I own a piece of real estate in Europe with my brothers. It is a joint ownership.
I am planning on selling my share to them and for this I think it would be better to discuss the details with a U.S. personal income tax expert (CPA? Enrolled Agent?) as I want to make sure that I understand the tax implications and have the appropriate documentation etc. for the IRS.
Does anyone have a recommendation for somebody located in the Dallas, Richardson, or Plano (Texas) area that I can contact?
Otherwise, how/where can I search online and locate somebody who has the necessary credentials and does not charge a fortune?
You can search on the internet, craigslist, etc. On internet search for "Dallas tax preparer" or something like that. You'll have to call several places and get quotes to compare.
This sounds like just sale of capital gain property (like stocks). You need cost price converted into dollars, sale price converted into dollars, any transaction costs on your end. Any transaction costs on your brothers' end (such as title fees that they pay) will get added to their cost basis. Since you did not live in the house for two years you don't get to use the 250k/500k exclusion.
If you were renting the real estate it's a little more complicated in that you have to do form 4797 to report the sale of business property.
I really know very little about U.S. tax laws and IRS regulations. So what kind of "probing" questions should I ask when trying to select the best professional help for my case? What kind of experience/background should I look for?
I imagine not all CPAs/EAs are created equal... :-)
In my experience few US tax preparers, even good ones, know much about taxation of anything outside the U.S. So I'd ask questions about how familar they are with the interaction with foreign law, e.g., if there is European tax due on the sale, can you credit it against US taxes.
1) Thank goodness you at least acknowledge that you expect to pay for the advice you get. However some tax professionals, just like some lawyers, will give you 15-30 minutes of free general discussion of the pertinent issues, as an enticement to engage for further service at a fee.
2) I think you are indicating that you are not limited to just those preparers who are geographically close to you. Good -- it is quite possible to receive good specialty tax service from someone without any direct in-person contact. In fact, a US preparer who is located overseas might arguably be one of the best service providers you could find in this situation.
3) I think it is borderline prohibited by the guidelines of this group to name or refer specific commercial tax preparers. (After all, someone could anonymously post a request, and then reply anonymously to their own request by referring themselves, which via "step transaction doctrine" would be a prohibited advertisement).
You provide a munged e-mail address; providing a real address and asking for private replies is allowed. You could also search the forum (newsgroup) for contributors who seem to have good answers for international tax questions, and try contacting them directly.
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