The sale closed months ago and the foreign seller still never received the stamped Form 8288-A. Can they still claim credit later?
I am helping a family member from Italy who sold U.S. property last year. The closing company says they filed everything, but the stamped Form 8288-A never showed up at the foreign address. Now the seller is preparing the U.S. return and is worried that without the stamped statement the IRS will not give credit for the tax withheld.
I understand the statement is the normal proof path, but I need to know how serious this is in practice and what records should be gathered now before the return is filed. We do not want to discover too late that the missing mailed copy created a bigger problem than anyone realized.
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