BreakThru Realty

Estate Tax and How a Foreign Buyer Should Hold Title in Florida

Your own name, a company or a trust: the choice to make with an adviser before the contract, not after

The question a foreign buyer most often leaves until the week of closing is the one that deserves the most time: in whose name will the home be held? The answer changes the estate tax your heirs could face, the income tax on rent, the privacy of the record, the liability if someone is hurt on the property, and the paperwork when you sell. This page lays out the choices in outline. The decision itself belongs to a tax adviser who handles nonresidents and a Florida attorney, made before the contract is signed, because changing title afterward costs money and can trigger tax.

BreakThru Realty · Founder and Broker of Record: Tyson E. Sam, Florida License 3565210

Published October 24, 2026 · Reviewed by Tyson E. Sam, Founder and Broker of Record

Plan My Florida Purchase From Abroad

Find My Florida Home

Your first step: BreakThru International Buyer Plan

Buying in Florida From Another Country? Settle the Rules, the Money and the Paperwork Before You Choose a Home

Foreign citizens buy South Florida homes every day, and the ones who do it well settle three things first: which rules reach them, how the money will arrive and what they can sign from home. The plan starts with a consultation in your language about how you will use the home and how you will pay, and ends with a shortlist, a carrying cost review in United States dollars, and a closing you can complete without a second flight.

What you receive

  • A consultation in English or Spanish, with an interpreter arranged for Portuguese or French, about how you will use the home and how you will pay
  • A plain summary of the rules that reach a buyer from your country: the Florida ownership law, the tax identification you will need, and FIRPTA when you sell
  • A shortlist of homes and buildings whose rules allow your plans, including seasonal use and renting it out
  • A carrying cost review in United States dollars: property tax without homestead, insurance, flood, association dues and the services that run while you are away
  • Introductions to the professionals a foreign buyer needs: a lender who writes foreign national loans, a cross border tax adviser, an attorney and a title company that closes with buyers abroad
  • A tour and closing plan: live video tours now, one visit scheduled around the finalists, and the signing arranged for where you live

What happens next

  1. Tell us where you live, where you are looking, your budget in United States dollars, how you expect to pay and the language you prefer.
  2. A BreakThru agent replies within one business day to schedule your consultation.
  3. After the consultation, your agent prepares the rules summary, the shortlist and the carrying cost review, and introduces the professionals you need.
  4. You tour by video or in person when you are ready, and the closing is arranged around where you are.

Free and without obligation. Nothing you tell us is shared with a seller, and you sign a buyer agreement only when you are ready to tour.

Plan My Florida Purchase From Abroad · Find My Florida Home

Should a foreign buyer hold a Florida home in their own name or through a company? It depends on the home's value, whether your country has an estate tax treaty with the United States, whether the home will earn rent and who should inherit it. United States estate tax reaches property a nonresident holds personally, with a far smaller exemption than residents receive. Decide with a cross border tax adviser and a Florida attorney before the contract.

Why Estate Tax Drives the Decision

The United States taxes the estate of a person who dies owning property located here, and for a nonresident who is not a citizen the amount exempt from that tax is a small fraction of what residents receive. A Florida home held in your own name can therefore expose your heirs to a federal estate tax bill on most of its value, payable before the home can be transferred. Some countries have estate tax treaties with the United States that soften this, and the rules differ by country and by how the home is held. This single fact is why advisers raise ownership structure before anything else, and why the question cannot wait for the closing table.

Holding the Home in Your Own Name

The simplest choice, and for many buyers the right one: title in your name, or jointly with a spouse. The deed is straightforward, the lender is comfortable, and selling later is uncomplicated. The costs are exposure to estate tax on the full value, a public record that shows your name against the address, and personal liability for what happens on the property, which insurance covers up to its limits. For a home of modest value, for a buyer whose country has a treaty, or for someone who values simplicity, personal ownership is often the recommendation. For a larger home or a buyer with heirs abroad, advisers tend to look further.

A Florida or Delaware Limited Liability Company

Many foreign buyers hold a Florida home through a limited liability company formed here. On its own, a single member company owned by a nonresident is treated as transparent for income tax and generally does not change the estate tax picture, but it does separate the home from your personal liability and keeps your name off the deed, with the company's own records naming the owners. Lenders will finance a home held this way under their own conditions. Florida's foreign ownership law looks through a company to the people who own it, so the structure does not change whether that law reaches you. Annual filings and a registered agent are part of the cost.

A Foreign Company, a Two Tier Structure or a Trust

Advisers sometimes recommend holding the home through a company formed in your own country, or through a United States company owned by a foreign one, because shares in a foreign company are generally outside the United States estate tax net in a way a direct holding is not. The price is complexity: corporate tax on rent and on the gain when the home is sold, filings in two countries, and a lender that may decline the structure. Trusts, revocable or irrevocable, foreign or domestic, are another route with their own tax and reporting consequences. None of these is a do it yourself choice; each is a conversation with a cross border tax adviser and an attorney about your family, your country and the home.

