[TassieJHParticipant@tassiejhJoin Date: 2010Post Count: 41]

January 7, 2016 - 9:50 am

Looks like we may have a rental market in the US for a while yet! Note this is a very small survey sample of 1000 and they are people who were looking at Bank Rates so not very scientific…..but an interesting read (Great to live in Oz)
Some 63% of people can’t deal with a $500 emergency

Americans are starting 2016 with more job security, but most are still theoretically only one paycheck away from the street.

Approximately 63% of Americans have no emergency savings for things such as a $1,000 emergency room visit or a $500 car repair, according to a survey released Wednesday of 1,000 adults by personal finance website Bankrate.com, up slightly from 62% last year. Faced with an emergency, they say they would raise the money by reducing spending elsewhere (23%), borrowing from family and/or friends (15%) or using credit cards to bridge the gap (15%).

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/most-americans-are-one-paycheck-away-from-the-street-2016-01-06?dist=afterbell

• This reply was modified 8 years, 4 months ago by  TassieJH.

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May 14, 2012 - 9:27 am

trinalewis wrote:

Hi,
In response to the request re posting my property purchases – would you like the addresses?
thanks
Trina

Trina,

I also own Atlanta properties so may be nice to catch up with a private message. 
Are you happy to accept contact via the site as your profile is currently not accepting contact.

TassieJH

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December 20, 2011 - 10:33 pm

outatrim wrote:

Long time stalker. Just posting to thank Property Scout for this information. We followed the steps, for the state of Utah but still much the same. – Registered the LLC, one little hiccup meant we paid $22 unnecessarily to reserve the name we wanted to register. Otherwise just the state fees. – Paid $125 for Registered Agent annual fee. There were cheaper and probably just as good for what they do. It has worked so far. – Free LLC Operating Agreement, – Got an EIN by phone. It was an hour long phone call but we got there. Even at overseas phone rates it was still less than $10. And as of yesterday we have a US bank account. Applied for in person with the above paperwork in order.

Long Time Stalker or others,

I assume your new LLC was created with you as manager/s personally and then used your passport as ID for bank account and EIN request.

Has anyone created  an LLC owned by their Australian SMSF?

Which websites were suitable for the "free Operating Agreement"
No personal ID to use for bank account or other checks. We do ahve ABN and TFN for Australia but do not think our US mates think highly of these…

We have a personal LLC that is opeartional with bank accounts so expect bank to be OK based on our other account relationships.

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August 11, 2011 - 1:48 am

TassieJH wrote:

I believe our ducks/ docs are now in a row to start the official W-7 ITIN process .

We are sending over the following within Australia
   Passports to be notorized by US Consulate in Melbourne at $50AUD ea
   Copies of Bank forms with our LLC details and requesting our signatures supporting the EIN info
   Exemption to request based on business/banking requirements

Following receipt of US authority notorization we can then send the same set of papers…but with blessed identities…to the IRS.

In 6-8 weeks I will find out success or failure    

Our ITINs have arrived

but as for IRS data entry ……..
                           

My lovely certificate has my "official address" listed incorrectly.  My street name starts with a "G" and on the certificate it starts with an "F"…..one key over!

My wife's certificate is made out as her maiden name….not married name as per all the paperwork including the Notoraised passport copy!
 

At least we have the numbers to quote now

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July 18, 2011 - 6:59 am

4Sighted wrote:

Hi guys,

Hi Property Scout, Did you use your Melbourne address in the forms?? Or did you use a US address? I am trying to form an LLC in Florida (online), but the forms will not allow me to use my Sydney address, the fill-in boxes are pre selected with States of the USA. As such it keeps on rejecting my application until it is filled out 'Correctly'…bugger.

4Sighted,
You will require a "Registered Agent" to act on your behalf in the state of creation for the LLC.  If you are setting up the new LLC in Florida you may be able to arrange your property manager or other third party to act on your behalf as the physical street address for serving of legal notices. The Secretary of State (SOS) in each state usually requires this and will not accepty a foreign address or a PO Box for serving of notices.

If you cannot arrange your Property manager to act on your behalf you can have one of the web companies do this for any of the 50 US States and charge I think around $60per annum.

