audio

I have posted elsewhere on this matter but I thought that some of you leavers should be aware:
I haven’t gone through all the fine print yet but it seems that the IRS wants to screw us leavers selling our homes.
Form 8288, in my case 15%, I must say at first glance, buying a US home was a BIG mistake. Hopefully I am wrong.

Pulaski

Calm down, it all unwinds when you complete your tax return.

The withholding tax, as with all other similar withholdings, is just to ensure that you don't abscond with the IRS's slice of the pie.

And to think, you're complaining about the IRS as you leave the US to move to France!

Owen778

If it's 15%, isn't that just the capital gains rate? In which case, it's only paid against the gain in value.

audio

Calm down! Well thanks Mr. P. very condescending of you.
As for the French tax system, which I have self filed for about 15years it’s much, much easier and straightforword IMOP than the US even for a non native speaker.


Have you personally filed a French tax return? I wonder

audio

No it's not

Pulaski

If it was his home, as he said, there shouldn't be any CGT, unless he made a §4!t-load of money on the house - $500,000 if you're married and file taxes jointly. ..... And didn't CGT go up to 20%?

Pulaski

It's not a question of the ease of filing, I was driving more at the ease with which the French government puts its hand in your pocket!

Oh, and you couldn't pay me enough to move to France! In fact the last time I went to France and did anything other than leave again as quickly as I could on my way to Belgium, Luxembourg, or Switzerland, so pretty much anywhere that wasn't France, was when I was 12 years old on the school French exchange!

audio

So why on earth do you post so much on the French forum? Tell me you don't have an interest in France?

Pulaski

I post on the Italian forum too, also the Spanish and Portuguese forums, and the Canadian, NZ, and Australian, ..... and I have been known to post on the Hungarian forum, and the one for St Lucia, among others.

audio

You did not answer my question

Pulaski

Because I Iike to. .... And no, I don't have an interest in France.

Owen778

US CGT rates depend on income - either 0%, 15% or 20%. Sometimes with 3.8% net investment income tax (NIIT) on top.

Owen778

I just looked into it very quickly. 8288 doesn't represent a tax itself, it represents withholding to make sure a foreign person can't avoid paying tax on a sale of real estate. I don't know much about it, but it looks like you can file an 8288-B to reduce the amount of the buyer's withholding to correct levels.

So yes, as far as I can see it is capital gains tax - it's a form to make sure foreign sellers pay capital gains tax on real estate. Quite why you're so irate, I'm not sure.

jeepster

He's just pissed at Trump...that's why he's leaving.

Pulaski

See post #2, above.