Sold property in Bulgaria/Overseas

[Hectoradam]

I have a customer that inherited a land in Bulgaria 32 years ago. At that time he built a house that he used to live there until 1998 when he migrated to the US. During this time his parents were living in the house. His father died a few years ago and his mother just died in 2022. He sold his property in November 2022 for 220,000 euros. He does not have any records of how much he spent building the house and does not remember how much he paid to build it. I asked customer to try and find out the value of the property 32 years ago. I also asked the customer to give me detailed information of all the cost and taxes paid to sell the property in Bulgaria.

Customer did not have a bank account in Bulgaria until he sold his property. He then opened a bank account in Bulgaria to receive the money from the sale of the property and transfer the money to his account in the US. 

My questions are:

1. Does he need to file FBAR
2. When reporting capital gain on the sale of the property on his 1040 do i report it in form 4797 or schedule D?

       Any other helpful information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

[sjrcpa]

1. Yes. And maybe Form 8938.

2. Schedule D/Form 8949.

[Terry53029]

A FBAR is required if he had over $10000 any time during the year in a foreign bank. Yes capital gains would be reported on schedule D unless he used the property as a rental. Good luck finding the value 32 years ago. I assume he is a US citizen or resident alien. 

[Murtaza_Ismail_CPA]

Regarding Form 8938, per IRS Website:

Does foreign real estate need to be reported on Form 8938?

Foreign real estate is not a specified foreign financial asset required to be reported on Form 8938.  For example, a personal residence or a rental property does not have to be reported.

If the real estate is held through a foreign entity, such as a corporation, partnership, trust or estate, then the interest in the entity is a specified foreign financial asset that is reported on Form 8938, if the total value of all your specified foreign financial assets is greater than the reporting threshold that applies to you.  The value of the real estate held by the entity is taken into account in determining the value of the interest in the entity to be reported on Form 8938, but the real estate itself is not separately reported on Form 8938.