Legislation is currently being drafted in the U.S. Congress that would increase the foreign ownership threshold in a real estate investment trust (REIT) before the stock is considered a U.S. real property interest under the 1980 Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act. The bill, the Real Estate Investment and Jobs Act of 2014, increases the ownership threshold from 5% to 10% of the stock in a REIT. Qualified shareholders with stock holdings in a publically traded REIT not exceeding the threshold will be exempt from FIRPTA tax when the stock is sold. The bill is a revision of a...