Cross-Border Integration
Your US life and your Costa Rica life are one financial entity.
In the eyes of the IRS, anyway.
Most people are managing them as two. That's where the leaks happen.
Where you're coming in
Two paths land here. Both end up in the same place.
You're a US citizen with a Costa Rica chapter coming, already here, or both. The integration question is the same either way. Where the work starts is what differs.
Path A
You're planning the move
Somewhere between “we're thinking about it” and “we close on the house in three months.” You want one person who can map your whole picture before you go, sequence the US-side moves that get harder once you're gone, and tell you who you'll actually need on the Costa Rica side.
Most movers start at the Diagnostic, then decide if the Blueprint is the right next step.
Path B
You already own property here (or live here)
You're bouncing back and forth, holding property through an entity you didn't pick, or about to inherit one. What you need now isn't “help me move.” You need someone who knows the Costa Rica system well enough to coordinate with the people already serving you here, and who knows the US side well enough to make sure both are talking.
Most owners go straight to the Blueprint because the structural work is already in front of them.
The frame
The US doesn't care that you have a Costa Rican attorney, a Costa Rican will, or a Costa Rican corporation.
It taxes and reports on your worldwide situation as a single picture. Every account, every entity, every property you touch (US side or CR side) ends up on the same return and inside the same estate.
You either treat your finances as one entity too, or money quietly leaks through the seams between the people you already hired. The leaks are usually invisible until they're not. By then they're harder to fix.
Integration is treating both sides as one picture. On purpose. With one person who knows both systems well enough to actually own the seams.
Where the leaks happen
Six questions that sit in the spaces between your advisors.
Each person in your current stack is great at the piece they own. Integration is different. It's mapping both sides at once and knowing each one well enough to see how they affect each other. Whether you're planning the move or already on the ground, these are the questions that don't fit cleanly inside any one box. Ask yourself who, right now, would walk you through the answer.
01
If your US brokerage finds out you live in Costa Rica (or are about to), what happens to your accounts?
Most brokerages have policies about non-resident clients. Most of them don't tell you what those policies are until they affect you.
02
If you're planning the move, what should be handled on the US side before you leave, and what waits until after?
Some decisions only make sense from one side of the border. Sequencing them right is most of the work.
03
Does your US estate plan account for what happens on the Costa Rica side? Does your Costa Rica plan account for the US side?
When the two sides aren't drafted to coordinate, the estate can end up in probate on both.
04
Are you a US tax resident, a Costa Rica tax resident, or both? And what triggers a change?
Costa Rica doesn't tax most US-source income, so for many people this is quieter than it looks. Where it matters is income generated inside Costa Rica (rental income on a CR property, business income from a CR entity). Knowing which bucket you're in changes the answer.
05
Are your assets outside the US (accounts, property, business interests, entity stakes) being reported on your US return the way the IRS expects?
Foreign-asset reporting is unforgiving. The longer something goes unreported, the harder it is to clean up later.
06
If you sold a property, started a business, or had a major change tomorrow, who would map both sides for you before you acted?
Decisions made cleanly on one side usually need to get rethought on the other. The mapping is most of the work.
07
If you're inheriting a Costa Rica property or entity (or passing one to your kids), who's coordinating the US side with the Costa Rica side before it happens?
The timing and structure of the transfer changes what your heirs receive and what gets reported. The two sides have to be in the same conversation, and that conversation usually doesn't happen on its own.
The honest test
If you can point to one person in your current team who would walk you through all six of these, you already have the integrator. If you can't, that's the role I built.
What it looks like in practice
One person sees the whole board. The rest of your team is still on it.
Integration doesn't replace your existing advisors. It installs the role that's missing from the stack: the person who owns the seams.
01
Quarterbacks the team you already have
Your US CPA, your CR attorney, your US estate attorney, your CR contador. Each one keeps doing what they do. The integrator routes the questions that cross jurisdictions and makes sure nothing falls between them.
02
Owns the cross-border decisions
The decisions that only make sense when you can see both sides. When to sell. How the entity gets classified. Which will controls which property. These don't get made well by anyone looking at half the picture.
03
Knows what needs filing, and routes it to the right hands
Simple returns I file myself. Complex ones go to a specialist CPA. My job is knowing what needs filing, by whom, and that it actually happens.
04
Gives you one number to call
When something changes (an inheritance lands, you sell a property, you finally move) there's one person who already knows your whole picture and can tell you what it just changed on the other side.
Why it's different
Each person in your current stack is excellent at their slice. None of them owns the cross-jurisdictional picture.
Most US financial advisors
Owns
US investment management, US retirement planning, US tax-aware account location.
Does not
Don't operate in Costa Rica. Don't read CR corporate documents. Don't talk to your CR attorney.
Most CR-only advisors and contadores
Owns
CR property accounting, CR rental income, CR corporate compliance.
Does not
Don't manage US investments. Aren't US CFPs. Don't file US forms.
Most US estate attorneys
Owns
US wills, US trusts, US gifting strategy, US probate.
Does not
Don't draft CR documents. Don't structure foreign entities. Often unaware of how CR civil law treats their work.
Most CR attorneys
Owns
CR wills, CR property, CR corporate structures, CR succession law.
Does not
Don't file US forms. Don't model US tax impact of CR decisions. Don't coordinate with your US estate documents.
The role that's missing
Cross-Border Integration is the single point of accountability for the seams.
