YourVoice.Now Summary
Corporate BenefitsCivil LibertiesTransparency & AccountabilityBuyers tied to countries that bar American property ownership would owe a 50% tax on US real estate purchases.
Corporate Benefits
- Acquisition tax on covered foreign buyers — 50 percent of the purchase price
- Control-test exposure — Certain US-listed public companies exempted from the 10-percent rule
- Reporting duty on closing agents — Title companies and attorneys must file absent a buyer affidavit
Civil Liberties
- Buyer affidavit requirement — Every purchaser presumed covered unless they swear otherwise
Transparency & Accountability
- Reporting requirements — All foreign holders of US real property must file, threshold removed
- Reporting requirements — State Department must report annually on countries barring US ownership
The details
Foreign owners of US real estate would all have to report their holdings to the IRS. Current law requires this only where regulations say so, and only above a dollar threshold. Both limits would come off for foreign persons who did no US business during the year. The State Department would report each year on countries that bar Americans from owning property there. Buyers connected to those countries would owe a new tax equal to 50 percent of what they paid for US real estate. That reaches their citizens, entities based there, the governments themselves, and entities they control at the 10 percent level. Diplomats and people granted asylum are exempt, as are certain US-listed public companies. Whoever closes the sale, usually a title company or attorney, would have to report it. The buyer can avoid that by swearing under penalty of perjury that they are not covered.
Congressional Summary
Real Estate Reciprocity ActThis bill establishes a federal excise tax and information reporting requirements related to the acquisition of real property in the United States by certain persons from countries that prohibit U.S. citizens from owning property (disqualified country).The excise tax is 50% of the amount paid for the real property by a disqualified person. A disqualified person isa citizen of a disqualified country (other than a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident);an entity domiciled in a disqualified country; a disqualified country; anda political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality of a disqualified country.Under the bill, a disqualified person includes an entity if disqualified persons own (in the aggregate) more than 10% of the entity’s stock. For such an entity, if no more than 50% of the entity’s stock is owned (in the aggregate) by disqualified persons, the excise tax is prorated. The bill provides exceptions from the excise tax for (1) persons in the United States due to diplomatic obligations or a grant of asylum, and (2) certain corporations with stock traded on an established U.S. securities market. The bill requires information related to the acquisition of U.S. real property by a presumptively disqualified person to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service by persons responsible for closing the transaction or the transferor of the property. Additional reporting requirements apply.A presumptively disqualified person is any person unless an affidavit is submitted (under penalty of perjury) that such person is not a disqualified person.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-05-23
- Date Added
- 2026-08-05
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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