- rlillycrop wrote:Hi Morgan
I use TurboTax Home and Business. The software is really easy to use and produces all the relevant paperwork for your return. Also at about $100 it is a lot cheaper than using a CPA.
Hi RLillycrop,
I looked into your suggestion of TurboTax Home and Business which does look appealing.
As a "Non Resident Alien"
(catchy title from our US friends), I found some of the Intuit website and chat session with their representative confusing when it came to foreigners.
From your postings and background can we deduce then that you are able to complete- BOTH the returns necessary for a Multi-member LLC
AND single member LLCs where the owners and or managers are Foreign entities or individuals.
- If a "Holding LLC" is owned by a married couple with no other US income other than the income from that LLC would there be any need to file a personal US return?
My hope/understanding is the Holding LLC would file along with the income/interests in the subsidiary property holding LLCs and no personal reporting is required by the "Non Resident Alien" (i.e. husband and wife).Our reporting/filing is with our Australian Taxation Office as foreign income reported as part of the US/Australia tax treaty.
The http://turbotax.intuit.com/small-business-taxes/ gave me the impression that I would need to purchase a different product if my LLC was multi-member. This "Business" version then did not cater for any Personal reporting…this requires another product!!! I did not touch on the multiple state lodgements that are also a separate product per state.
Spyglass, do you know much about the lehigh acres area? have you got any input on this area, i have mixed opinions
on it, seems risky but potentially rewarding in years to come…spyglassltd wrote:morgstar wrote:HiI am looking at buying in Phoenix, Kansas City or Orlando but i wanted to buy something around $25000, i am just a bit worried if i buy at the lower end of the market i will never recoup my money in 5 to 10 years in regards to the sale.
Its a question of making sure you arent buying in a dying area, 25k is certainly at the bottom end, however in Florida I recently bought a townhouse at $28k, according to the local property appraiser website it sold for $170k in 07 and $130k in 04, it cash flows well and i feel in 5 years it will likely be worth 50% of at least the 04 price which along with the double digit net cashflow, I am very happy with.
The fundamentals of a market are of course key and the principal reason why I like Florida is the population growth, buy in an area of the state well placed to enjoy this growth and I believe you shall get returns similar to these. Although as a cautionary note from one who has made this mistake before in Florida there are areas which you shouldnt touch.
Propinvest
i do know it a little, my old partner recently bought two thousand plus building lots there. I think lehigh is one of those areas of Florida which became popular in the last boom, but will take longer to recover. It is also an area that varies widely and not an area to buy in without understanding those differences first hand.
Having said that I think there are really good deals in terms of price, but I also think that these may recover slower and to a lower level than other areas such as Cape Coral, your property is likely to be a good deal more illiquid as well, so therefore riskier. Probably more vacancies. I would look carefully to make sure that any deal considered there is much better than one on offer in a more developed area so as to make it worth being worth taking the extra risks.propvest78 wrote:Spyglass, do you know much about the lehigh acres area? have you got any input on this area, i have mixed opinions
on it, seems risky but potentially rewarding in years to come…spyglassltd wrote:morgstar wrote:HiI am looking at buying in Phoenix, Kansas City or Orlando but i wanted to buy something around $25000, i am just a bit worried if i buy at the lower end of the market i will never recoup my money in 5 to 10 years in regards to the sale.
Its a question of making sure you arent buying in a dying area, 25k is certainly at the bottom end, however in Florida I recently bought a townhouse at $28k, according to the local property appraiser website it sold for $170k in 07 and $130k in 04, it cash flows well and i feel in 5 years it will likely be worth 50% of at least the 04 price which along with the double digit net cashflow, I am very happy with.
The fundamentals of a market are of course key and the principal reason why I like Florida is the population growth, buy in an area of the state well placed to enjoy this growth and I believe you shall get returns similar to these. Although as a cautionary note from one who has made this mistake before in Florida there are areas which you shouldnt touch.
Hi TassieJH
I think you will need to check with your Australian tax office what needs to be reported to the IRS because of the tax treaty situation. Generally with LLC income it is passed through to the individual(s). So with single member LLC's you are taxed like an individual and with multi-member LLC's the members are taxed like a partnership.
I’m trying to clear the tax issues up as well. The only shareholder in our US LLC is our SMSF. Anyone have any idea what the tax treaty situation is regarding this – I visited an accountant while there, and she said she would have to look into it, as she was unsure whether we would pay tax in the States at all, but she was going to charge US$750 to do that. Anyone else in the same situation and what are you doing?
rlillycrop wrote:Hi TassieJHI think you will need to check with your Australian tax office what needs to be reported to the IRS because of the tax treaty situation. Generally with LLC income it is passed through to the individual(s). So with single member LLC's you are taxed like an individual and with multi-member LLC's the members are taxed like a partnership.
Hi Rillycrop,
2 questions :-
– terminology – I assume a single member LLC is one with a single shareholder? (as distinct from directors).
– if the single member LLC is owned by a Holding LLC, then how is it and the Holding LLC taxed?
Thanks in advance.rlillycrop wrote:Hi TassieJHI think you will need to check with your Australian tax office what needs to be reported to the IRS because of the tax treaty situation. Generally with LLC income it is passed through to the individual(s). So with single member LLC's you are taxed like an individual and with multi-member LLC's the members are taxed like a partnership.
