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Zhuhai
Feb 23, 2013, 11:07 AM
Hey, I bought a property right before I came to America in 2000, my parent had been living in there, but this year they decided to move back to their hometown. So I went back and sold the house. I came here as a student, then I found a job in 2003 after graduation, my employer started to apply me the green, in 2011 I got it. So I am still holding foreign passport, not u.s. citizen. When I was selling it abroad, I went through all the procedures there, paid taxes.
So now I want to transfer this money to USA, do I need to pay tax here?

AtlantaTaxExpert
Feb 23, 2013, 01:00 PM
You need to declare the sale of the house on Schedule D for the tax year when you sold the house (presumably 2012).

If you sold the house for a profit, you pay capital sales tax ONLY on the profit.

If you sold the house for a LOSS, the loss is NOT deductible, because the property in question is personal in nature, UNLESS you charged your parents rent and you carried the house as a rental property on your U.S. tax returns for the years you filed as a resident. In that case, the house is deemed a business property and you will report the sale on Form 4797.

If you believe that you will need professional help filing this year, this IS what I do. Please double-click on my name (Atlanta Tax Expert) above to access my profile. You will find my email address in the signature portion of the profile (scroll down to the BOTTOM of the page).