IF YOU CREATE OR ARE A BENEFICIARY OF A FOREIGN TRUST (AND MANY FOREIGN PENSION PLANS) YOU MUST REPORT TO THE IRS OR PAY PENALTIES

General Rules

A U.S. person includes a citizen of the United States, a domestic partnership, a domestic corporation, any estate other than a foreign estate, any trust if a U.S. person exercises primary supervision over the administration of the trust or if one or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust, and any person that is not a foreign person.

Tax consequences can apply to U.S. persons who are treated as owners of a foreign trust and U.S. persons treated as beneficiaries of a foreign trust, and to the foreign trust itself. There can be income tax as well as transfer tax consequences that should be considered.

In addition to tax consequences, there a number of information reporting rules that can apply to a U.S. person who enters into transactions with a foreign trust or is treated as an owner of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules of Internal Revenue Code (IRC) sections 671-679, including information reporting on Forms 3520 and 3520-A; on Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets; and on FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

This page focuses on information reporting requirements on Forms 3520 and 3520-A (under IRC section 6048), as well basic income tax considerations. 

Income Tax Consequences

• U.S. owner of a foreign trust - In general, a U.S. person who is treated as the owner of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules (IRC sections 671-679) is taxed on the income of that trust. IRC section 679 applies specifically in the context of foreign trusts and will treat as an owner of a foreign trust a U.S. person who transfers assets to a foreign trust which has or is presumed to have a U.S. beneficiary. Each U.S. owner of a foreign trust should receive a Foreign Grantor Trust Owner Statement (Form 3520-A, page 3) from the foreign trust, which includes information about the foreign trust income they must report.
   
• U.S. beneficiary of a foreign trust – In general, a U.S. beneficiary of a foreign non grantor trust will report its share of foreign trust income.  Depending on whether the U.S. beneficiary is a beneficiary of a grantor or non grantor trust, the beneficiary should receive a Foreign Grantor Trust Beneficiary Statement or a Foreign Non Grantor Trust Beneficiary Statement, which includes information about the taxability of distributions the beneficiary has received.
   
• U.S. transferor of assets to a foreign non grantor trust - IRC section 684 requires the recognition of gain on certain transfers of appreciated assets to a foreign trust by a U.S. person.

Information Reporting

Form 3520

In general, a Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts is required to be filed when a U.S. person:

• creates or transfers money or property to a foreign trust or makes a loan to a foreign trust;
• receives distributions from a foreign trust, receives the uncompensated use of property of a foreign trust, or receives a loan from a foreign trust;
• is treated as the U.S. owner of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules; and
• receives certain large gifts or bequests from foreign persons.

The instructions for Form 3520 include more information about:

1. who must file a Form 3520;
2. when and where the Form 3520 must be filed; and 
3. possible penalties for filing the Form 3520 late or filing incomplete or inaccurate information. 

See Form 3520 filing tips below. See also Gifts from Foreign Persons for information about reporting receipts of certain large gifts or bequests from certain foreign persons.

Form 3520-A

In addition to Form 3520, U.S. persons who are treated as owners of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules must ensure that the foreign trust timely files a complete and accurate Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust with a U.S. Owner , and furnishes the required annual statements to its U.S. owners and U.S. beneficiaries. If a foreign trust fails to file Form 3520-A, the U.S. owner must: 

1. complete and attach a substitute Form 3520-A to a timely filed Form 3520, and
2. furnish the required annual statements in order for the U.S. owner to avoid penalties for the foreign trust’s failure to file a Form 3520-A.

The instructions for Form 3520-A include more information about: 

1. who must file a Form 3520-A or ensure that a Form 3520-A is filed; 
2. when and where the Form 3520-A must be filed; and 
3. possible penalties for filing Form 3520-A late or filing incomplete or inaccurate information. The instructions for Form 3520-A and Form 3520 also provide information about filing a substitute Form 3520-A.

Exceptions to filing Forms 3520 and 3520-A

Forms 3520 and 3520-A are not required to be filed for Canadian registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and Canadian registered retirement income funds (RRIFs).  See Rev. Proc. 2014-55 (PDF). In addition, Forms 3520 and 3520-A are not required to be filed for certain tax-favored foreign retirement trusts or tax-favored foreign non-retirement savings trusts, provided that the U.S. owner is an “eligible individual” and the tax-favored foreign trust meets certain requirements. See Rev. Proc. 2020-17 (PDF).  Caution: These exceptions do not affect any reporting obligations that a U.S. person may have to report specified foreign financial assets on Form 8938 or any other reporting requirement, including the requirement to file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

Form 3520 and Form 3520-A filing tips to avoid penalties

• Form 3520
  • File Form 3520 by the 15th day of the fourth month following the end of the U.S. person’s tax year, or April 15th for calendar year taxpayers, subject to any extension of time to file that may apply. If you are a U.S. citizen or resident who lives outside the Unites States and Puerto Rico or if you are in the military or naval service on duty outside the United States and Puerto Rico, then the due date to file a Form 3520 is the 15th day of the 6th month following the end of the U.S. person’s tax year.
  • If an extension was filed with respect to your income tax return, be sure to check Form 3520, Box 1k, and enter the form number of the income tax return to avoid your Form 3520 being treated as filed late.
     
