General Instructions

Purpose of Form

U.S. persons file Form 3520 to report:

• Certain transactions with foreign trusts and
• Receipt of certain large gifts or bequests from certain foreign persons.

A separate Form 3520 must be filed for transactions with each foreign trust.

Who Must File

File Form 3520 if:

1. You are the responsible party for reporting a reportable event that occurred during the current tax year, or you held an outstanding obligation of a related foreign trust (or a person related to the trust) that you treated as a qualified obligation during the current tax year. Responsible party, reportable event, and qualified obligation are defined on pages 3 and 4.

   Complete the identifying information on page 1 of the form and the relevant portions of Part I. See the instructions for Part I.

2. You are a U.S. person who, during the current tax year, is treated as the owner of any part of the assets of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules.

   Complete the identifying information on page 1 of the form and Part II. See the instructions for Part II.

3. You are a U.S. person who received (directly or indirectly) a distribution from a foreign trust during the current tax year or a related foreign trust held an outstanding obligation issued by you (or a person related to you) that you treated as a qualified obligation (defined on page 3) during the current tax year.

   Complete the identifying information on page 1 of the form and Part III. See the instructions for Part III.

4. You are a U.S. person who, during the current tax year, received either:
   1. More than $100,000 from a nonresident alien individual or a foreign estate (including foreign persons related to that nonresident alien individual or foreign estate) that you treated as gifts or bequests or
   2. More than $11,642 from foreign corporations or foreign partnerships (including foreign persons related to such foreign corporations or foreign partnerships) that you treated as gifts.

      Complete the identifying information on page 1 of the form and Part IV. See the instructions for Part IV.

Note:   You may also be required to file Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.

Exceptions To Filing

Form 3520 does not have to be filed to report the following transactions.

• Transfers to foreign trusts described in sections 402(b), 404(a)(4), or 404A.
• Most fair market value (FMV) transfers by a U.S. person to a foreign trust. However, some FMV transfers must nevertheless be reported on Form 3520 (e.g., transfers in exchange for obligations that are treated as qualified obligations, transfers of appreciated property to a foreign trust for which the U.S. transferor does not immediately recognize all of the gain on the property transferred, transfers involving a U.S. transferor that is related to the foreign trust). See Section III of Notice 97-34, 1997-1 C.B. 422. You can find Notice 97-34 on page 22 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 1997-25 at www.irs.gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb97-25.pdf.
• Transfers to foreign trusts that have a current determination letter from the IRS recognizing their status as exempt from income taxation under section 501(c)(3).
• Transfers to Canadian Registered Retirement Savings Plans, if the trust would qualify for treaty benefits under the United States tax treaty with Canada. However, if for any tax year you rely on the tax treaty with Canada to avoid information reporting, you are required to disclose this position on Form 8833, Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure Under Section 6114 or 7701(b).
• Distributions from foreign trusts that are taxable as compensation for services rendered (within the meaning of section 672(f)(2)(B) and its regulations), so long as the recipient reports the distribution as compensation income on its applicable Federal income tax return.
• Distributions from foreign trusts to domestic trusts that have a current determination letter from the IRS recognizing their status as exempt from income taxation under section 501(c)(3).
• Domestic trusts that become foreign trusts to the extent the trust is treated as owned by a foreign person, after application of section 672(f).

Joint Returns

Two transferors or grantors of the same foreign trust, or two U.S. beneficiaries of the same foreign trust, may file a joint Form 3520, but only if they file a joint income tax return.

When and Where To File

In general, Form 3520 is due on the date that your income tax return is due, including extensions. Send Form 3520 to the Internal Revenue Service Center, Philadelphia, PA 19255.

Form 3520 must have all required attachments to be considered complete.

Note:   If a complete Form 3520 is not filed by the due date, including extensions, the time for assessment of any tax imposed with respect to any event or period to which the information required to be reported in Parts I through III of such Form 3520 relates, will not expire before the date that is 3 years after the date on which the required information is reported. See section 6501(c)(8).

Who Must Sign

If the return is filed by:

• An individual or a fiduciary, it must be signed and dated by that individual or fiduciary.
• A partnership, it must be signed and dated by a general partner or limited liability company member.
• A corporation, it must be signed and dated by the president, vice president, treasurer, assistant treasurer, chief accounting officer, or any other corporate officer (such as a tax officer) who is authorized to sign.

The paid preparer must complete the required preparer information and:

• Sign the return, by hand, in the space provided for the preparer's signature (signature stamps are not acceptable).
• Give a copy of the return to the filer.

Inconsistent Treatment of Items

The U.S. beneficiary and U.S. owner's tax return must be consistent with the Form 3520-A, Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust With a U.S. Owner, filed by the foreign trust unless you report the inconsistency to the IRS. If you are treating items on your tax return differently from the way the foreign trust treated them on its return, file Form 8082, Notice of Inconsistent Treatment or Administrative Adjustment Request (AAR). See Form 8082 for more details.

