BreakThru Realty

FIRPTA Explained for Buyers and Future Sellers

The withholding you may owe as a buyer today, and the one that will apply when you sell

FIRPTA, the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act, touches a Florida purchase twice. If the person selling you the home is a foreign person, you as the buyer are the one responsible for withholding part of the price and sending it to the IRS. And if you are a foreign person yourself, the same rule will apply to whoever buys from you one day. Neither is a tax on the sale; both are deposits against a tax that may be owed. This page explains the mechanics in outline so the words in your contract make sense.

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

What is FIRPTA and who pays it? FIRPTA makes the buyer of United States real estate from a foreign seller withhold a share of the price, generally fifteen percent, and send it to the IRS as a deposit against the seller's tax on the gain. The closing agent handles the forms. It is not a tax on the sale; the seller files a return and recovers any excess.

What FIRPTA Is and Who It Reaches

FIRPTA is a federal rule that makes the buyer of United States real estate from a foreign person responsible for withholding a share of the sale price and remitting it to the IRS, so that a seller who lives abroad cannot leave the country with the gain untaxed. The rate is generally fifteen percent of the gross price, not of the profit. It applies whenever the seller is a foreign person, which includes nonresident individuals and many foreign entities, regardless of where the buyer lives. A buyer from Bogotá purchasing from a seller in Ohio withholds nothing under FIRPTA; a buyer from Ohio purchasing from a seller in Bogotá does.

Why the Buyer Carries the Duty

The law places the duty on the buyer because the buyer controls the money at closing. In practice the closing agent, usually the title company, handles the arithmetic, collects the seller's certification of status, holds the withheld funds and files the forms with the IRS on the buyer's behalf. The buyer's part is to make sure it happens. If no one withholds when the law required it, the IRS can look to the buyer for the amount, which is why every Florida contract asks the seller to state whether they are a foreign person and why your agent raises the question before the contract is signed rather than at the closing table.

The Exceptions a Buyer Should Know

Withholding is not required when the seller certifies under penalty of perjury that they are not a foreign person, with their taxpayer identification number on the certificate. It is also reduced or eliminated for lower priced homes that the buyer will use as a residence for a required share of the time in the first two years after closing, under thresholds the IRS publishes and adjusts from time to time. A home bought as a rental or a second home does not qualify for the residence exception no matter the price. The title company applies whatever threshold is current at closing; your tax adviser confirms which exception, if any, fits your purchase.

The Withholding Certificate

When the tax the seller will actually owe on the gain is less than the amount the rule would withhold, the seller can apply to the IRS before closing for a withholding certificate that reduces or eliminates it. The application takes time to process, so it has to begin when the contract is signed, and the closing agent may hold the funds in escrow until the certificate arrives. For a buyer this is mostly a timing question: the sale can close on schedule with the funds held, or the parties can agree to wait. Your attorney and the title company set the terms in the contract so nobody is surprised.

What Happens to the Money Afterward

The withheld amount is a deposit, not the final tax. The following year the foreign seller files a United States tax return reporting the sale, calculates the actual tax on the gain, and receives a refund of any excess or pays any shortfall. Keeping the purchase documents, the receipts for improvements and the closing statements makes that return straightforward, because every dollar of documented cost reduces the gain. As a buyer you have no further part once the forms are filed; as a future seller, start the file on the day you buy.

Planning for the Day You Sell

If you are a foreign person, FIRPTA will apply to your own sale. Plan for it from the start: obtain your taxpayer identification number early, since the certificate application and the eventual return both need it; keep the record of what you paid and what you improved; and decide with a tax adviser how to hold title, because an entity or a trust changes how the rule applies. Your home country may tax the sale as well, often with a credit for United States tax paid, and the two returns have to be coordinated. None of this changes what the home is worth or how it is marketed. It changes the planning, which is cheap when done early and expensive when done late.

How BreakThru Handles It

Your agent asks the seller's status before you sign, so the contract reflects it. The title company we close with handles nonresident sellers routinely and knows the forms. When you are the foreign party, we introduce a tax adviser who files for nonresidents and keep the certificate timeline on the same calendar as the inspection and the financing, so a reduced withholding is in hand when it is needed. What we do not do is give tax advice: the rate, the exceptions and the return are the adviser's territory, and this page is an outline so the conversation starts from the right place.

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

What is the FIRPTA withholding rate?
Generally fifteen percent of the gross sale price, withheld by the buyer through the closing agent and sent to the IRS when the seller is a foreign person. It is reduced or eliminated for some lower priced homes the buyer will live in, under thresholds the IRS publishes, and a seller can apply for a certificate that lowers it. A tax adviser confirms the figure for your sale.
As a buyer, do I have to withhold if I am a foreigner too?
FIRPTA looks at the seller, not the buyer. If the seller is a foreign person, withholding applies whether the buyer lives in Miami or Madrid. If the seller is a United States person who certifies that status, no withholding is required. The closing agent handles the forms either way; your part is to make sure the seller's status is settled before the contract is signed.
Is FIRPTA a tax on foreign sellers?
No. It is a withholding, a deposit against the tax that may be owed on the gain. The seller files a United States return the following year, calculates the actual tax and receives any excess back. A seller who expects to owe less than the withholding can apply before closing for a certificate that reduces it.
Can a withholding certificate delay my closing?
It can, if the parties choose to wait for it. The usual answer is to close on schedule with the withheld funds held in escrow by the closing agent until the IRS responds, which the contract can provide for. Your attorney and the title company set the terms so the timing is agreed before it matters.
Does FIRPTA apply to a condo or only to houses?
It applies to any United States real property interest, which includes condominiums, houses, land and shares in some entities that hold real estate. The type of home does not change the rule; the status of the seller and the price and use of the home decide whether and how much is withheld.

The Service

Rules, Taxes and Money

Buying From Your Country

Related on BreakThru Realty