By now, some of you might have heard about FIRPTA increases and worry about how it might impact real estate residential transactions, but not everybody knows what exactly this means.
What is FIRPTA?
Congress created FIRPTA (The Foreign Investment Real Property Tax Act) in 1980.
There was a concern regarding real estate properties purchased in the U.S by foreigner investors who were then profiting from selling these properties without paying taxes.
When FIRPTA was created, buyers were required to withhold 10% of the purchase price and send it to IRS at the time of closing.
Effective February 17th, the new #FIRPTA tax withholding rules apply. The rate increased from 10% to 15%.
What does it mean and how does it work?
It means that if you are buying a home from a foreign person (non-resident alien) or foreign corporation, you need to be aware of the following:
- If you are buying a home for $300,000 or less: Foreign sellers currently pay no FIRPTA tax, if the property will be used as a primary residence.
- Between $300,000-$1 million: The current 10 percent FIRPTA tax does not change under the new rule, as long as it will be used as a primary residence.
- $1 million or more: The FIRPTA tax goes up from the current 10 percent to 15 percent. In this $1 million-plus category, it doesn’t matter whether the property will be used as a residence or not.
Generally speaking, the settlement company is the one that takes care of the transfer of funds but the buyer is legally held responsible.
There is more to learn about FIRPTA and PATH (Protecting American Taxpayers from Tax Hikes) and it’s been said that two FIRPTA provisions will attract more foreign investments involving REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), Pension funds, etc. If you’d like to receive additional information, please contact us.