Mexican families are the largest foreign buyer group in Miami preconstruction in many buildings. The structure question is what separates a good purchase from a costly one.
Written for readers in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara and beyond. The desk works in Spanish and English, and partners with advisors in Mexico City. All notes from the desk.
Miami has become the second city for a great many Mexican families, and the purchase is rarely the hard part. The hard part is done before the contract: deciding how the residence will be held, so that it works for the family for a generation and not just for the closing.
A Mexican citizen can own Florida property directly, through a Florida limited liability company, through a Mexican entity, or through a combination. Each choice changes three things: privacy, since Florida property records are public; liability; and, decisively, U.S. estate tax treatment.
A single-member LLC is usually transparent for U.S. tax and does not by itself change the estate picture. Structures that do change it exist and are common among Mexican families with U.S. property, but they carry their own costs and Mexican reporting consequences. This is a conversation for U.S. counsel who works with Mexican clients, and the desk makes that introduction before contract.
A non-resident of the United States who dies holding U.S. real estate in personal name can face federal estate tax on that asset above a very low exemption for non-residents. Mexico and the United States do not have an estate tax treaty. For a family buying a Miami residence, this is the single most important planning point, and the reason the structure decision comes first.
It is solvable in advance and expensive to solve afterward. Any sales office that does not raise it is leaving you to find it later.
Deposits are paid in dollars on the developer's schedule, over two to four years. Transfers from Mexican banks to U.S. banks are routine; the receiving bank will ask about source of funds, and a clean paper trail from the start keeps every deposit simple.
Many Mexican buyers already hold dollar accounts in the U.S. If you do not, open one at contract. The desk maps the developer's deposit schedule against your currency plan so each payment is decided in advance rather than at the deadline.
Your situation is specific. Tell the desk in one message and we will say what applies to you, what does not, and who to speak with.
If the residence is rented, the income is U.S. source and taxed in the United States; a non-resident files a U.S. return and can elect net-basis taxation. Mexico taxes its residents on worldwide income, with a credit for U.S. tax paid under the treaty. Your Mexican contador and a U.S. preparer need to work from the same facts.
For a residence used by the family and not rented, the U.S. filing is minimal, but the estate question above still applies.
On a sale by a foreign owner, the buyer withholds a percentage of the price and remits it to the IRS as a prepayment of the seller's tax. The seller files and recovers any excess. It is a timing event rather than an extra tax, and it should be built into the plan from the beginning.
Brickell and downtown for the family with business in the city; 619 Brickell by Nobu is the current reference. Key Biscayne and Coral Gables for families relocating with children. On the beach, Bal Harbour, Surfside and Sunny Isles have long been Mexican addresses; Rivage and Ocean Terrace are the two the desk is asked about most this season.
The desk's partners in Mexico City can hold this conversation in person, in Spanish, before anyone flies to Miami.
Which structure, and which attorney. How the deposit schedule maps to pesos. Whether the residence will be rented, used by the family, or both, because that changes the answer. And for any building, which floor plans earn their premium, the analysis held at the desk.
Your situation is specific. Tell the desk in one message and we will say what applies to you, what does not, and who to speak with.
This note is general information for people considering Miami, written by a real estate desk, not by a law or accounting firm. Nothing here is legal, tax, immigration or investment advice, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own circumstances. Rules change, treaties differ by country, and the right answer for one family is the wrong answer for another.
Speak with your own attorney and CPA before you commit to anything. If you do not have one who works with international buyers in Florida, the desk is glad to recommend an attorney, a CPA or an adviser suited to your situation, and to sit in the first conversation so that nothing is lost in translation.
Structure, financing, currency, timing, the right building and the right line: the desk works through these questions with international buyers every week, and the answer is nearly always that it can be done, in order, without surprises. If Miami is on your mind, as a home or as an allocation, we would be glad to share what we are seeing, privately, and to start with the question this note did not answer.