Are you buying other property in FL in addition to the Missouri? Otherwise from this info it would appear better to create your LLC in the state of the property location unless intending to purchase in mutiple states.   Most / some states will require your LLC to be registered in the state where the property is situated regardless of where the LLC is created.  Do not forget there will be state taxes as well as the property county taxes

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June 27, 2011 - 12:22 am

biggaz13 wrote:

Hi TassieJH

Did you end up getting an ITIN???
Your USA tax return. Did you find an appropriate accountant to assist or did you use that Turbo Tax Software??
Thanks in advance
Gary

Biggaz13, Gary,

We are on the ITIN journey

from SA we sent our passports to the US Consulate General in Victoria for notarization by a US official – $50AUD each plus registered post both ways.  Note you must send ALL of the IRS-W7 supporting documents and the completed W-7 forms for the Consulate general to perform the process of validating the foreign passports and the copies are then attached to the pre-completed W-7.

The returned documents were then re-packaged (with our actual passports now removed) and sent registerd mail to the IRS ITIN processing center in Texas.   This was in early June so are yet to hear any more at this point

We have had discussions with a US CPA based in Adelaide and hoping he will be able to assist with our lodgements back to the IRS.  We have not purchased the Turbo Tax software.

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June 24, 2011 - 6:05 am

Great information Property Scout.

Clear, concise and to the point.
A little more of a challenge to come wiith a bank account …but that is another post

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June 3, 2011 - 1:35 am

DetroitDan9 wrote:

Tassie, We just went through quite a hassle with an Australian friend of mine who came into Detroit to buy properties. It was like pulling teeth to get his corporate structure setup!

Detroit Dan…..you are not inspiring me

I believe our ducks/ docs are now in a row to start the official W-7 ITIN process .

We are sending over the following within Australia
   Passports to be notorized by US Consulate in Melbourne at $50AUD ea
   Copies of Bank forms with our LLC details and requesting our signatures supporting the EIN info
   Exemption to request based on business/banking requirements

Following receipt of US authority notorization we can then send the same set of papers…but with blessed identities…to the IRS.

In 6-8 weeks I will find out success or failure    

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May 20, 2011 - 2:05 am

My wife and I have an LLC that then owns 3 properties via LLCs.  Attempting to get an ITIN from Australia is a challenge!!!
The LLCs all have the EIN but as individuals we cannot obtain a credit card or easily move funds out of the US banking system without the ITIN.  We have Visa debit cards issued by Wells Fargo but these cannot be used for some services that we want to charge back to the LLC as operation costs.

Has anyone lodged locally in Aus with all documents certified in Australia?

Anyone with ideas as the Australian passports and other docs must be certified by Australian authorities BEFORE lodging via an accredited agent for IRS.

We are in South Australia and no joy yet with a local US/Aus tax service that can solve some of these setup issues at reasonble price/hardship…

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May 20, 2011 - 1:58 am

petejac1 wrote:

I leave in 2 days to attend the Mastermind in May.  I would highly recommend having as much done way ahead of attending.  The timetable looks very tight so you need all your spare time organising deals and researching rather then setting up details.  The first part is getting your ITIN as it takes the longest. Unfortunately mine took 7 months to organise, the IRS can be very picky on details.

petejac1
My wife and I have an LLC that then owns 3 properties via LLCs.  Attempting to get an ITIN from Australia is a challenge!!!
The LLCs all have the EIN but as individuals we cannot obtain a credit card or easily move funds out of the US banking system without the ITIN.  We have Visa debit cards issued by Wells Fargo but these cannot be used for some services that we want to charge back to the LLC as operation costs.

Did you lodge with all documents certified in Australia?

Anyone with ideas as the Australian passports and other docs must be certified by Australian authorities BEFORE lodging via an accredited agent for IRS.

We are in South Australia and no joy yet with a local US/Aus tax service that can solve some of these setup issues at reasonble price/hardship…

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February 15, 2011 - 5:42 am

Jaag Property wrote:

I'm trying to clear the tax issues up as well. The only shareholder in our US LLC is our SMSF. Anyone have any idea what the tax treaty situation is regarding this – I visited an accountant while there, and she said she would have to look into it, as she was unsure whether we would pay tax in the States at all, but she was going to charge US$750 to do that. Anyone else in the same situation and what are you doing?

There is another recent thread regarding a SMSF and US property.  "Purchasing in USA using SMSF"

Basically  (my understanding and not professional advice,….)  the US treats it as a normal LLC entity owned by a Foreign Trust – no US tax benefits for it being a retirement investment as you are not US citzens.

