Yes, the royal wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry seems like something straight out of a modern-day fairy tale (or, at the very least, the plot for an early Noughties romantic comedy) but impending royalty doesn’t mean that the future Duchess will be exempt from a complicated series of tax procedures once she ties the knot on May 19th.
According to a new report in the Wall Street Journal, as a US expat who is married to a non-US citizen (ie. the fifth in line to the throne of Great Britain, in her case) Meghan will have to report various details of her financial arrangements to the IRS or Internal Revenue Service in the United States, a government agency responsible for collecting taxes that has a similar function to Inland Revenue here in New Zealand. By complying with this reporting system, Meghan will have to reveal details about the royal family’s financial arrangements that are typically kept away from the public sphere.
According to the WSJ, she will have to declare everything from the value of any piece of jewellery given or even just loaned to her by Queen Elizabeth II (potentially including her wedding tiara, should she choose to wear one), any debit or credit card linked to a bank account of Harry’s holding more than $10,000, any holidays at one of the Queen’s royal residences and the projected value of her share of the rent that would be charged on the Kensington Palace property she shares with her future husband (which is hypothetical, given that Harry and Meghan do not pay rent on royal residences, but must still be noted down for the IRS). Should she fail to follow these strict regulations, she could incur financial penalties.
The potential red tape for Meghan is enough that some financial commentators are suggesting she gives up her US citizenship entirely, rather than opting for the dual status she is currently thought to be pursuing.
This article originally appeared on Grazia
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