Foreign Seller and FIRPTA

The Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act of 1980 (FIRPTA) requires buyers in certain transactions involving foreign sellers to withhold up to 15% of the amount realized by the foreign seller for federal taxes. The amount realized is usually the sales price. Particularly:

• If a property’s sales price is $300,000 or less and the buyer or a member of the buyer’s family has definite plans to reside at the property for at least half the year for each of the two years following the closing, nothing needs to be withheld and no reporting is required.
• If the property's sales price is between $300,001 and $1,000,000 and the buyer or a member of the buyer’s family has definite plans to reside at the property for at least half the year for each of the two years following the closing, 10% of the sales price must generally be withheld and reporting is required.
• If neither situation applies, 15% must generally be withheld and reporting is required.

The buyer must use IRS Form 8288 and IRS Form 8288-A to report and pay the tax.

Possibly. If an agent knows that a certification is false and fails to notify the buyer of this knowledge, that agent will be responsible for paying the tax to the IRS. This payment is limited to the amount of commission that the agent earned in the transaction.

The seller may request an adjustment of the amount withheld from the IRS by filing a withholding certificate application (IRS Form 8288-B). The buyer or buyer’s agent can also request this adjustment.

The IRS will generally act on the request within 90 days of receipt of an application. A seller who applies for an adjusted withholding must notify the buyer in writing that the certificate has been applied for no later than the closing date. Since the seller’s agent may not make the request on behalf of the seller, the seller’s agent should discuss the withholding certificate with the seller as an option during the negotiation process.