The United States has a gift tax: You will pay a tax for the privilege of giving your money away. There are plenty of exceptions, but let’s stick to one typical scenario — a gift by one family member (a parent) to another family member (a child).

Let’s say a nonresident owns U.S. real estate. A vacation home, let’s say. He’s a father, and wants to give his property to his daughter. He signs a deed that says, “I, Father, transfer this property to Daughter.”

Tax result? Awful. The father has made a taxable gift to the daughter, and U.S. gift tax is owed on the value of the real estate above $60,000. The tax rate starts at 18 percent and increases to (at current law) 47 percent of the value of the real estate transferred.

Moral of the story: if you’re a nonresident of the U.S. and you want to give away your U.S. real estate, absolutely do not take the “Do It Yourself” approach. Don’t do a simple transfer deed. There are ways to achieve the same result without incurring a gift tax.