For such a petite person it’s amazing how much valuable information Marisa Capua holds. Today her Firpta refresher class was excellent. Thanks, Marisa. With so many properties in Florida held in the name of corporations, whether foreign owned or not, it behooves us to ask, ask, ask, whether the sellers are “foreign” for IRS purposes or not thus avoiding nasty surprises that can prevent a closing.
And in the age of short sales, it was even more interesting to find out that new IRS rules require that the same 10% be held for foreign sellers. Here is the kicker: it’s 10% on the total amount of the mortgage. So if the bank is forgiving $400,000 of the exisiting mortgage, the IRS declares that amount of debt forgiveness as income on which 10% is owed! Can you see a foreign seller with a short sale bringing monies to the closing table? Can you see the closing not happening or your commission ( already reduced) dwindling further? Solution, make sure the bank has requested an application for reduced withholding so that only that amount which needs to be paid gets withheld. Happy selling!