---
title: "Screen a buyer for a state surcharge the statute has not supplied"
url: "https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/work-out-surcharge-purchaser-duty-for-a-foreign-buyer/united-states"
type: "task_jurisdiction_version"
site: "AI Law Framework"
id: "A9-O20261018-1-US"
practice_area: "Residential Conveyancing & Property"
tier: "yellow"
lawyer_review: "required"
jurisdictions: ["US"]
last_reviewed: "2026-10-22"
---

# Screen a buyer for a state surcharge the statute has not supplied

> List how the file describes the buyer and the price the contract states. Do not compute a surcharge and do not compute withholding.

Canonical page: https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/work-out-surcharge-purchaser-duty-for-a-foreign-buyer/united-states  
Last reviewed: 2026-10-22

Site index for agents: https://ailawframework.com/llms.txt

## Key facts

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Practice area | [Residential Conveyancing & Property](https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property.md) |
| Human involvement | Yellow: Lawyer and AI draft together |
| How AI is used | List how the file describes the buyer and the price the contract states. Do not compute a surcharge and do not compute withholding. |
| What the lawyer must review | You decide whether any state surcharge applies. No state foreign-buyer surcharge was opened. Section 1445(a) requires withholding of 15 percent of the amount realized on a disposition of a United States real property interest by a foreign person, except as the section provides. Subsection (b)(5) applies where the transferee acquires the property for use as a residence and the amount realized does not exceed $300,000. Subsection (c)(4) substitutes 10 percent where the property is acquired for use as a residence, the amount realized does not exceed $1,000,000, and subsection (b)(5) does not apply. That is federal withholding on a disposition. It is not a state surcharge on the purchase, and it is not an annual tax. You read the other exceptions in subsection (b) before you apply subsection (a). The definition of foreign person was not opened as its own page. You do not apply that label from the file alone. The IRS page names Forms 8288 and 8288-A. |
| Written for | United States |
| Applies to | [Work out surcharge purchaser duty for a foreign buyer](https://ailawframework.com/practice/residential-conveyancing-and-property/work-out-surcharge-purchaser-duty-for-a-foreign-buyer.md) |

## Checking plan

- What the AI does: List how the file describes the buyer and the price the contract states. Do not compute a surcharge and do not compute withholding.
- Basis: Checked against the linked sources on 22 October 2026. Confirm the current instrument before reliance.

## Notes

- Do not call § 1445 a purchaser surcharge. It withholds on the seller's disposition.
- Read subsection (b) before you tell the client that 15 percent is due.

## Sources

- [26 U.S.C. § 1445 (withholding of tax on dispositions of United States real property interests)](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/1445) (checked 2026-10-22)
- [IRS, FIRPTA withholding](https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/firpta-withholding) (checked 2026-10-22)
- [ABA Formal Opinion 512, Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools (29 July 2024)](https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/professional_responsibility/ethics-opinions/aba-formal-opinion-512.pdf) (checked 2026-10-22)

## Forms and precedents for this task

| Form or precedent | Kind | AI level | Summary |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [Victorian foreign purchaser additional duty worksheet](https://ailawframework.com/precedents/residential-conveyancing-and-property/vic-foreign-purchaser-additional-duty.md) | Checklist | Yellow | A worksheet for whether Victorian foreign purchaser additional duty applies, at the 8 per cent rate the State Revenue Office states for arrangements on or after 1 July 2019, and how it is added to… |

Signed-in accounts can read the full text of each one.

*Practice guidance for planning and review. Confirm current primary sources and the requirements of the actual matter. This is general information, not legal advice.*