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[aj43]

Hi! i'm new here, not sure if this is the right forum to post this question. Here is my situation.

I have a property outside of United States which was given to me by my parents when i  was a teenager (25 years ago). My father rented it out and maintained it for years. I was fine with that.

As he became older my sibling took over and started to take the rental income a few years ago. I never received any rental income from this property and they never asked me if I need it/want it. I felt/feel uncomfortable having conversation around this topic. My question is

1) Is it better to let this continue numbers wise? 

I would like to receive the rental income -- it is equivalent to $110/month or $1320 per year now (likely to increase in the future). I have liabilities that I'd like to pay off. I am aware that I'll need to pay taxes on it if I receive it . 

2) If I were to start taking the rental income, is it better to have it deposited in a bank account overseas? or bank account in US? 

Anyone in this situation or have any thoughts?

Thanks.

[LudwigVan_fan]

This sounds a bit different to me...but, in my opinion:

1.  If you owned the property, the income was and is yours.  By your father and sibling "taking" it, you are either gifting it to them, or paying them a management fee.  You should be reporting the income and expenses related to this rental property.  You cannot "assign" income to someone else.

2.  Bank account...how do you receive the money?   Here in the U.S. or overseas?  If you currently don't have an overseas account, how do you get the money...or sibling get the money?   Part of that is business convenience.

However, if you do have signature over a foreign bank account...there is certain reporting that needs to be done.  First, on an income tax return, you have to answer yes to the question about a foreign account.  After that, depending on balance(s), there may be more reports that are required to be filed...and if they aren't, there are stiff penalties.

[aj43]

Thank a lot for your four response.

1. That makes sense - I plan to report both income and expense from now on. I wasn't aware of this before.

2. Father/sibling lives overseas so currently rent gets deposited into their bank account overseas.

I guess, it might be more convenient to have it deposited into my bank account here (instead of opening account overseas) once I start to handle both income and expense myself.