Services for US Citizens and Green Card Holders in Europe
Every client arrives with a different mix of US accounts, European residency and timing. These are the areas where I do most of my work.
US Brokerage and Investment Management
US-domiciled portfolios built around your residency, your income needs and your filing position. Holdings are selected to avoid PFIC treatment and to be recognizable on both your US return and your local one. Individual bonds, fixed interest, annuities and selected alternative assets where they solve a real problem in the plan.
401(k) Rollovers and Retirement Income
Old employer plans consolidated into an IRA that can actually be managed from Europe, then a withdrawal plan that works across both tax systems. Roth conversion timing around a change in residency, 72(t) and SEPP structures, Social Security timing, and treaty analysis of how your retirement income is taxed where you live.
Relocation and Pre-Departure Planning
Moving is a planning event, not an administrative one. Account consolidation, Roth conversions while you are still a US-only taxpayer, custodian and address planning, currency, and the timing of your residency start date. We do this work before you land rather than after.
What if your US broker has already restricted or closed your account?
The foreign address problem, and what actually solves it
This is the single most common reason people contact me. You update your address with a US brokerage, and a few weeks later the letter arrives. The account is restricted to liquidation only, the funds you have held for fifteen years can no longer be added to, or the account is closed outright and a cheque is on its way.
Why it happens
Your custodian is not doing this to be difficult. Most US retail brokerages are set up to deal with US residents, and holding an account for someone with a foreign address creates licensing, distribution and anti-money-laundering obligations they would rather not take on. Some firms restrict only mutual fund purchases. Others block trading entirely. A few close the account and mail a cheque, which is the worst outcome, because a forced liquidation in a taxable account is a taxable event you did not choose, and a distribution from an IRA can be far worse.
What not to do
Do not leave a US address on the account that you no longer live at. It is a misrepresentation, it tends to be caught eventually, and it puts your access to the account at risk at the exact moment you need it.
Do not treat a liquidation deadline as final before checking your options. Most of the time there is a transfer route that avoids selling anything.
Do not move the money into a local European fund to solve the problem. That usually converts an administrative headache into a PFIC problem that follows you every year for as long as you hold it.
What actually works
The account moves to a US custodian set up for clients with a foreign address. In my practice, US-connected client assets are held at established US custodians including Pershing, Charles Schwab and Interactive Brokers, on platforms set up for exactly this situation.
An in-kind transfer moves the positions across as they are, so nothing is sold and no gain is realised in the process. Where the existing holdings are genuinely unsuitable, we redesign the portfolio deliberately rather than under a deadline someone else set.
The account stays US-domiciled and US-reportable throughout, which keeps PFIC treatment out of your tax return and keeps your filing straightforward.
If you have had a letter like this, or you are about to change your address and want to get ahead of it, that is a short conversation and a much better one to have before the deadline than after.