Benefits for the SMSF come back when it is reported to the Australian taxation with the usual freign tax credits being allowed for and then the preferential taxation for being an Australian Complying Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF).

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February 15, 2011 - 5:28 am

rlillycrop wrote:

Hi TassieJH

I think you will need to check with your Australian tax office what needs to be reported to the IRS because of the tax treaty situation. Generally with LLC income it is passed through to the individual(s). So with single member LLC's you are taxed like an individual and with multi-member LLC's the members are taxed like a partnership.

rlillycrop

Appreciate the reporting needs in Australia but my original post was delving into your experiences with the Turbo tax Intuit Software and its capability to "spit out" the various secnarios – Single member LLC, Multi member LLC and IF REQUIRED any personal lodgements of the members.

At this point I believe we will only report at the EIN level for each LLC and then pass this information back to our home country taxation – and say
                         …Please sir I have already paid my tax to Uncle Sam….how much more do YOU want?

My wife and I do not have a U.S. ITIN and not sure if we will need it but have read elsewhere that we can apply on the basis of the LLC reporting requirements.    We may as well apply now for the ITIN if we will need it later anyway….closest number we will get to the Social Security Number SSN of the US Citizens. 

Link to the IRS confusion here for ITIN

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February 10, 2011 - 2:22 am

guehling wrote:

There has been a bit of tax discussion with the LLCs so I thought I'd run one by anyone who may know the answer.  Here it goes…
What I’m trying to ascertain is how the IRS in the US will tax a Delaware LLC which will be owned by a Self Managed Superannuation Fund in Australia?  ……. So now we get back to the question, if the LLC is taxed based on the owner of the LLCs tax rate (pass through), what rate would the IRS tax it at if the SMSF is in pension phase and is not taxable?  The question also applies to capital gains.

Great questions guehling.
I was hoping to read about this in another thread  Purchasing in USA using SMSF … but no joy yet.
Have you had any other feedback?

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January 31, 2011 - 11:09 pm

All this talk about the virtues of Miami and Florida perked my interest in the following LLC articles that may interest our MIAMI(ad)VICE colleagues. I came across some good posts from Biggerpockets.com that explain some of the finer details in some plain language.

Can Nevada or Wyoming Protect Your Real Estate Investments in Another State

A more in-depth article goes into detail regarding Florida specifics.

Setting the Record Straight on Florida LLCs

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January 31, 2011 - 11:04 pm

In my quest for logic and sanity regarding the ownership Pros/Cons of LLCs I came across some good posts from Biggerpockets.com that explain some of the finer details in some plain language.

Can Nevada or Wyoming Protect Your Real Estate Investments in Another State

A more in-depth article goes into detail regarding Florida specifics.

Setting the Record Straight on Florida LLCs

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January 24, 2011 - 6:34 am

rlillycrop wrote:

Hi Morgan

I use TurboTax Home and Business. The software is really easy to use and produces all the relevant paperwork for your return. Also at about $100 it is a lot cheaper than using a CPA.

Hi RLillycrop,

I looked into your suggestion of TurboTax Home and Business which does look appealing.
As a "Non Resident Alien"  (catchy title from our US friends), I found some of the Intuit website and chat session with their representative confusing when it came to foreigners.
From your postings and background can we deduce then that you are able to complete

• BOTH the returns necessary for a Multi-member LLC 
  AND single member LLCs where the owners and or managers are Foreign entities or individuals.

• If a "Holding LLC" is owned by a married couple with no other US income other than the income from that LLC would there be any need to file a personal US return?

My hope/understanding is the Holding LLC would file along with the income/interests in the subsidiary property holding LLCs and no personal reporting is required by the  "Non Resident Alien" (i.e. husband and  wife).

Our reporting/filing is with our Australian Taxation Office as foreign income reported as part of the US/Australia tax treaty.

The http://turbotax.intuit.com/small-business-taxes/ gave me the impression that I would need to purchase a different product if my LLC was multi-member. This "Business" version then did not cater for any Personal reporting…this requires another product!!!    I did not touch on the multiple state lodgements that are also a separate product per state.

