Real-Estate-Investment

In order to boost foreign investment in real-estate in the United Sates, a bill was passed by the House on Friday, and it went through quite smoothly. The voting went 402-11, with only one Democrat and 10 Republicans going against the grain.

The bill was first introduced by Rep. Joseph Crowley, and the aim for it was to help provide revenue streams for real estate investments, as the economic downturn is causing these areas to suffer.

Based on the present standing law, exemption from taxation for foreign investors came with investments of over 5% ownership in an REIT. The Real Estate Jobs and Investment Act allowed more investment by foreign citizen in the REIT before the incurring of strong capital gains tax.

According to an executive summary of the bill, “Under current U.S. tax law, foreign investors generally do not pay capital gains taxes when they sell stock in a U.S. corporation.” The summary further indicated that foreign investors with a stake in REIT were taxed more heavily.