WSGVR Blogs

Thank you for your participation in the education session “Eviction Moratorium & Rental Assistance & The Extension From CDC” on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, via Zoom.  On behalf of the West San Gabriel Valley REALTORS®, we would like to thank our speaker, Dennis Block, Esq., Dennis P. Block and Associates, for his informative session.

Dear Members, Thank you for your participation in the 98th Annual Installation and Awards Ceremony on Friday, January 8, 2021! Here is the updated version of our installation video in the event that you missed the show. I invite and encourage you to take another look by clicking the 98th Annual Installation video below and get to know our 2021 Board of Directors, our Past Presidents, as well as the award recipients. Thank you for your time and continuing membership. We look forward to serving you in 2021.   We welcome your comments and feedback after watching the video on YouTube. Meantime stay safe and be healthy during this unprecedented time. Sincerely, Mindy Yeh 2021 WSGVR President

On behalf of the West San Gabriel Valley REALTORS, we would like to thank our association attorney, Jim Klinkert, for his presentation on “2021 Legal Update” on Thursday, January 21, 2021.

On behalf of the West San Gabriel Valley REALTORS, we would like to thank our speaker, Lisa Calarco, Manager of Global Programs and Outreaches for NAR, for her presentation on “Global Engagement”.

CONTRIBUTED BY RINAT B. KLIER ERLICH  

By Michael W. Brooks, Esq. (michael@directsllp.com) Following up on our previous posts earlier this year, where we informed you the IRS employees in offices throughout the United States left those offices in late March, due to concerns about the virus (and stopped processing any foreign seller tax returns and paper tax returns for US taxpayers as well), we can tell you three and one-half months later that the IRS employees who process foreign seller issues and paper tax return refunds have still not returned to their offices to continue this work. While there have been numerous news reports about the IRS employees returning to their offices in June (and those reports were true in terms of answering phone calls and general operations), in terms of processing any paper tax returns (and issuing any refunds associated with such returns) and performing any function for foreign sellers of US real estate (we’ll go over those below), the IRS has not returned to work, and there appears to be no...

By Michael Brooks, Domestic & International Real Estate Closing Tax Service (DIRECTS)  NON-US SELLER REAL ESTATE TAX WITHHOLDING FIPRTA US law requires that the transferee (buyer) on a sale or disposition of a United States Real Property Interest withhold a percentage (typically 15%) of the total amount realized (the sales price) at the time of disposition (closing of sale). This is the law known as “FIRPTA”- the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act. So when a foreign party sells US real estate, the buyer (via the escrow company or settlement agent in most states), must withhold a significant amount of the sales price, and (probably) send it into the IRS. The withholding tax is not an actual tax due. It is better thought of as a security deposit which the IRS requires the foreign seller to submit to ensure the foreign seller will pay the tax. Who Counts as a Foreign Party? Foreign parties, who are subject to withholding, include the following: a nonresident alien...