But keeping their options open came at a cost, including the headache and expense of dealing with the taxman on both sides of the Atlantic.

Eventually they approached Eamon Porter of Aspire Wealth Management, an authorised adviser based in Malahide, Co Dublin, for help in sorting out their affairs.

"I first came across Sean and Jean in 1998, when they were referred to me by their accountant with the sole purpose of making a pension contribution linked in with their Irish tax exposure, " Porter says. "At the time, they were uncertain about whether they would return to live in the US and, not having any children, they were relatively free to make such lifestyle decisions."

Even if they decided to remain in Ireland, Porter discovered that Uncle Sam has a long reach. "Their constant need to make US Internal Revenue returns arose in the course of an annual review, " he says.

"While the obvious need for a US tax return was because of the rental income and equity portfolio they had in the States, it transpired that as long as they maintained their US citizenship, irrespective of asset ownership, such a return would also be required. This, in their case, also meant incurring the constant cost of engaging tax professionals on both sides of the Atlantic as well as all the duplication of paperwork."

It also became obvious that having valuable assets in different currencies and time zones was creating difficulties. "In my view, some major changes were necessary, " says Porter.

"What was important was that Sean and Jean also realised that such changes were needed. Of all the advisory issues, this was the most difficult to deal with because they still wished to maintain some form of association with the US. But eventually, common sense prevailed".

This meant selling up in the States and reinvesting the money in Ireland. "Once the commitment to rebase assets in an Irish environment was decided upon, we needed to restructure their investment portfolio, " says Porter. "It took only one week to dispose of the equity portfolio but almost six months to sell the property in California, something which may be even more difficult in today's weaker property market. We then needed to pay the relevant federal and state taxes before repatriating the money to Ireland."

Porter advised Sean and Jean to split the money between international equity funds and a share portfolio managed by Morgan Stanley Quilter in Dublin.

"The unit funds were initially international equity funds but in the last year we have restructured some of these monies into two of the multi-manager investment products now available in Ireland, " says Porter. "At this stage, the majority of the restructuring is over but we have had to leave the management of the pension monies in the US due to the tax and trustee issues associated with the product itself."

The whole process took 12 months from start to finish including payment of the relevant taxes and selection of replacement investment assets. This was done in conjunction with the couple's Irish and US tax and investment advisers and, while it might have been costly at the time, the move has streamlined the whole tax-return process. It has also given Sean and Jean a far better feel on the management of their investments as well as reducing the currency risks involved with foreign investment.

While there is still the need for a US tax return, it is likely that once Sean and Jean retire in the next five years and gain access to their US pensions, they may be able to transfer the remaining funds to Ireland.

It is also probable that they might renounce their US citizenship at that time, which in itself would also remove the need to undertake US tax returns.

Aspire Wealth Management:

01-8455827;

www. aspire-wealth. com