Buying Florida Property Through an LLC

For most foreign buyers, an LLC is the sensible way to hold a Florida rental: the property, its tenants and its liabilities sit inside a company rather than in your own name. But an LLC changes less than people expect. It does not remove US tax on the rent or on the sale, it does not reliably keep the property out of a non-resident's US estate, and it does not exempt anyone from Florida's restrictions on buyers from certain countries.

Formation

Or a Corporation.

Built to raise capital, hire, and issue shares.

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01How does the purchase work?

In four steps, none of which requires you to be in Florida:

• Form the LLC and obtain its EIN.
• Open a US bank account in the LLC's name. The funds for closing should come from it.
• Take title in the LLC's name at closing, so the recorded deed shows the company as owner.
• If you finance, borrow in the LLC's name. Lenders to foreign nationals usually ask for a larger down payment and a personal guarantee, as we explain in how a foreign national gets a US mortgage.

Closing costs include Florida's documentary stamp tax on the deed: $0.70 per $100 of price, or in Miami-Dade $0.60 plus a $0.45 surtax unless the property is a single-family home. A mortgage adds $0.35 per $100 in stamp tax and a 0.2% intangible tax on the loan.

02Can I buy if I am from Venezuela, Cuba or China?

Florida's SB 264 restricts purchases by "foreign principals" from seven countries: China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Syria and, in the statute's words, "the Venezuelan regime of Nicolás Maduro." A foreign principal includes a person domiciled in one of those countries who is not a US citizen or permanent resident, and the definition extends to a company formed to own Florida property in which such a person holds a controlling interest. An LLC does not get around it.

• Agricultural land may not be acquired.
• Property within 10 miles of a military installation or critical infrastructure, such as an airport, seaport or power plant, may not be acquired, except one residential parcel of up to 2 acres more than 5 miles from a base, for a buyer holding a non-tourist visa or asylum.
• People domiciled in China are barred from Florida real property generally, with the same residential exception, and a buyer must register with the state within 30 days.

A federal appeals court declined to block the law in November 2025 and it remains in force. How the Venezuela wording will be applied as circumstances there change has not been settled, so a Venezuelan buyer, or an LLC with Venezuelan owners, should have the question reviewed before signing a contract rather than after.

03What taxes does the LLC pay on a rental?

Florida has no personal income tax, so the state does not tax the rent an individual owner receives through a single-member LLC. The United States does. A non-resident's US rental income is taxed at 30% of the gross rent, withheld at source, unless the owner elects to treat it as business income, in which case it is taxed at ordinary rates on the net, after expenses and depreciation. Most owners make the election. Rentals of six months or less also carry Florida sales tax and the county's tourist tax.

Property tax is assessed every year, and the LLC structure changes it in two ways. Property titled in an LLC gets no homestead exemption. And while increases in the assessed value of non-homestead property are capped at 10% a year, excluding school taxes, the cap resets when ownership or control changes, including control of the LLC that owns it. Amendment 3 on Florida's November 3, 2026 ballot would lower that cap to 5% from 2027 if voters approve it. Our overview of what taxes an LLC pays in Florida covers the rest of the state side.

Formation

Establish your LLC.

The flexible structure most founders choose, set up for your state.

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04What happens when the LLC sells?

When the owner of a single-member LLC is a foreign person, the IRS looks through the LLC and treats the owner as the seller. The buyer must generally withhold 15% of the gross price and send it to the IRS under FIRPTA. That is a prepayment, not the tax: the real tax is calculated on the gain in a US return, and any excess is refunded. When the buyer will live in the home, nothing is withheld on a price up to $300,000, and 10% is withheld up to $1 million. We explain the process in FIRPTA withholding for foreign investors.

05Does the LLC protect the property from US estate tax?

Not reliably. A non-resident's US estate is taxed above only $60,000 of US assets, and Florida real estate is plainly a US asset. The IRS has never ruled on whether a single-member LLC changes that, and the prevailing view among practitioners is that it does not: the property stays in the estate. We set out the rules in the $60,000 question, and the structures families use instead in US holding companies and succession.

What the LLC does well is the day-to-day: it keeps a tenant's claim inside the company, keeps the property's accounts apart from yours, and makes a future sale or a new partner a matter of company paperwork. Families with several properties often take that a step further with a series LLC.

Prodezk forms and maintains the LLCs behind our clients' Florida properties from our office in Miami, and coordinates the bank account, the tax filings and the closing team. If you are planning a purchase, begin here.