House Owned Overseas As A Corporation

Apr 03, 2013 1 Replies

Hi,



My wife and I purchased a retirement home in Costa Rica as a corporation (common here to reduce taxes). The house is worth more than $400K. It is only a house - we do not derive any income from it nor do any business from it. I believe we need to file an 8938 and a 5471. Is that correct? I tried fill out a 5471 and it was a nightmare. Do we really need the 5471 and, if so, do we really need all that information? All I want to say is this is our home, it cost this much when we bought it a year and a half ago and its value hasn't changed much.



Thanks, Gary


You must complete all the relevant sections of the 5471. This would probably include Schedules A, B, F & G. The other schedules deal with income so you can just enter a big fat zero there. You still have to file the 8938 but you don't have to list assets. You just complete Part IV and check the 5471 box and enter a "1".

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