In a world that is rapidly becoming smaller and more interconnected, the concept of situs is increasingly coming into focus. This is because its one of the factors that determines where you pay tax on your worldwide assets. Here we explain what it means.

What Is Situs?

Situs is a legal term that defines where an object or property is located for legal purposes. This is important because it changes where you can bring a lawsuit about that object or property and can complicate legal disputes. For physical items like a house or purse, situs is usually where it is presently located, while for intangible items like patents, situs is normally where they are registered.

The term is traditionally used to describe the position of visceral organs within the thorax and abdomen, but it can also be applied to other parts of the body. For example, a patient with situs inversus totalis may have the lungs and liver on the opposite side of their heart, while a patient with situs ambiguous with polysplenia might have the spleen and gallbladder on the opposite side of the intestines.

Although rare, this condition can cause a wide range of symptoms, including breathing difficulties, abdominal pain and difficulty digesting food. Fortunately, modern medical imaging is capable of visualizing the fine details of situs anomalies and enabling interventional therapy to be performed safely in this group of patients.

Sadly, most people do not understand that on death, both the UK and US levies taxes on certain situs assets (that is, assets physically situated in their jurisdiction). In South Africa, this is known as estate duty and the top rate is 40% of the value of the situs asset. To avoid double taxation, the country where you reside will offer a credit to offset the amount of UK and US situs taxes you paid. mafialiga does not always work out and the resulting double tax can be very expensive for your heirs.