• Form 3520-A
  • File Form 3520-A using an Employer Identification Number (EIN) for the foreign trust on Line 1b of the form rather than the U.S. owner’s SSN or ITIN. If the foreign trust does not have an EIN, refer to How to Apply for an EIN.
  • File Form 3520-A by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the end of the trust’s tax year.  An automatic 6-month extension may be granted by filing Form 7004, Application for Automatic Extension of Time to File Certain Business Income Tax, Information and Other Returns. Form 7004 must be filed under the foreign trust’s EIN.
  • If the foreign trust will not file a Form 3520-A, the U.S. owner of the foreign trust must file a substitute Form 3520-A by completing a Form 3520-A to the best of their ability and attaching it to a timely filed Form 3520, including extensions (see Form 3520 and Form 3520-A instructions for more information on filing a substitute Form 3520-A). Do not separately file a duplicate Form 3520-A if you are filing a substitute 3520-A.

Other Possible Filing Requirements

Form 1040, Schedule B, Part III, Foreign Accounts and Trusts, must be completed if you receive a distribution from, or were grantor of, or a transferor to a foreign trust.

If you transfer money or property to a foreign trust, you may be required to file Form 709, United States Gift (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return.

A foreign trust, which is not taxed as a grantor trust, may be required to file a Form 1040-NR, U.S. Nonresident Alien Income Tax Return  to pay U.S. tax on certain U.S. sourced income. See Publication 519, U.S. Tax Guide for Aliens and the instructions for Form 1040-NR for additional information.

You may be required to file Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets, to report your specified foreign financial assets if the total value of all the specified foreign financial assets in which you have an interest is more than certain reporting thresholds.

If you have a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign financial account, including a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, or other type of foreign financial account, the Bank Secrecy Act may require you to report the account each year to the Internal Revenue Service by filing FinCEN Form 114 (formerly TD F 90-22.1), Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).

If you need tax assistance with respect to foreign trust and pension plans from US Attorney and CPAs with the knowledge and expertise on these matters email us HERE

IRS Simplifies Procedures for Favorable Tax Treatment on Canadian Retirement Plans and Annual Reporting Requirements

The Internal Revenue Service today made it easier for taxpayers who hold interests in either of two popular Canadian retirement plans to get favorable U.S. tax treatment and took additional steps to simplify procedures for U.S. taxpayers with these plans.

As part of this, the IRS provided retroactive relief to eligible taxpayers who failed to properly choose this benefit in the past. In addition, the IRS is eliminating a special annual reporting requirement that has long applied to taxpayers with these retirement plans.

Under this change, many Americans and Canadians with registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) and registered retirement income funds (RRIFs) now automatically qualify for tax deferral similar to that available to participants in U.S. individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans. In general, U.S. citizens and resident aliens qualify for this special treatment as long as they filed and continue to file U.S. returns for any year they held an interest in an RRSP or RRIF and include any distributions as income on their U.S. returns.

The change relates to a longstanding provision in the U.S.-Canada tax treaty that enables U.S. citizens and resident aliens to defer tax on income accruing in their RRSP or RRIF until it is distributed. Otherwise, U.S. tax is due each year on this income, even if it is not distributed.

In the past, however, taxpayers generally would get tax deferral by attachingForm 8891 to their return and choosing this tax treaty benefit, something many eligible taxpayers failed to do. Before today’s change, a primary way to correct this omission and retroactively obtain the treaty benefit was to request a private letter ruling from the IRS, a costly and often time-consuming process.

Many taxpayers also failed to comply with another requirement; namely that they file Form 8891 each year reporting details about each RRSP and RRIF, including contributions made, income earned and distributions made. This requirement applied regardless of whether they chose the special tax treatment. The IRS is eliminating Form 8891, and taxpayers are no longer required to file this form for any year, past or present.

The revenue procedure does not modify any other U.S. reporting requirements that may apply under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) and section 6038D. SeeFinCEN Form 114 due by June 30 of each year, and Form 8938 attached to a U.S. income tax return for more information about the reporting requirements under the BSA and section 6038D. Different reporting thresholds and special rules apply to each of these forms.

Further details on today’s change can be found in Revenue Procedure 2014-55, posted on IRS.gov.

Back to Top

IRS Crackdown on Canadian US Expatriates Described

The 2011 tax year may be a pivotal one for many U.S. citizens living abroad, including the roughly one million living in Canada, as the Internal Revenue Service moves towards enforcing reporting guidelines and compliance rules for its expatriates.

The United States requires all of its citizens file a tax return on global income regardless of where they live or for how long, even if no money is owed to the IRS. That applies to dual U.S.-Canadian citizens living here — even those who might have moved to Canada as a baby and never returned to their country of birth, let alone ever earned any income in the U.S.  READ MORE HERE IN CBC NEWS.

US IRS to go easy on American residents in Canada Per the Globe & Mail

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service is poised to waive potentially massive penalties for Americans who agree to come clean and don't owe any taxes, The Globe and Mail has learned.

The new rules will be announced within weeks by the IRS, according to David Jacobson, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, who has been swamped with complaints from anxious Canadians.

"What the IRS is saying here is that if ... you don't owe taxes to the U.S., and you file your return and they show you don't owe taxes, there aren't going to be any penalties for having filed late," Mr. Jacobson said in an interview Thursday.

Fears of a looming U.S. tax crackdown has caused a wave of angst among the roughly one million Americans living in Canada. Many of them long ago stopped filing, assuming they owed no tax.

READ MORE IN  THE GLOBE & MAIL ARTICLE HERE