Hi Bigger Pockets community,

I have some high net worth friends in Greece that have expressed interest in investing in real estate in the states. I've found some tax law surrounding investors from the UK, Canada, Germany, and Asia but nothing on Greece specifically. Does anyone know of any requirements that would be specific to Greek nationals regarding investing in U.S. real estate? Any insight on requirements, optimal ways to structure a fund vehicle or one-off JV, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hi Chris, I structure some international investment deals for Asian clients. Are you looking for Greek tax law advice? 

Ronald,

Yes, insight as to how to structure an investment where the capital partners are high net worth individuals from Greece. 

@Chris A.

Most international investors do not want to go through the hassle of having to file a US tax return.

An international investor investing in real estate in the US, directly or indirectly through a partnership vehicle will require the international investor to apply for an ITIN and filing of a tax return.

However, if the international investors pool the money together and become shareholders in a corporation that ultimately invests in real estate(directly or indirectly through a partnership) will not require the international investors to file a US tax return. However, the downside of this is the Corporation will have to file a return.

Below is the US tax treaty between US and Greece. There may or may not be favorable consequences for Greece individuals investing in the United States.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-trty/greece.pdf

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I was having some issues as well. Being from France and working in the US (real estate), High net worth in Europe are terrified of filing anything in the US and they most likely will.

If they are OK and easier approach is structuring the investment as a loan. Most European countries have double tax treaty with the US (usually 15% taxed on both end for a total of 30%).

The upside you can pay out 6-7% and pocket the difference the downside you have to stick to a loan Fixed returns over a fix period of time.

Return are lower in Europe (so are loans) so we tried to simply borrow at 6-7% and do hard money loans for 10-12% great idea, little work. But almost everyone with money walked away after talking with their local advisors because: " Do you really want to be filed in the US for an extra 30-50K/year"...

Hi @Chris A. , do they want to own real estate or do they want to loan you money for you to invest in US real estate?

If it is the second, there’s something call “portfolio interest exemption” in the IRS code. Basically, foreign investors do not need to file or pay taxes in the US if certain criteria are met. Here’s a link that talks about it: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p515.pdf

I’m not a CPA or an attorney and I’m not giving legal or tax advice. Please, research if this is something that you can actually implement in your situation and with your investors. I haven’t done it myself yet, but I’m exploring the option as I also know some HNWI in Europe.