By Salcedo Attorney at Law

Upon us is a new year and with it comes the start of the 2022 tax season. If you were a foreign seller of U.S. real property in 2021 and were subject to the FIRPTA income tax withholding, you will now be able to apply and possibly get all or part of the withholding back by filing a U.S. tax return and requesting a refund. The amount of gain (or loss) realized, along with other factors such as whether the property was depreciated, will determine whether and how much you will receive.

There is an “expedited” procedure to obtain a partial or full refund of withheld FIRPTA funds, the application for a withholding certificate (Form 8288-B). However, due to the IRS’ well-known processing delays, our firm advises clients, especially those selling property in the second part of a calendar year, to simply remit funds to the IRS via the normal procedure (Form 8288-A).

As to the specific filing requirements, a NRA seller has to possess a U.S. tax identification number to apply for a refund and file Form 1040NR, the U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return. Note that if you remitted FIRPTA funds to the IRS and you did not have an ITIN at that time, a form W-7 should have been filed requesting that an ITIN be assigned to you. Make sure to inquire with your tax professional on the status of that request.

If you are unsure about the details or have lingering questions, the time to act is now. You should contact your Certified Public Accountant or other tax professional well in advance of the April deadline to avoid the classic bottleneck effect that can cause delays or unnecessary stress.

Fabio Giallanza is a partner with Salcedo Attorneys at Law P.A. He focuses his practice in corporate and commercial transactions. He holds an LLM in Taxation from the University of Miami

by Salcedo Attorneys at Law

At the beginning of this year, Congress passed a landmark piece of legislation, the Corporate Transparency Act (the “CTA”), which will require all new and existing companies organized under the laws of any of the 50 U.S. states to disclose to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) the following information related to their UBOs:

• Full legal name;
• Date of birth;
• Residential or business address;
• A unique identifying number from a U.S. or foreign passport or identification document issued by a state. Foreign UBOs will have to also provide a certified copy of their passport.

U.S. entities will have to update their UBO disclosure yearly. There are exceptions to the UBOs disclosure requirements for those entities deemed of low risk from a financial crimes perspective. These include entities with over 20 employees that reported over $5 million in revenue on their latest tax return, along with certain regulated entities that are already subject to disclosure requirements.

FinCEN will not make UBOs information public and, as a matter of fact, access to such information is strictly limited to law enforcement and bank compliance purposes. There are criminal penalties attached to the unauthorized disclosure of UBOs information.

Compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act will be required when the implementing regulations are adopted. Congress has established a deadline of one year for the Department of Treasury to issue such regulations. In April the FinCEN issued an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking and opened the door to public commenting for initial input on procedures and standards for reporting companies to submit information as to their beneficial owner as required by the CTA. In total, 241 comments were made by the commenting period expiration in May with comments heavily focused on what entities should be exempted and what entities fit into the definition of a “reporting company”.

In the meantime, as we continue to await developments, business owners should begin reviewing the CTA to determine whether their entity will qualify as a “reporting company” subject to its requirements. If so, then business owners will want to (i) begin gathering beneficial ownership information, (ii) review governance documents to confirm there are no confidentiality clauses or other obligations that will conflict with the requirements under CTA, (iii) consider revising governance documents to require owners to disclose the required information, and (iv) implement a process for meeting the CTA’s requirements.

Fabio Giallanza is a partner with Salcedo Attorneys at Law P.A. He focuses his practice in corporate and commercial transactions. He holds an LLM in Taxation from the University of Miami.

By Visa Business Plans

Visa Business Plans recently partnered with the Latin America and Caribbean Chapter (LACC) of the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) to present the “Righting the Ship – The Path Forward” conference held December 2-3 in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Marco Scanu, founder and CEO of Visa Business Plans, attended the event, which marked Visa Business Plan’s first face-to-face conference in nearly two years, and was delighted to be able to meet with friends in the business immigration world again.

Conference participants enjoyed presentations covering a variety of areas including what consular officers are really looking for, extraordinary ability and nationality interest visas, and post-COVID lessons, among other relevant topics.

Attendees benefited from various interactive presentations and panel discussions among some of the leading immigration lawyers and experts in the United States. They also made new connections with other professionals sharing the common goal of helping immigrants successfully navigate legal issues in the country.

The LACC addresses the needs of immigration attorneys whose work focuses on legal issues in the Latin America and Caribbean jurisdiction. Its mission is to educate, network, and create a cohesive membership throughout the jurisdiction.

Visa Business Plans, under Marco Scanu’s leadership, has been supporting AILA chapters worldwide since the company’s inception in 2010. Participating in these conferences allows Visa Business Plans to stay up-to-date on immigration trends that allows it to constantly adopt its business plans to make sure they cover the latest immigration requirements while remaining rock-solid to confront any challenge.

Marco Scanu is the founder of Visa Business Plans, a Miami-based boutique consulting firm. Visa Business Plans has composed over 6,000 business plans for visa seekers looking to enter the United States. Visa Business Plans also provides consulting services to businesses and entrepreneurs.