Wall 01Title and lenders
A company with an EIN on the deed
Title companies and lenders want a US company with an EIN on the deed and the loan.
Home/Built for/Real estate investors
Built for · Property
A US LLC for buying US property from outside the United States
This is the one case where we'll tell you Wyoming probably isn't the answer. An LLC that holds a rental in Texas belongs in Texas, and we say so before you order.
- Usually
- Structure
- Wyoming LLC
- Plan
- Premium
- On the day
- $1,299
- Every year
- $1,059
01Why a US company
What it does for real estate investors.
Buyers abroad hold US property through an LLC to separate it from their other assets, for some privacy, and for a clean structure to sell or pass on. The LLC holds the title and the insurance, signs the lease and receives the rent, so the owner is a member of a company rather than a landlord in person.
Because the property is in a particular state, the LLC does business in that state wherever it was formed. A Wyoming LLC holding a Florida house has to register in Florida too, pay both states, and gains nothing. The usual answer is to form the LLC in the property's state.
02What stands in the way
Three things in the way, and one way through.
Wall 02Managers and insurers
Contracts with a company
Property managers, insurers and utilities sign with a company.
Wall 03County records
Your name off the property record
An LLC keeps an owner abroad's own name off the county's public property records.
The door
An LLC formed in the property's state.
It holds the title, signs the lease and receives the rent, with its own EIN and bank account.
03The honest part
What to know before you order.
01
Rental income is US-source and taxed
Rent from US property is US-source income. An owner abroad is taxed on it either through 30% withholding on the gross rent or, by election, on the net rent after expenses, which is almost always better and means filing a US return every year. When you sell, FIRPTA withholds 15% of the price unless a certificate reduces it. None of this is optional, and all of it is routine for an accountant who does it.
02
The state matters twice
The property's state registers the LLC and, if it has an income tax, taxes the rent. That's why the LLC is formed there. We file in Wyoming and Delaware, and we'll tell you to form elsewhere if the property is elsewhere.
The plan that fits
Premium, usually.
Only if the property is in Wyoming. Premium then prepares the company's own federal forms with a CPA's review. Your personal US return on the rent is separate work for a US accountant, and for property in another state, form the LLC there.
PremiumFits real estate investors
For founders who want the whole first year of paperwork done for them.
To start
$1,299 once
Wyoming fee included · then $1,059 a year
04Questions
Questions from real estate investors.
If yours is not here, email us at [email protected] before you order.
Usually not. The LLC would have to register in Florida anyway, so form it in Florida. Whether to put a Wyoming holding company above it is a separate question for an adviser.
Yes. Either 30% is withheld from the gross rent, or you elect to be taxed on the net rent after expenses and file a return each year. The election almost always gives the better result.
Read next
Related.
Ready when you are
Answer the questions. We do the filing.
It takes about four minutes. You see the whole order, state fee included, before anything is charged.
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LLC · WYName checked first · Same business day
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