You can perform a 1031 exchange with foreign properties, so long as your relinquished and replacement properties are both located outside the United States.
The IRS 1031 exchange rules allow Texas real estate investors to defer capital gains tax when they reinvest the proceeds from a property sale into a like-kind property. To utilize this tax strategy in the current tax year, the properties involved must be held for productive use in a trade, business, or investment.
How do you report Section 1031 Like-Kind Exchanges to the IRS? You must report an exchange to the IRS on Form 8824, Like-Kind Exchanges and file it with your tax return for the year in which the exchange occurred.
If during the current tax year you transferred property to another party in a like-kind exchange, you must file Form 8824 with your tax return for that year. Also file Form 8824 for the 2 years following the year of a related party exchange. See Line 7, later, for details. Section 1031 regulations.
After completing a 1031 exchange, you must report the transaction to the IRS using Form 8824 to maintain the transaction's tax-deferred status.
Key Steps in the 1031 Exchange Process Determine if a 1031 Exchange is Right for You. Develop a Tax-Deferred Transition Strategy. Inform Your Advisors & Attorney About your 1031 Exchange. Enter into a Contract to Sell Your Existing Investment Property. Select a Qualified Intermediary and Open an Exchange.
Lack of Liquidity- Exchanging properties continually can tie up funds in real estate, making it hard for an investor to access liquid capital if required. While real estate can be a profitable investment, it's not as liquid as some other assets.
A Qualified Intermediary, or QI, is an independent third party to the transaction whose function is to prepare the documents necessary to create the exchange, as well as to act as the independent escrow agent for the exchange funds.
While foreign property is not of a like kind with domestic property, foreign properties are considered like-kind with one another. You can perform a 1031 exchange with foreign properties, so long as your relinquished and replacement properties are both located outside the United States.
A Practice Note discussing Section 1031 like-kind exchanges of real estate, which is an important tax planning tool that allows real property owners to defer gains on the sale of real estate by investing the proceeds into replacement property.