FIRPTA Is Easy—Until It Isn’t: Evaluating a Provider Equipped to Handle Whatever Arises
Over nearly two decades, we’ve learned that evaluating a FIRPTA services provider involves more than determining whether they can handle a routine transaction. The real measure is whether they have the experience, knowledge and breadth of services to handle whatever may arise along the way.
Your transaction should benefit from that experience—not be the experiment that creates it.
FIRPTA can be straightforward when everything goes according to plan. When it doesn’t, withholding issues, ITIN problems, exemptions, IRS correspondence, tax filings and difficult cases can quickly change the equation.
A FIRPTA transaction gone wrong anywhere along the line can result in problems, accusations and a nightmare directed at the closing agent—and, in many cases, the Realtors involved. Bad news travels fast. IRS penalty notices resulting from a botched FIRPTA withholding situation can involve substantial amounts, causing parties to panic and sometimes leading to threats of litigation.
That is why the capabilities of the FIRPTA provider matter.
When the FIRPTA provider is the paid preparer, they may be able to pursue and address issues involving the work they prepared. When they are not, the parties may need to engage an EA, CPA or other qualified third party, and IRS representation may require an approved Power of Attorney.
An ounce of prevention in choosing the right FIRPTA services provider can be worth a pound of cure when problems arise.
What Can Your FIRPTA Provider Actually Handle?
We’ve been told that FIRPTA Refunds’ comprehensive list of FIRPTA services reads like a wish list for parties involved in FIRPTA transactions. That breadth developed over nearly two decades of addressing the needs and problems that actually arise.
Our services are organized into four areas: Basic Services, Difficult Cases & IRS Matters, Post-Closing Services, and Additional Services.
Not every transaction needs extensive professional assistance. For example, when a closing agent already has the information necessary to prepare Forms 8288 and 8288-A and no additional assistance is required, we offer a very low-cost paid-preparer option designed to mitigate risk without adding unnecessary services or expense.
For everything else, parties can review our comprehensive Services page, see exactly what assistance is available, and contact us with any questions.
One Question Worth Asking
Nearly two decades and many hundreds of FIRPTA transactions expose a provider to an enormous range of circumstances—routine transactions, unusual situations, difficult cases, IRS problems and things that simply don't go according to plan.
So when evaluating a FIRPTA services provider, don't ask only:
“Can they handle this FIRPTA transaction?”
Also ask:
“Can they handle whatever this FIRPTA transaction becomes?”
FIRPTA is easy—until it isn’t.
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