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January 20, 2011 - 5:10 am

white_goodman wrote:

well I assume their will be some sort of clause to stop a quit claim deed, I guess the question is at what number of properties is it smarter tax wise to place them all in an LLC, im guessing around 3 or 4

"Tax wise" the LLC is a "pass through" entity and handled by the US/Aus tax treaty.   The number of properties owned under a single LLC relates more to the risk of being sued/litigation in the US as a claim will go against the assets of the legal owner – in this case the LLC.   

Suggest you read some of the US forums for some "nasty" stories in this area such as.
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51-tax-legal-issues-contracts-self-directed-ira

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January 20, 2011 - 4:58 am

bowenvale wrote:

Assuming an LLC is the best structure to buy a property in the US, I have the following questions. a. Can the director of an LLC be an Australian Family Trust(with an Australian Pty ltd as trustee) b.If you set up an LLC can all correspondance be sent to an Australian address? If not how is this handled c.Can anyone recommend a good US or Oz based lawyer who will do the set up

a. Can the director of an LLC be an Australian Family Trust(with an Australian Pty ltd as trustee)

From my reading on the forums and the Online Company setup sites the LLC enity may be owned by any legal entity – be they individual or another company structure/foreign trust, another LLC.   If you have an Australian Trust then check with your Aussie legal/finacial advisor/s as to whether it is best to use this enitity as the owner of the US LLC.   The directorship or not would not have relevance in the US.   You can ghave the Aus Trust own the LLC units and then nominate the individual who is the Director of the Aus Trust to be the single or joint "manager" of the LLC.    The "manager" receives and is the responsible party for all reporting requirements.
The Registered Agent receives all legal documents that may be "served" and then notifies you of any filing / actions requied. The listed office for other correspondence can be your Australian address. (Bank statments, Water rates, Property Management fees)

b.If you set up an LLC can all correspondance be sent to an Australian address? If not how is this handled
You must have a US physical address to receive the correspondebce – not a PO Box. This is handled by paying for the services of a "Registered Agent".   All of the Online set-up companies have the services in place to be the Registered Agent for any entity in any of the 50 US States.   If you create a Nevada or Delaware LLC and then want to operate your business in California your LLC will be treated as a Foreign Company. depending on the type of business you will possibly have to register for trading in the state of trade along with filing annually with the state of creation.   Most forums recommend haviing the LLC created in the same state as you intend to operate/purchase property…..can be different for Aussies who do not have a home state and wish to purchase mutiple properties in different US States.

c.Can anyone recommend a good US or Oz based lawyer who will do the set up
( I would prefer to leave this for someone else… but have seen the following advertised for Aussies – based in Qld.
http://www.ustaxcentral.com.  I have not used their services as yet but have made enquiries)

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January 20, 2011 - 4:30 am

white_goodman wrote:

isnt there an issue where it has some clause in the loan whereby the sale or transfer of thte property requires the loan amount to be repaid?

The US loans are VERY different to the Australian Banks.  As far as I know, most US residential loans are NON-Recourse which is why they have so many properties in loan payment default when the owner finds themselves with negative equity compared to mortgage value.    Some are fixed rate for the entire life of the loan (not just first 1-5years as in Aus).   With current rate of defaults in the US the banks are open to allow the property to change hands at no loss to them rather than forcing the whole foreclosure scenario that involves the County Court and "fire sale" prices.

Your initial query was based on a loan in your own name … and then a transfer to your LLC.   -Possible- but as it is not an unrleated party AND not in default / risk of foreclosure your scenerio will depend entirely on the contractual clause of your loan provider in the US.

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January 20, 2011 - 3:11 am

white_goodman wrote:

say you can find financing for a property but they will only finance in your personal name.. can you transfer the property into an LLC after this? or does it cos a big tax headache as the loan then isnt a business deductible expense? (its still in the personal name)

ASSUMING you are able to find US financing in your own name ….a huge challenge for a "Non-Resident Alien" on the intended US property …. then depending on the actual contract of the loan you will be able to transfer the Mortgage and loan facility to your LLC at minimal cost.

This process is much simpler than our Australian transfers and does not trigger off stamp duty as it does in Australian states.
In some furum threads you will see that it is possible to buy a property by taking on the mortgage/loan responsabilities for the property with the blessing of the bank.

Depending on the US State/county it may be a "short sale" or "Quit Claim Deed" etc
From what I have read, you may have to hold the property for 90 days +/- before being able to "quit".