Tax in the United States
See what the United States's tax rules do to your property portfolio.
What Freeholt models for property, income and retirement in the United States, and what it does not.
Free to start. No card. Rules reviewed 22 August 2026.
Modelled here
- Tax on rental income
- Capital gains on a sale
- Duty on purchase (approximate)
- Annual property or land tax
- Income tax beyond the rent
- Dividends, interest and share sales
- Retirement savings
USD · Rates as at 22 August 2026 · Rates editable in Settings · Estimates, not advice
Residents pay tax on net rental income (after a depreciation deduction) at graduated rates. Non residents face 30% withholding on gross rent unless they elect to be taxed on net income; FIRPTA also withholds ~15% on sale.
How rental income is taxed in the United States
For a resident owner: Progressive rates from 10% to 37%, stacked on other income in this country. The top rate of 37% applies above $640,600. For an owner living abroad and renting this out: Tax is withheld at source at 30% of the gross rent, before any costs.
Interest and losses
Mortgage interest is deductible against the rent. A rental loss is ring fenced: it carries forward against future rental income rather than reducing other income now.
Capital gains on a sale
Gains are added to income and taxed at the marginal income rate. A 3.8% surtax applies to the part of the gain above $200,000, measured after other income in this country. 15% of the SALE PRICE is withheld at settlement from a non resident seller. It is a credit against the bill, not an extra tax, but it is cash the seller does not get on the day.
Annual property tax while holding
About 1.1% a year on the property value.
What it costs to buy
Purchase duty here is more than a single rate, and Freeholt prices the published rules rather than an average. No federal purchase tax; state/local transfer taxes are generally low (often under ~1 to 2%).
Income tax in the United States, beyond the rent
Progressive, up to 37%. The bands run Up to 12,400 at 10%; 12,400 to 50,400 at 12%; 50,400 to 105,700 at 22%; 105,700 to 201,775 at 24%; 201,775 to 256,225 at 32%; 256,225 to 640,600 at 35%; Above 640,600 at 37%. Rental profit joins this ladder. The figures here are shown for a single filer; filing jointly can change the bands or the allowance. Figures in USD, as verified 29 August 2026.
Dividends, interest and share sales
How the United States taxes investment income. For dividends: Own rate ladder: 0% / 15% / 20%. An extra 3.8% applies above a high income threshold. For interest: Taxed at the marginal income rate. An extra 3.8% applies above a high income threshold. For share sale gains: Own rate ladder: 0% / 15% / 20%. An extra 3.8% applies above a high income threshold. Tax free accounts worth knowing about: Roth IRA / Roth 401(k).
Pensions and retirement savings
EET. Deductible in, taxed out. Contributions come off taxable income. Capped at 24,500 a year. Growth inside the fund is untaxed. Withdrawals can start from age 59.5. The rest is taxed as income. Drawing before 59.5 adds a 10% penalty.
How Freeholt models the United States
Every rate above is priced from Freeholt's own table for the United States and runs through the whole projection: rental income, a modelled sale and the annual holding costs all use the same figures. They are also defaults that can be edited in Settings, so a position that differs, or a rate that changes before we catch it, can be corrected and the projection reprices around it.
What running this property costs
In the US this covers property tax (~1.1% of value), any HOA/condo dues, landlord insurance, ~8 to 10% management, and maintenance.
How borrowing works here
The 30 year fixed rate principal & interest mortgage is standard; investment loans need a larger (~20 to 25%) deposit.
What actually happened here
This country's own record, one year at a time. Nothing on this page is borrowed from another country. Move across a chart to read a year.
A city measure, not the whole country.
A city measure, not the whole country.
Recent rule changes in the United States
- 1988-11-10 ESTATE TAX IS THE BIG UNMODELLED EXPOSURE HERE. A non domiciled owner of US real property gets an exemption of only USD 60,000 against US situs assets, versus USD 15,000,000 for a citizen or domiciliary, with rates from 18% to 40% and Form 706 NA due within 9 months of death. Domicile is an intent based test, entirely separate from the day count test that decides income tax residency, so a person can be one and not the other. Nestworth does not price this.
- 2026-01-01 OBBBA made the TCJA rate structure permanent and set the citizen estate exclusion at USD 15,000,000, indexed. The NIIT thresholds and the USD 60,000 non domiciliary exemption are statutory and NOT indexed, so they tighten in real terms every year.
What Freeholt models here
- ModelledTax on rental income
- Resident and non resident rates, with interest and losses treated under the local rule.
