To transfer money to buy property overseas, you gather the seller’s exact banking details, pick a transfer channel that fits the size and timing of your purchase, verify every wiring instruction by phone before sending, and prepare for the federal reports the transfer will trigger. A single wire for a foreign property closing usually runs into six figures, so the exchange rate you accept, the fee code you choose, and the fraud checks you run all shape how much money actually reaches the seller and how cleanly the transaction sits with U.S. regulators.
What You Need From the Seller Before You Send Anything
The purchase contract or the escrow instructions from the foreign notary or attorney handling the closing carry most of the numbers you need. Before you touch your bank’s wire form, collect the following:
- The beneficiary’s full legal name as it appears on their bank records, and their verified residential or business address.
- The full name of the receiving bank and the specific branch that holds the account.
- The SWIFT/BIC code that identifies the receiving bank in the global network.
- The IBAN, up to 34 characters, required across Europe, the Middle East, and many other regions.
- The Purpose of Payment code the foreign bank uses to classify the incoming funds for its local regulators. For a property purchase, the code tells the receiving bank the transfer is a capital investment, not a commercial payment or gift.
One wrong character in a SWIFT code or IBAN can drop your funds into a suspense account, and pulling them back takes weeks and reclamation fees. Confirm every detail with the seller’s bank or the closing attorney directly. Never rely on details that arrived only by email.
Bank Wire or FX Broker
Your existing bank is the most straightforward channel. You start the wire from your checking or savings account online or at a branch. The cost is in the exchange rate. Banks typically mark up the mid-market rate by 1% to 5%, depending on the currency and the amount. On a $300,000 purchase, a 2% markup quietly costs you $6,000 on top of the flat wire fee, which at major banks generally runs $30 to $65.
Foreign exchange brokers do currency conversion as their core business and usually offer spreads well under 1%. They also give you tools banks generally don’t:
- Spot contracts, which convert at the current market rate for near-immediate delivery.
- Forward contracts, which lock in today’s rate for a future closing date and protect the purchase price from currency swings. A forward typically requires a deposit of 5% to 10% of the contract value, applied to the final payment at maturity.
- Limit orders, which execute automatically if the market reaches your target rate before your deadline.
With a broker you send domestic funds by local wire to the broker’s account, and the broker sends the foreign currency to the seller. One extra step, potentially several thousand dollars of savings on a large closing.
Fee Codes: OUR, SHA, and BEN
When you set up the wire, you pick a fee instruction code that decides who absorbs the charges intermediary banks take along the payment chain.
- OUR: you pay all fees, including intermediary bank charges, and the seller receives the full contract amount.
- SHA: you pay the sending bank’s fee, and the recipient covers intermediary and receiving bank fees, so the seller may see slightly less than expected.
- BEN: the recipient pays all fees, meaning multiple deductions come out of the transfer before it lands.
For a real estate closing, OUR is usually the right pick because it avoids a shortfall dispute at settlement. Check your purchase contract, which may specify the code to use.
How to Avoid Wire Fraud at Closing
Real estate wire fraud is the single biggest risk in the whole process. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported more than $173 million in losses from real estate fraud in 2024, with business email compromise the most common attack pattern.1IC3. 2024 IC3 Annual Report The scheme is consistent: criminals compromise a real estate agent’s, attorney’s, or title company’s email, watch the transaction, and just before closing send fraudulent wiring instructions from an address that looks nearly identical to the legitimate one.2IC3. Business Email Compromise – The $50 Billion Scam
Three habits cut the risk sharply:
- Get wiring instructions in person or by phone. If they arrive by email, call the attorney or escrow agent at a number you already have on file, not one from the email, and read every detail back before sending.
- Watch for last-minute changes. A request to switch the receiving account or move from a check to a wire close to closing day is the hallmark of a compromised inbox. Verify any such change through a separate channel before acting on it.
- Send a small test wire first if the timing allows, and confirm with the recipient that it landed in the correct account before you send the full amount.
If you suspect you have wired funds to a fraudulent account, call your bank immediately to request a recall and file a complaint at ic3.gov. Speed decides whether the funds can still be frozen.
Reports That Get Filed Automatically
Any transfer over $10,000 triggers a Currency Transaction Report that your bank files with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network under the Bank Secrecy Act.3FinCEN. The Bank Secrecy Act The bank handles the filing. You don’t have to do anything.
Do not try to sidestep the report by splitting one transfer into several smaller ones. Federal law makes it a crime to structure transactions to evade reporting, and prosecutors can bring charges even when the money itself is entirely clean.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5324 – Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirement Prohibited Bank compliance staff are trained to spot just-under-threshold patterns, and a structuring flag creates far worse problems than a routine CTR ever would.