A US CFP whose practice exists for one situation: US citizens with Costa Rica exposure. Cross-border tax modeling. US and CR estate plan coordination. CR property entity structuring. One slot. One person.
What you walk out with
The Blueprint is your full picture, on paper.
A written, multi-section document. Each section is its own tear-off sheet, organized by domain, so you (and any advisor you hand it to) can see the whole map at once. Below is the shape of what comes back, your version of each sheet built for your specific situation.
Blueprint sheet
Tax Architecture
01
- Your residency status mapped (US, CR, or both)
- Income sources by jurisdiction, with sourcing rules
- Sequencing recommendations for conversions and distributions
VWP / Integration
Blueprint sheet
Entity & Property Structure
02
- Your CR entity confirmed (or recommended)
- US classification on file (5471, 8865, or 8858 as it applies)
- US business entity review if you own one while living abroad
- Basis position and transaction sequencing
VWP / Integration
Blueprint sheet
Estate Plan Coordination
03
- US documents and CR documents cross-referenced
- Will validity check on both sides
- Beneficiary alignment across accounts and entities
VWP / Integration
Blueprint sheet
Foreign-Asset Reporting
04
- What gets reported on your US return, by which form
- Cleanup path if there are years to catch up on
- Ongoing calendar so nothing falls off again
VWP / Integration
Blueprint sheet
Investment & Account Strategy
05
- Custody and brokerage compliance review
- Account location decisions across the two sides
- Where to hold what, and why
VWP / Integration
Blueprint sheet
Insurance & Healthcare
06
- US and CR coverage mapped side by side
- Medicare timing and re-entry considerations
- Coordination across the years you'll spend on each side
VWP / Integration
How it works at VWP
Three ways to engage, depending on where you are.
You don't have to commit to the deepest engagement to see what integration buys you. Most people start at the Diagnostic and go from there.
Entry
Cross-Border Diagnostic
$800
2 hours of my time, project-based
I look at your full picture (US + CR), go deeper on the one piece that needs the most attention, and you walk away with a written triage document grouping items by Action, Planning, and Watch, plus a 10 to 15 minute recorded walkthrough. If something already broke (a brokerage restriction, a missed filing, a surprise at closing), this is also where we triage it first.
Best if you'd rather see the lay of the land before committing, or if a specific cross-border problem just landed in your inbox.
Full engagement
Cross-Border Integration Blueprint
$7,500
Typically a 90-day engagement, or until we complete
A written, situation-specific map of how your US side and your Costa Rica side fit together. Tax and entity structure across both jurisdictions. Estate plan coordination on both sides. Foreign-asset reporting strategy. Direct work with my Costa Rica attorney partner where the cross-border picture needs it. A document you can hand to your existing advisors so they understand the full picture.
Best if you want the integrated picture in writing, whether you're planning the move or already on the ground.
Ongoing
Cross-Border Wealth Management
AUM
Ongoing relationship, no asset minimum to start
Investment management on your liquid assets, available at any level. Add ongoing cross-border tax planning, estate plan integration across US and CR, property strategy, inheritance pre-planning and execution, and retirement income coordination. Ongoing planning is included at $1M+ in assets, or available as a separate engagement at lower levels.
Best if you want one person owning the picture year after year, not just at the moments of change.
All three tiers map directly to services disclosed in my Form ADV Part 2A. No commissions, no product sales, fee-only.
The integrator
Brennan
Vitali, CFP®
Founder, Vitality Wealth Planning
Fee-only fiduciary RIA
Cross-border specialist
Who runs the integration
I built this for the position I'm in myself.
I'm a Certified Financial Planner. I built Vitality Wealth Planning to serve the people I was already trying to help: US citizens whose financial life sits on both sides of the border and needs one person treating it as one picture.
My background: I came up through Schwab starting in 2019, and I've been actively in the markets myself, trading stocks and options, since I was 18 (over a decade now). I'm also a business owner, so when clients run a US business while living abroad, I get the operator seat as well as the planner seat. That combination shows up often in this work.
There aren't many people in this slot. A US CFP who handles your investments, runs the cross-border tax planning, coordinates the estate plans on both sides, and structures the CR property entities. That's the role I built.
The network behind the integration
I'm not pretending to know every form code in every jurisdiction. I know who to put in the room.
The integration role works because of who I've built it with. Direct working relationships with a Costa Rica attorney partner in Escazú who specializes in real estate, corporate, and finance law. US tax counsel and CPAs who handle cross-border returns as their main work. Costa Rica contadors, real estate professionals, and immigration counsel I draw from when a specific situation calls for it.
My job is to know the architecture well enough to ask the right questions, then make sure the specialists are talking to each other and to you, on one coherent answer. That's what integration means in practice.
Verify before you book
- CFP® ProfessionalHeld to a fiduciary standard by the CFP Board.
- RIA, fee-onlyNo commissions, no product sales. Vitality Wealth Planning LLC is registered in Indiana and Washington.
- Read my Form ADVThe full SEC-filed disclosure of services, fees, conflicts, and disciplinary history.
350+ Americans have used the Cross-Border Readiness Quiz to start mapping their situation.
The Diagnostic is how most of them step into working with me.
One picture. One person. One number to call.
Find out what's leaking through the seams in your setup.
Two hours of my time on your specific situation, a written triage document, and a clear recommendation on what needs more attention.
$800 Cross-Border Diagnostic. Credits in full toward the Integration Blueprint if you continue.