Canadian buying and selling US vacant land on Internet

My question is: US-specific

QUESTION: I am a Canadian citizen and interested in purchasing land in the US and selling it on my website. I will not be living in the US, I will only buy and sell property and never live or build on the property myself. My question is, is this possible? Do I require a Visa or any specific documents? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Love the site.
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david ingram replies:

An interesting proposal. You do not need a specific visa. If you do go to the US to buy land, you would tell the Homeland security person at the airport or the border you were entering the US to buy a lot. They would admit you to the US as a business visitor and give you a 'B1' status.

When you sell, you must file a 1040NR and a state return to report the capital gain. You will be taxable in the US at full rates if held for less than 1 year and a reduced US rate if held for more than a year.

Next is a real problem though. Officially, if Canada accepts it as a capital gain, you will only receive credit for 1/2 of the tax you pay the US because that is Canada's official policy.

The reason is that the US taxes 100% of capital gains and Canada only taxes one half of the capital gain.

However, and of course, since you are stating that you are buying and selling land, Canada will consider you a trader and tax you at full rates which means that you will get credit for 100% of the tax paid to the US.

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