Foreign owned properties for US citizen living in US

[reikiman]

I've done some reading on the IRS website about ownership of properties in other countries. The properties in question are two small apartments, and some land, and are not earning income and have not been bought or sold or traded in many years.

The FATCA information talks about the necessity to report assets. But the only kind of assets that are mentioned are financial assets like bank accounts or investments. It seems reading between the lines that "assets" in this case does not refer to real estate. There's a FAQ for form 8939 on the IRS website that says so pretty directly. Is this a correct reading?

The exception seems to be when you purchase or sell property - presumably what the IRS wants is a chunk of any gain/loss that's incurred.

 

[Taxing Matters]

FATCA and FBAR focus on financial assets. Real estate in a foreign country that you own directly are not included in reporting on those forms. The FATCA and FBAR chart that I linked earlier specifically tells you this.

Of course, when a U.S. citizen or resident sells real estate he or she owns anywhere in the world he or she must report the sale on his/her income tax return and pay the tax on any taxable capital gain.

 

[davew9128]

There is nothing implied about it. The titles of Form 8938 and FinCEN 114 are quite clear in referring to financial assets.