Income Tax on Rent Depends on the Structure Too

If the home will earn rent, the structure decides how that income is taxed. A nonresident individual or a transparent company either accepts a flat withholding on gross rent or elects to be taxed on the net after expenses, filing a United States return each year. A corporation pays corporate tax on its net rental income and may face a further tax when profits leave the country. Your home country taxes the same income under its own rules, usually with a credit for United States tax paid where a treaty exists, and where none exists the two systems have to be read together. The adviser who chooses the structure should be the one who files the returns.

What Changes at Closing and at Sale

The buyer named in the contract should be the owner who will take title, whether a person or an entity, because assigning a contract later can cost money and time. An entity needs its formation documents, a tax identification number and a resolution authorizing the purchase before the title company will close, and a lender adds its own requirements. At sale, FIRPTA withholding applies to a foreign seller whether a person or a foreign entity, and the certificate that can reduce it is applied for in the owner's name. Reporting rules for certain cash purchases by entities have changed in the courts recently; the title company applies whatever is in force on the day you close.

How BreakThru Fits In

We are not your tax adviser or your attorney, and this page is an outline rather than advice. What we do is raise the question on the first call, introduce advisers who work with nonresidents from your part of the world, write the contract in the name you choose, and keep the entity paperwork, the lender's conditions and the title company's requirements on one calendar so the closing date holds. The plan asks how you will use the home and who should inherit it because those two answers shape the structure, and the structure should be settled before you fall in love with a unit.

Questions you may be asking

Can a foreigner even buy property in Florida?
Yes. Citizenship and residency are not required to own real estate in the United States, and a foreign owner has the same property rights as anyone else. One Florida law restricts purchases by people domiciled in a short list of countries, and the plan tells you plainly whether it reaches you.
We do not have United States credit or a bank account.
Most international buyers start that way. Lenders who write foreign national loans work from documents in your home country rather than a United States credit file, and a bank account and a taxpayer identification number can be opened as part of the process. Consult a mortgage lender early; many buyers simply pay cash instead.
We cannot travel for every step.
You should not have to. Your agent tours homes on live video, attends the inspection with you on the line, and the closing documents can be signed abroad before a notary, at a United States consulate, by remote online notarization where the title company allows it, or by a power of attorney.
What about taxes when we sell one day?
FIRPTA requires the buyer of a home from a foreign seller to withhold a share of the price for the IRS, as a deposit against the tax on the gain. There are exceptions and a certificate that can reduce it. The plan explains it in outline; a tax adviser who handles nonresident owners plans it with you before you buy.
We would rather do this in our own language.
Then we will. Spanish speaking agents are on staff, and for Portuguese or French an interpreter joins the consultation and the tours. The contracts are in English, as Florida law and the title company require, and your attorney explains them in your language.

Plan My Florida Purchase From Abroad

Tell us where you live, where in South Florida you are looking, how you expect to pay and the language you prefer. A BreakThru agent replies within one business day to schedule your consultation, in English or Spanish, with an interpreter arranged for Portuguese or French.

Call or email the brokerage directly: (786) 914-1017 · sales@breakthrurealty.com

Questions International Buyers Ask

Should I buy a Florida home in my own name or through a company?
It depends on the value of the home, whether your country has an estate tax treaty with the United States, whether the home will earn rent, and who should inherit it. Personal ownership is simplest; a company or a trust can change estate tax exposure and privacy at the cost of complexity. Decide with a cross border tax adviser and a Florida attorney before the contract is signed.
Does the United States really tax a foreigner's estate?
Yes. Property located in the United States is subject to federal estate tax when a nonresident who is not a citizen dies owning it, and the amount exempt from the tax is far smaller than what residents receive. Treaties with some countries change the result. This is the main reason advisers discuss ownership structure before you buy.
Does an LLC avoid Florida's foreign ownership law?
No. The law looks through companies, trusts and other entities to the people who own or control them, so holding the home through an LLC does not change whether the law reaches you. A Florida attorney can tell you whether it applies to your situation.
Can I change how the home is held after I buy?
Usually, but it costs money and can trigger tax. Transferring a Florida home into or out of an entity is a deed with its own recording costs and documentary stamp tax in some cases, and it may be treated as a sale for tax purposes. Choosing the structure before the contract avoids all of that.
Will a lender finance a home held by a company?
Some will, under their own conditions, which usually include the owners signing personally for the loan and the company's formation documents. Others only lend to individuals. Ask the lender before the contract names the buyer, so the structure and the financing agree.

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