Foreign Real Estate Investors

International Real Estate has Tax and Reporting Gotchas like FIRPTA

Foreign real estate investors are subject to FIRPTA (Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act), which has reporting and withholding challenges. That sometimes trips up new investors whose CPA is unfamiliar with international real estate regulations. Generally, FIRPTA applies to selling real estate property but can spread to other scenarios. You can often recover your FIRPTA withholding via a Federal tax return, and the penalties for noncompliance on behalf of foreign real estate investors can be unreasonably large.

Foreign Real Estate Investor – Tax and FIRPTA CPA Services

FIRPTA Compliance and Foreign Real Estate Investor Compliance

Foreign real estate investors are critical to the Miami Real Estate market. The Florida economy depends on tourism and international business. As a Miami and South Florida firm, we routinely help foreign real estate investors evaluate their deals, manage compliance, and minimize their tax burden. Many CPAs not familiar with this world assume that participation in a 1031 Exchange relieves you of this requirement, but it generally does not. While there are some ways to avoid it, the deal’s conditions are rarely met, so it is essential to plan for FIRPTA compliance before your sale occurs. If you have already made the sale and a 1031 Exchange and need to recover your FIRPTA withholding, a knowledgeable international business CPA can help you comply and recover your money.

With the burgeoning world of short-term rentals, foreign real estate investors have tremendous business opportunities to generate superior cash returns. This will require additional compliance in the United States, managing areas of bed taxes, sales tax, and income tax for this operating business. General real estate investment strategies of bonus depreciation and cost segregation still apply, but the additional layer of non-resident tax compliance also applies. Just like you need a knowledgeable real estate agent and other professionals to manage your deals, a knowledgeable foreign real estate investor CPA can help avoid pitfalls.

Foreign real estate investors can have access to the American market and its incredible opportunities. Miami and South Florida have many real estate investors in the market. Compliance with regulator rules and reporting requirements like FIRPTA can avoid headaches and financial problems as you generate your business returns.