that they won't have to pay U.S. taxes anymore.

Check out Sec. 911(d)(1)(A) for an example of where the tax law discusses a U.S. citizen that is a resident of a foreign country and not a resident of the U.S.

Yes, I checked, the IRC section you quoted is applicable to "Citizens or residents of the United States living abroad" which is in the section title. It never says that in this case the citizen is not a resident of the U.S. As a matter of fact the foreign earned income exclusion does not apply to a nonresident ( https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case ... 3259281807 ):

... in order to qualify for the section 911 exclusion one must be a citizen or resident while being present in the foreign country for 510 days.

On the contrary, it says that the citizen has established the fact that he is a resident of a different country. That's one way to qualify for the FEIE. (The other way is to be present in the foreign country at least 330 days out of a 12-month period. I believe the 510 days you mentioned is an old rule.)

A person is going to be a resident of only one place/country at a time. (Ok, you can bring up the weird situations where that isn't true. But that sort of thing is unusual.)

Seems puravidatpt is seeing some rule that the rest of us are not seeing.

Seems puravidatpt is seeing some rule that the rest of us are not seeing.

No, we are seeing the same rules.

On the contrary, it says that the citizen has established the fact that he is a resident of a different country. That's one way to qualify for the FEIE. (The other way is to be present in the foreign country at least 330 days out of a 12-month period. I believe the 510 days you mentioned is an old rule.)

A person is going to be a resident of only one place/country at a time. (Ok, you can bring up the weird situations where that isn't true. But that sort of thing is unusual.)

A taxpayer can be an actual resident of one state, and domicile resident of another, for example. You can call a citizen or resident living abroad a "nonresident" of the U.S. in the sense they do not live in the States, but that is not a nonresident in the context of the tax law. A citizen or resident who lives abroad will still file resident form 1040 instead of nonresident form 1040-NR, and follow the rules for residents, for example, they allow to use standard deduction (nonresidents other than certain Indians cannot use standard deduction), and allow to file jointly. There are major differences in gift tax as well for residents and nonresidents.

You can call a citizen or resident living abroad a "nonresident" of the U.S. in the sense they do not live in the States

Right, that's what we (and the meaning of the word "nonresidents" in the IRS link you posted originally) are talking about.

A citizen or resident who lives abroad will still file resident form 1040 instead of nonresident form 1040-NR, and follow the rules for residents, for example, they allow to use standard deduction (nonresidents other than certain Indians cannot use standard deduction), and allow to file jointly. There are major differences in gift tax as well for residents and nonresidents.

Correct. U.S. citizens are subject to the same tax rules as U.S. residents. In other words, these categories of people all follow the same rules:
U.S. citizen, U.S. resident
U.S. citizen, U.S. nonresident
U.S. noncitizen, U.S. resident

Right, that's what we (and the meaning of the word "nonresidents" in the IRS link you posted originally) are talking about.

In the context of the tax law and in the IRS link I posted originally, the word "nonresident" just has one meaning: aliens who do not meet the substantial presence test. The U.S. citizens / residents who live abroad are not "nonresidents" in tax law.

So why does that regulation talk about "a nonresident who was not a citizen of the United States at the time of his death"? That was your original question, I believe.

The answer is, because there are also nonresidents who are citizens of the United States. And they are taxed the same as U.S. residents. The tax law has special rules for nonresidents who are not citizens of the United States, and you can research a lot into those special rules - but you won't find any special rules for nonresidents who are citizens of the United States, because they're taxed the same way as residents. (Ok, that's not 100% true - they would typically qualify to have a June 15 tax deadline instead of April 15, etc. But the special rules for nonresidents who are citizens are pretty short.)

In other words, there's a different between a nonresident alien (who that regulation is for) and a nonresident citizen.

It is necessary because the estate tax is imposed by section 2001 on every "citizen OR resident" of the US.
The estate tax is also imposed under different rules in section 2101 for someone who is neither a citizen nor a resident (aka a nonresident not citizen).

There are separate subchapters for each. See here: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text ... chapter-11

Don’t these rules for nonresident noncitizens have to do with US property (not non-US property) that is pulled into the estate and gift tax rules?

Don’t these rules for nonresident noncitizens have to do with US property (not non-US property) that is pulled into the estate and gift tax rules?

Yea, basically if the noncitizen nonresident owned US real estate, US brokerage accounts, etc.

It is very confusing to call US citizens who live abroad "nonresidents" because they are not in the context of the tax law, they "domiciled" in the United States no matter where they are and how long they have lived there.

- US residents file form 1040 and follow the resident rules. Some rules are a bit different for residents who live abroad just as some rules are a bit different for residents who are students, who are seniors, who are in military, etc.

- US nonresidents file form 1040-NR and follow the quite different nonresident rules. For example, gift tax applicable to them only when tangible US properties are involved. A nonresident can give billions of dollars to another nonresident and the US does not care.

Unless the person file form 1040-NR, please do not call her a US nonresident.

they "domiciled" in the United States no matter where they are and how long they have lived there. . Even if they never intend to return to the U.S.? And why are we throwing domicile into the mix? You asked about residency.

Why do you conflate the fact that the law requires a citizen nonresident to file a 1040 and pay essentially the same as a citizen resident with the fact that a citizen who lives outside the U.S. is a nonresident.

And it's not very confusing.

they "domiciled" in the United States no matter where they are and how long they have lived there. . Even if they never intend to return to the U.S.? And why are we throwing domicile into the mix? You asked about residency.

If they never intend to return to the U.S., then they should show their intention by giving up the citizenship, but before they do so, they will file resident return on form 1040 reporting world wide income.

Why do you conflate the fact that the law requires a citizen nonresident to file a 1040 and pay essentially the same as a citizen resident with the fact that a citizen who lives outside the U.S. is a nonresident.

A citizen nonresident does not exist, it is an oxymoron.

And it's not very confusing.

It is confusing to use "nonresident" with your own definition which is different from that of the IRS when discussing tax laws. I quote (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/interna ... ncy-status):

If you are not a U.S. citizen, you are considered a nonresident of the United States for U.S. tax purposes unless you meet one of two tests.

and if you click "a nonresident of the United States", it points you to "Nonresident Aliens".

So in the IRS' dictionary:

nonresident = nonresident alien
citizen = resident

There are countless documents to show this, for example, in this "Residency Starting and Ending Dates" link (https://www.irs.gov/individuals/interna ... ding-dates), it excluded the U.S. citizens from the beginning, because they are U.S. residents.