- ModelledCapital gains on a sale
- Priced in the year of the sale under the rules of that year.
- ApproximateDuty on purchase
- The published scale is priced from the rules in force, which differ by band and are summarised here.
- ModelledAnnual property or land tax
- Charged every year the property is held.
- ModelledIncome tax beyond the rent
- Salary and other income, stacked with the rent.
- ModelledDividends, interest and share sales
- Investment income and gains, with the local allowances.
- ModelledRetirement savings
- Contributions, the fund and the way out.
- Not yetInheritance and what happens on death
- Not modelled for this country yet.
What Freeholt does not model here
- Inheritance and estate tax
- Local property taxes and transfer taxes below the national level, which vary by state, province and county
- Treaty relief between this country and the owner's country of residence
What the figures above leave out (13)
- The standard deduction here is the 2025 figure. The IRS indexes it every year, so 2026's is a little higher and the tax slightly overstated.
- The married filing jointly bands are derived from the single ones rather than sourced directly.
- A US non resident is charged the 30% withholding on gross. They may instead elect to be taxed on a net basis at graduated rates, and that election is not modelled.
- Federal tax only. State income tax is not included; it ranges from nothing to over 13%.
- The income used for the 3.8% investment surtax is approximated.
- Federal tax only. State tax on investment income is not included; several states charge nothing, while California taxes capital gains as ordinary income at up to 13.3%. So outside a state with no income tax the real bill is higher, by an amount that can exceed the whole federal preferential rate.
- Every US dividend is assumed qualified. A non qualified one (a REIT distribution, most bond fund income, shares held only briefly) is ordinary income and is understated here by up to 17 percentage points.
- The 0%, 15% and 20% breakpoints for long term gains and qualified dividends are the single filer's, $49,450 and $545,500 for 2026, and are applied to a married couple filing jointly as well. A joint filer's 0% band is roughly twice as wide, so a joint filer's gains tax is overstated; the joint breakpoints are not a clean doubling and have not been sourced, which is why they are not derived. The 3.8% surtax thresholds, by contrast, are applied per filing status.
- Only the traditional 401(k) is modelled. A Roth (after tax in, tax free out) is its mirror and is not priced separately.
- The $24,500 contribution cap shown is the base 2026 limit. From age 50 a further $8,000 may be deferred, and $11,250 instead in the years from 60 to 63. Neither is added here, so for anyone 50 or over the cap is understated and the relief a full catch up contribution would earn is not shown.
- The $24,500 cap shown is the limit on what the employee personally defers into a 401(k). A separate section 415(c) limit of $72,000 for 2026 caps the employee's money and the employer's combined, per plan, and is not applied, so a plan with large employer contributions can be shown as within limits when it is not. The relief on the employee's own contribution is unaffected.
- A withdrawal before 59½ is charged the 10% additional tax without exception. The law waives it in several cases (disability, disaster recovery, domestic abuse, a first home, substantially equal periodic payments and others), none of which is tested, so an early withdrawal that qualifies for one is overstated by that 10%.
- Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are the withdrawals US law forces from a traditional 401(k) or IRA each year from age 73 (75 for anyone born in 1960 or later), the prior year end balance divided by an IRS life expectancy factor, and they are not modelled. A projection past 73 leaves money compounding untaxed that the law would have forced out, so the pot is overstated and the tax in later retirement understated; the 25% excise tax on a missed RMD is not priced either.
Coverage deepens country by country. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
Compare with another country
Each page is built from the same table the app runs on, so the figures line up side by side.
Compare the United States with another country — rent, gains, annual tax and duty, side by side.
Questions people ask
- Does Freeholt model United States property tax?
- Yes. Rental income tax, capital gains on a sale, duty on purchase and annual property or land tax are priced from Freeholt's own rate table for the United States. Duty on purchase carries a simplification that the page names beside the figure. Any rate or threshold can be corrected in Settings so the whole projection reprices. Every figure is an estimate, not advice.
- How is rental income from the United States taxed if I live somewhere else?
- Tax is withheld at source at 30% of the gross rent, before any costs. Tax may also be due in the country of residence, with credit for what was paid here. Estimates only, not advice.
- What are the United States figures as at?
- The rate table for the United States was last reviewed on 22 August 2026. Freeholt date stamps every country rather than implying all of them were checked on the same day. Estimates only, not advice.
Model a property in the United States alongside everything else you own: see the year your portfolio starts paying you back.