Appreciate the reporting needs in Australia but my original post was delving into your experiences with the Turbo tax Intuit Software and its capability to "spit out" the various secnarios – Single member LLC, Multi member LLC and IF REQUIRED any personal lodgements of the members.
At this point I believe we will only report at the EIN level for each LLC and then pass this information back to our home country taxation – and say
…Please sir I have already paid my tax to Uncle Sam….how much more do YOU want?My wife and I do not have a U.S. ITIN and not sure if we will need it but have read elsewhere that we can apply on the basis of the LLC reporting requirements. We may as well apply now for the ITIN if we will need it later anyway….closest number we will get to the Social Security Number SSN of the US Citizens.
Link to the IRS confusion here for ITIN
Jaag Property wrote:I'm trying to clear the tax issues up as well. The only shareholder in our US LLC is our SMSF. Anyone have any idea what the tax treaty situation is regarding this – I visited an accountant while there, and she said she would have to look into it, as she was unsure whether we would pay tax in the States at all, but she was going to charge US$750 to do that. Anyone else in the same situation and what are you doing?There is another recent thread regarding a SMSF and US property. "Purchasing in USA using SMSF"
Basically (my understanding and not professional advice,….) the US treats it as a normal LLC entity owned by a Foreign Trust – no US tax benefits for it being a retirement investment as you are not US citzens.
Benefits for the SMSF come back when it is reported to the Australian taxation with the usual freign tax credits being allowed for and then the preferential taxation for being an Australian Complying Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF).
Hey Morgstar !
I have done it heaps of times .I used a couple of different accountants in different states.
If you only need a federal return done you can use someone from anywhere in the USA.
But i am assuming you have a LLC too so best to get a local accountant(in the state yr LLC was set up/registered) to do the whole lot while they are doing yr franchise tax return etc !
PM me if you only want federals done and ill give you a GUN accountant that i have built years of trust with !Luke Taylor | Hope Property Investing
http://hopepropertyinvesting.com
Email MeProperty Support,Strategist and Buyers Agent
If anybody needs any help with this, we have an accountant that helps our clients fill in and return the tax forms. Email me at [email protected]
Typically he charges $250 USD per person
TassieJH wrote:rlillycrop wrote:Hi TassieJHI think you will need to check with your Australian tax office what needs to be reported to the IRS because of the tax treaty situation. Generally with LLC income it is passed through to the individual(s). So with single member LLC's you are taxed like an individual and with multi-member LLC's the members are taxed like a partnership.
Appreciate the reporting needs in Australia but my original post was delving into your experiences with the Turbo tax Intuit Software and its capability to "spit out" the various secnarios – Single member LLC, Multi member LLC and IF REQUIRED any personal lodgements of the members.
At this point I believe we will only report at the EIN level for each LLC and then pass this information back to our home country taxation – and say
…Please sir I have already paid my tax to Uncle Sam….how much more do YOU want?My wife and I do not have a U.S. ITIN and not sure if we will need it but have read elsewhere that we can apply on the basis of the LLC reporting requirements. We may as well apply now for the ITIN if we will need it later anyway….closest number we will get to the Social Security Number SSN of the US Citizens.
Link to the IRS confusion here for ITIN
Hi TassieJH
Did you end up getting an ITIN???
Your USA tax return. Did you find an appropriate accountant to assist or did you use that Turbo Tax Software??
Thanks in advance
Garybiggaz13 wrote:Hi TassieJH
Did you end up getting an ITIN???
Your USA tax return. Did you find an appropriate accountant to assist or did you use that Turbo Tax Software??
Thanks in advance
GaryBiggaz13, Gary,
We are on the ITIN journey
from SA we sent our passports to the US Consulate General in Victoria for notarization by a US official – $50AUD each plus registered post both ways. Note you must send ALL of the IRS-W7 supporting documents and the completed W-7 forms for the Consulate general to perform the process of validating the foreign passports and the copies are then attached to the pre-completed W-7.
The returned documents were then re-packaged (with our actual passports now removed) and sent registerd mail to the IRS ITIN processing center in Texas. This was in early June so are yet to hear any more at this point
We have had discussions with a US CPA based in Adelaide and hoping he will be able to assist with our lodgements back to the IRS. We have not purchased the Turbo Tax software.
rlillycrop wrote:Hi MorganTurboTax produces all the paperwork directly. The only form it doesn't produce is the 1040-NR, however it does produce a 1040. So you can easily put the figures onto the 1040-NR yourself. You can then just mail the paperwork to the IRS. It will also produce State returns for you which again will print out all the relevant forms so you can mail then to the relevant State.
Do you use the Premier version?
You can do all the paperwork yourself and also file the tax return, and if you know what your doing and have the proper set up initially, you can get away with it, but if your not sure or do something wrong, they can come down quite heavy on you.
For most investors, you really do need to talk with someone qualified, there are a number of accountants that profess to know all about the US Tax system, and you can be caught out, or, you can try to find a US CPA.
We have as part of out team, a US Tax Registered Agent, who is from L.A and now lives in Melbourne, and has been looking after not only some of the major celebrities with their tax, but for over 20 years has also been helping Property Investors, and now over here.
The difference is that a CPA is normally only state registered, whereas the Tax Agent is registered on a federal level and can operate in all 50 states, and has a direct link to the IRS.
- BOTH the returns necessary for a Multi-member LLC
(catchy title from our US friends), I found some of the Intuit website and chat session with their representative confusing when it came to foreigners.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. If you don't have an account, you can register here.
