Buying a land / Not a dual citizen yet

Since you are naturalized in the US. You have to be a dual citizen to buy land. The process is straightforward and can be done in the US at the Philippine Embassy

Hi my name is Mareeya. I'm a filipina married to an American. I am already a US citizen. My husband and I are currently in the process of buying some land right next to my Mom's house in the Philippines and are wondering if there is way to write this off as a business expense if we rent it out for small store fronts? Could we travel there to check on our property for a business expense? I hope somebody will help me throught it. Please help me do this the correct way to avoid any trouble.

I am not a dual citizen yet.
Is it better to be a dual citizen?

-@jamieloyd143

Former President William Clinton wrote off his Skivvies, for real.

Myself, my itemized deductions never approached the standard deductions allowed by the IRS. You can't take the standard deduction if you itemize your deductions.

Also if you want to itemize it, you can only write off the percentage which is actually used for business purposes.

So it's best to compare the standard deduction versus itemized deductions. The standard deduction is adjusted for inflation and is larger if you're over 65.

The standard deduction saves a lot of paperwork and time and is simple not requiring a tax professional.

You have to be a dual citizen to buy land.
-@Filamretire

Incorrect! Sorry but it important that we do not mislead people here on important matters like this. My wife is an ex Filipina naturalized US citizen and she owns 2 house and lots here, ie land. Philippine law permits ex citizens to own a limited amount of land and it actually is quite a bit. The titles were made in her name after her US naturalization. As part of the titling process, they did check that she was within the lot area limits for ex Filipino land ownership. You can check this out by simply Googling. This is well known; you could also ask any licensed realtor or attorney. I am not sure where you received this information.

@Filamretire. I hate to disagree, but.. you are not entirely correct. My wife is a naturalized US citizen, not yet a dual citizen, and she is allowed to purchase land. The main difference is that a non dual citizen can still buy land but is only allowed to buy up to a certain sqm size. A dual citizen who reaquires PH citizenship can buy a larger size lot. Me n my wife are currently trying to buy a residential lot in Cagayan De Oro for purpose of someday building a house in future.

Hi my name is Mareeya. I'm a filipina married to an American. I am already a US citizen. My husband and I are currently in the process of buying some land right next to my Mom's house in the Philippines and are wondering if there is way to write this off as a business expense if we rent it out for small store fronts? Could we travel there to check on our property for a business expense? I hope somebody will help me throught it. Please help me do this the correct way to avoid any trouble.

I am not a dual citizen yet.
Is it better to be a dual citizen?

-@jamieloyd143

As a US citizen you will need to report income on all of your global income.  If the land you rent is used by other, non-related people, then the expenses to maintain the land,  including real estate taxes,    are business expenses to be taken as rental expenses on a schedule E where the rents collected will be reported as revenue.  Any structure built on the land by the landlord for rental purposes can be written  off over their useful lives.  Traveling to the Philippines  to look in on your business would not be allowed, but you could deduct a fee paid to someone in the Philippines  to act as your rental agent, collect rents, pay expenses etc.

@Harbred6051 I actually agree with your corrected statement but in your first statement you said that a US naturalized person had to be a dual citizen to buy land (wrong(. Also, I did indicate that there were limitations on lot size when ex citizens do this. It is important to correct statements such as the one you made because people check these forums for advice.

A person naturalized in the US (& thus loses PH citizenship as a result) can still buy land in the PH...just a smaller size tract. Thus you are correct. If I had made any statement to the contrary then I'm mistaken. One who reaquires their PH citizenship is allowed to buy a larger size lot. 

@Harbred6051 I agree.

@danfinn ok thanks for the heads up, was tribal knowledge of Filipina wife. She became a dual national. I was rash posting the info, a quick google search confirmed. I will be more diligent in future posts