Can anyone recommend a CPA + a few key structuring questions

[Tomasz Andres]

Hi everyone! Canadian citizen here living in Ontario, Canada!

I'm looking to start i) buying rentals, and ii) doing real estate wholesaling in the United States but I'm a bit stuck on getting the initial US/Can structure set up.

I've heard many conflicting ideas, including some people saying I can't bypass the withholding tax with an ITIN and some people saying yes, different entity structures, etc.

I have a few questions for anyone who would be kind enough to answer!

1. Can you recommend a cross-border tax preparation person/company, maybe a CPA?
Hopefully, someone who's not crazy expensive since I'm just getting started, please! :)

2. What kind of structure should I do to be as tax-efficient as possible?
I've heard of setting up an LP holding company (LLC general partner at 1% and me limited partner at 99%).

3. If I get an ITIN number and file some IRS form, can I bypass the 30% IRS tax withholding?

4. Can you recommend a registered agent in Wyoming to use for the new entities in the US structure?

Looking forward to hearing from you guys, thanks so much!!

[Bruce Lynn]

You need to read the FIRTA regulations.   I know only the bare basics of this.  Also depends on what you buy and sell.  However you could very well be subject to withholding at the sale, which could be more than your profit.  As far as I understand this would apply even if you buy it in the name of a corporate entity if you are basically the holder of that entity as a non-US citizen/resident.

Personally I would forget about long distance flipping, no matter what you have heard, read, or seen in a seminar.  I think it is so tough for most wholesalers, I cannot imagine thinking you could do it long distance and in another country....unless you are super familiar with where you are buying, like you went to college there, so you know the city well, or grew up there before moving to Canada.   I mean I can count probably 10 making a living wholesalers in DFW.  There's probably 500 more that try and fail every year.  Maybe other cities are different.  Maybe you are different, but whatever you have heard I would guess the 10 making it work very very hard and take on a fair amount of risk.   Also just to give you an idea, investor title company told me the other day that 70% of the contracts they get from wholesalers fail to get all the way to closing.   I figured it was high, but that's higher than I expected.   So you have to make a lot more on that 30% to make up for all the ones that don't make it.

We probably need to know where you are planning to flip to recommend a CPA.  I'd get someone in the jurisdiction where your business activity is.  They can help you with the idea of tax efficiency, but if you are wholesaling, that's probably considered regular income so you're going to get whacked pretty hard.

You should listen to a recent podcast on wholesaling from Steve Davis at Total Wealth Academy.  Recorded in the last month.  I have no interest in that company, Steve probably has no clue as to who I am, so none of my skin in the game...but I think he gives some pretty good advice in that podcast.

Rentals and wholesaling two total different ballgames.  Rentals you can probably set up where you show no income and therefore no or minimal tax depending on where you buy on a yearly basis.  You pay the capital gains tax hopefully when you sell.  If you do have cash flow that you can't offset with expenses and depreciation then you may have to pay some tax on that.

Sorry I'm no help really on the Wyoming corp...Garrett Sutton one of the Kyosaki rich dad advisors can probably do it, but probably cheaper resources around.