Expect your bank to ask for source-of-funds documentation on a large outgoing transfer: recent statements, tax returns, or records from a prior asset sale. Reply quickly and the wire stays on schedule. Willful failures to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act’s reporting rules carry substantial civil penalties, with separate penalties for foreign account reporting failures.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5321 – Civil Penalties
Sanctions Screening Before You Send
You are legally required to make sure your recipient is not on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons list before sending funds abroad. The Office of Foreign Assets Control keeps a free, searchable database. Run the seller’s name, any related entities, and the receiving bank through it.6U.S. Department of the Treasury. Sanctions List Search Your bank runs its own screen, but personal due diligence adds a layer.
OFAC rules apply to all U.S. persons wherever the transaction takes place. Civil penalties for violations can reach $250,000 per transaction or twice the transaction amount, whichever is greater.7FFIEC. BSA/AML Manual – Office of Foreign Assets Control If the seller, the seller’s company, or the country where the property sits appears on any sanctions list, stop and consult a sanctions attorney before going further.
Sending and Tracking the Wire
You can start the international wire through your bank’s online platform or in person at a branch. Online transfers require multi-factor authentication. Branch transfers involve signing a wire authorization form that acts as your legal instruction to the bank. If the wire needs to go out the same business day, submit it well before your bank’s cutoff. The Fedwire system that handles the domestic leg of many international transfers stops accepting third-party transfers at 6:45 p.m. ET on business days.8Federal Reserve Board. Fedwire Funds Services – Data and Additional Information
Once processed, the bank gives you an MT103 confirmation, the standardized SWIFT payment message that acts as your receipt. Every MT103 carries a Unique End-to-End Transaction Reference, a tracking identifier that follows the payment through each bank in the chain.9Swift. What Is a Unique End-to-End Transaction Reference (UETR)? Keep the document. If the seller reports a delay, sharing the MT103 with their bank helps them locate the funds.
International wires typically settle within one to five business days, depending on time zone, the currency pair, and how many correspondent banks are in the chain. Each intermediary bank in the chain may deduct a small fee unless you chose the OUR fee code. If funds have not arrived within the expected window, request a trace from your sending bank using the UETR number.
Tax Filings the Purchase Triggers
Buying property abroad often creates annual filing duties that continue for as long as you hold foreign accounts or assets. Missing them draws steep penalties even in years when you owe no additional tax.
FBAR (FinCEN Form 114)
If the combined value of all your foreign financial accounts, including any account opened to handle the property purchase, exceeds $10,000 at any point during the calendar year, you have to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.10Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) The FBAR goes to FinCEN, not the IRS, through the BSA E-Filing System. The annual deadline is April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15 that requires no separate request.11FinCEN. Due Date for FBARs Non-willful violations carry a penalty of up to $16,536 per report in 2026, and willful violations can reach the greater of $100,000 or 50% of the account balance at the time of the violation.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5321 – Civil Penalties
Form 8938 (FATCA)
Separately from the FBAR, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act requires Form 8938 with your income tax return if your foreign financial assets pass certain thresholds. For taxpayers living in the United States:12Internal Revenue Service. Do I Need to File Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
- Single or married filing separately: foreign asset value over $50,000 on the last day of the tax year, or over $75,000 at any time during the year.
- Married filing jointly: over $100,000 on the last day of the year, or over $150,000 at any time during the year.
Living outside the United States raises the thresholds significantly, to $200,000/$300,000 for single filers and $400,000/$600,000 for joint filers.13Internal Revenue Service. Comparison of Form 8938 and FBAR Requirements Form 8938 goes to the IRS with your return; the FBAR goes to FinCEN. You may need to file both if you meet both sets of thresholds.
Form 3520 and Form 926
If a foreign individual or estate contributes more than $100,000 toward your purchase in a given tax year, for example a gift from a family member abroad, report it on Form 3520.14Internal Revenue Service. Large Gifts or Bequests From Foreign Persons Gifts from foreign corporations or partnerships carry a lower threshold that adjusts annually for inflation; it was $20,116 for 2025. Each gift over $5,000 must be separately identified on the form.
If you buy through a foreign corporation and transfer more than $100,000 in cash to it, or acquire at least 10% ownership, you also file Form 926 with your income tax return.15Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 926 Both forms carry substantial penalties for late or missed filings. If your purchase involves foreign entities or gifts from non-U.S. persons, run the structure by a tax professional before closing.