The ownership of real estate is defined to be a business enterprise, and if the real estate is foreign-owned, it is a U.S. affiliate of a foreign person.
However, residential real estate held exclusively for personal use and not for profit-making purposes is not subject to the reporting requirements. A residence that is an owner's primary residence that is then leased by the owner while outside the United States, but which the owner intends to reoccupy, is considered real estate held for personal use and therefore not subject to the reporting requirements. Ownership of U.S. residential real estate by a corporation whose sole purpose is to hold the real estate for the personal use of the owner(s) of the corporation is real estate held for personal use and therefore not subject to the reporting requirements.
If you have been notified by BEA to file and the real estate owned meets the above requirements to be considered held for personal use, please complete the BE-12 Claim for Not Filing. All other foreign-owned real estate should be reported on Forms BE-12A, BE-12B or BE-12C. BE-12 forms are accepted through eFile at www.bea.gov/efile. In addition, fillable PDFs of the forms are available on BEA's website at www.bea.gov/be12.
If you were NOT notified by BEA to file a BE-12 survey, and you do NOT meet BE-12 filing requirements, no action is necessary.