Just as a matter of interest, can someone explain for me in layman's terms, what the advantages are in investing in US ETF's versus purchasing ETF's in the UK? I would expect that in the US, there is a much wider selection, but is there something else I'm missing? (hopefully not tax or reporting implications!)

Simplicity is one reason, no reason to file any PFIC reports or pay PFIC taxes.

Our US ETF funds are in my wife’s name so up to now we have paid more US taxes on their dividends and cap gains than in the UK although that may be changing as the UK government continues to increase taxes on them. First year we were back dividends we completely tax free as they are paid out of after-tax company profits, but then  it changed and only the first £5k was tax free and the excess taxed at 7%, but they have been reducing the tax free amount each year and this year it is only £500 tax free then taxed at 8.75%.

The cap gains when we (she) sell shares used to be the first £12,500 tax free but this year it is now only £3k and tax on the excess is 10%. (For basic rate taxpayers like my wife)

I have not looked in a while but the fund fees for Vanguard US ETFs are much lower than the UK equivalents.

Just as a matter of interest, can someone explain for me in layman's terms, what the advantages are in investing in US ETF's versus purchasing ETF's in the UK? I would expect that in the US, there is a much wider selection, but is there something else I'm missing? (hopefully not tax or reporting implications!)

Most of my SIPP is invested in ETF's (mainly IShares and SSGA) and Vanguard Funds (mainly Lifestyle Funds of various equity mixes) - which are all heavily skewed towards US companies - the fees are generally low and I have been generally happy with the returns to date - although I am able to (I am 68), I have not entered drawdown yet, preferring to keep funds invested and free from any potential Inheritance Tax at this time.

I think the advantage buying US ETFs/funds outside of a SIPP is that, assuming they are HMRC reporting, then you get to treat gains as capital gains in both the US and the UK and you don't have to do any PFIC related paperwork. I think (and there will no doubt be those that disagree) that within a SIPP, there isn't much advantage to buying US ETFs, because you can hold UK ETFs/funds in your SIPP without PFIC implications as it is a pension (I think some accountants don't view SIPPs as pensions in the eyes of the IRS). Although, I have no idea how the IRS views the sales of funds/ETFs in a UK pension/SIPP. I would have assumed there were no implications as the sale is inside a pension wrapper, so as long as you've established your cost basis previously, then it doesn't matter until you start collecting your pension, at which point it will be taxed as income, although that seems far too easy and makes too much sense!

Just as a matter of interest, can someone explain for me in layman's terms, what the advantages are in investing in US ETF's versus purchasing ETF's in the UK? I would expect that in the US, there is a much wider selection, but is there something else I'm missing? (hopefully not tax or reporting implications!)

Most of my SIPP is invested in ETF's (mainly IShares and SSGA) and Vanguard Funds (mainly Lifestyle Funds of various equity mixes) - which are all heavily skewed towards US companies - the fees are generally low and I have been generally happy with the returns to date - although I am able to (I am 68), I have not entered drawdown yet, preferring to keep funds invested and free from any potential Inheritance Tax at this time.

Two other options come to my mind for a US citizen living in the UK. They could just buy shares in individual companies with a UK broker or buy UK EFTs or mutual funds and deal with the PFIC implications. If they do this inside an ISA there will be no UK tax and then they can do a QEF declaration and just pay the tax each year to the IRS.

I do this for my kids, as their UK grandfather put some money into JISAs for them. To save the crushing weight of paperwork, I've moved them all onto only one tracker, so only one f8621 each year (mark to market delcaration). Also, if there is some new money (another gift from their Grandad for example), I just sell everything in late December and then use the new money combined with the proceeds from the previous year to buy more shares of the fund in the new year. Otherwise, I'd have to do a f8621 for each set of stock purchases.

A few things to note:

* For US citizens, the only full service UK brockerage I can find is H and L. Most, even Vanguard, don't want to know you if you're a US citizen, too much paperwork!
* From what I can tell, if your dependent child has more than $1400 in theoretical earnings from their m2m declaration in form 8621, then they'll need to file (or you need to file on their behalf) a form 1040. In 2021, given some crazy exchange rate swings, two of my kids had to pay tax on their JISA investments.
*  Please join ACA and write your Congressperson. The US needs to adopt residency based taxation. If you have lived and worked in both countries, then it might not solve everything as you'll have ongoing retirement account admin and the like in both countries, but I've only every really been a proper adult in the UK (came over here at 24 to study, and met my partner), so my US ties are almost nil, but I am always very conerned about every financial decision because I know it might cause me shedload of paperwork with the IRS, and if I get it wrong, shedloads of fines!

That vintage of contributions will probably get you a good rate on the annuity. More recent contracts are not as generous as the older ones. The 73 year age top start the payout annuity seems strange because that's close to the RMD age limit, I'd expect to see age threasholds like 55 or 59 1/2 instead.

I just got off the phone with TIAA-CREF. I always chuckle when I am on the phone with their ultra-polite and helpful advisors - brings back memories of living in the southern US.

Anyway ... for a lifetime annuity I would receive (by my calculations) a 9.3% annual payout and a 10-year guarantee. I wasn't particularly interested in the guarantee (not married, no dependents), but the 10-year guarantee payout was just a few dollars less than no guarantee, which surprised me.

I asked whether it was a "flat rate" (never changes) amount or whether there was an inflation-linked/COLA type option available, and was told the only way I could try to achieve that was by "moving some of my capital into the markets," which I found was interesting. In the UK (as you will know), you can buy either a flat-rate annuity or an inflation-linked annuity. I figured this sort of thing wouldn't be available with TIAA - interesting how financial things can be so different in the UK and US.

Interestingly, I ran a quick quote for an annuity in the UK (not intending to buy one; just for comparison), and a like-for-like annuity in the UK was around 7% (with no 10-year guarantee).

Anyway, just wanted to post back what I found out. Thankfully, this enquiry went very smoothly - night and day compared to the hassles I had with TIAA a few years back when I was trying to do various other things.

[Edited to add: The annuity payout with 10 year guarantee was barely lower than if I had taken the capital as a 10-year transfer payout annuity - so, very similar but with the 10-year guarantee plus the guarantee to continue past the 10-year period if I live for longer.]