Am I a foreign seller under FIRPTA?

The three ways to be a U.S. person

Citizenship

By birth in the U.S., by a U.S. parent, or by naturalisation. Dual citizens count as U.S. citizens.

The green card

Lawful permanent residence makes you a U.S. resident for tax purposes for as long as it lasts, even while you live elsewhere.

Days present

At least 31 days in the year and 183 weighted days over three years (all of this year’s days, a third of last year’s, a sixth of the year before). Long seasonal stays add up. Exceptions — a closer connection to another country, a treaty tie-breaker — exist, but they are claimed, not assumed.

If you are a U.S. person: certify it

Generally no FIRPTA withholding is required when the seller gives the buyer a certification of nonforeign status — name, U.S. taxpayer identification number, address, and a statement under penalties of perjury that the seller is not a foreign person. A signed Form W-9 serves. A closing agent can hold it as a qualified substitute. The certification does not work if the buyer or agent knows it is false.

Two sellers, one of them foreign

With several sellers, the amount realized is allocated among them by what each contributed to the property — spouses are treated as contributing half each — and the buyer withholds on the total allocated to the foreign sellers. So an American married to a non-American, selling a home they own together, typically sees withholding on half the price rather than all of it, provided the American spouse certifies their status. When there are several foreign sellers, they can ask the buyer, by the 10th day after the transfer, to credit the withholding among them as they agree; otherwise it is split evenly.

The thresholds for the buyer-residence treatment still look at the whole price: a $900,000 home sold by a mixed couple to a family who will live in it is in the 10% band, applied to the foreign spouse’s half.

When a company, trust or estate sells

Property held through an LLC, a corporation, a partnership, a trust or an estate follows different rules — sometimes what is sold is an interest in the entity rather than the property, and a U.S. entity is itself the withholding agent. The figures on this site assume individuals selling directly; anything else goes to a professional before a number is relied on. The situation check asks how the property is held and routes these cases accordingly, and the complex-case service is quoted for them.