Penalties

A penalty generally applies if Form 3520 is not timely filed or if the information is incomplete or incorrect. Generally, the penalty is:

1. 35% of the gross value of any property transferred to a foreign trust for failure by a U.S. transferor to report the transfer,
2. 35% of the gross value of the distributions received from a foreign trust for failure by a U.S. person to report receipt of the distribution, or
3. 5% of the amount of certain foreign gifts for each month for which the failure to report continues (not to exceed a total of 25%). See section 6039F(c).

If a foreign trust has a U.S. owner and the trust fails to file the required annual reports on trust activities and income, the U.S. owner is subject to a penalty equal to 5% of the gross value of the portion of the trust's assets treated as owned by the U.S. person (the gross reportable amount). See Form 3520-A.

Additional penalties may be imposed if noncompliance continues after the IRS mails a notice of failure to comply with required reporting. However, this penalty may not exceed the gross reportable amount. Also, penalties will only be imposed to the extent that the transaction is not reported. For example, if a U.S. person transfers property worth $1 million to a foreign trust but only reports $400,000 of that amount, penalties could only be imposed on the unreported $600,000.

For more information, see section 6677.

Reasonable cause.   No penalties will be imposed if the taxpayer can demonstrate that the failure to comply was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect.

Note.   The fact that a foreign country would impose penalties for disclosing the required information is not reasonable cause. Similarly, reluctance on the part of a foreign fiduciary or provisions in the trust instrument that prevent the disclosure of required information is not reasonable cause.

Definitions

Distribution

A distribution is any gratuitous transfer of money or other property from a trust, whether or not the trust is treated as owned by another person under the grantor trust rules, and without regard to whether the recipient is designated as a beneficiary by the terms of the trust. A distribution includes the receipt of trust corpus and the receipt of a gift or bequest described in section 663(a).

A distribution also includes constructive transfers from a trust. For example, if charges you make on a credit card are paid by a foreign trust or guaranteed or secured by the assets of a foreign trust, the amount charged will be treated as a distribution to you by the foreign trust. Similarly, if you write checks on a foreign trust's bank account, the amount will be treated as a distribution.

Also, if you receive a payment from a foreign trust in exchange for property transferred to the trust or services rendered to the trust, and the FMV of the payment received exceeds the FMV of the property transferred or services rendered, the excess will be treated as a distribution to you.

Examples  

1. If you sell stock with an FMV of $100 to a foreign trust and receive $150 in exchange, you have received a distribution of $50.
2. If you receive $100 from the trust for services performed by you for the trust, and the services have an FMV of $20, you have received a distribution of $80.

See the instructions for Part III, line 25, on page 6, for another example of a distribution from a foreign trust.

Foreign Trust and Domestic Trust

A foreign trust is any trust other than a domestic trust.

A domestic trust is any trust if:

1. A court within the United States is able to exercise primary supervision over the administration of the trust and
2. One or more U.S. persons have the authority to control all substantial decisions of the trust.

Grantor

A grantor includes any person who creates a trust or directly or indirectly makes a gratuitous transfer of cash or other property to a trust. A grantor includes any person treated as the owner of any part of a foreign trust's assets under sections 671 through 679, excluding section 678.

Note:   If a partnership or corporation makes a gratuitous transfer to a trust, the partners or shareholders are generally treated as the grantors of the trust, unless the partnership or corporation made the transfer for a business purpose of the partnership or corporation.

If a trust makes a gratuitous transfer to another trust, the grantor of the transferor trust is treated as the grantor of the transferee trust, except that if a person with a general power of appointment over the transferor trust exercises that power in favor of another trust, such person is treated as the grantor of the transferee trust, even if the grantor of the transferor trust is treated as the owner of the transferor trust.

Grantor Trust

A grantor trust is any trust to the extent that the assets of the trust are treated as owned by a person other than the trust. See the grantor trust rules in sections 671 through 679. A part of the trust may be treated as a grantor trust to the extent that only a portion of the trust assets are owned by a person other than the trust.

Gratuitous Transfer

A gratuitous transfer to a foreign trust is any transfer to the trust other than (a) a transfer for FMV or (b) a distribution to the trust with respect to an interest held by the trust (i) in an entity other than a trust (e.g., a corporation or a partnership) or (ii) in an investment trust described in Regulations section 301.7701-4(c), a liquidating trust described in Regulations section 301.7701-4(d), or an environmental remediation trust described in Regulations section 301.7701-4(e).

A transfer of property to a trust may be considered a gratuitous transfer without regard to whether the transfer is a gift for gift tax purposes (see Chapter 12 of Subtitle B of the Code).

For purposes of this determination, if a U.S. person contributes property to a trust in exchange for any type of interest in the trust, such interest in the trust will be disregarded in determining whether FMV has been received. In addition, a U.S. person will not be treated as making a transfer for FMV merely because the transferor is deemed to recognize gain on the transaction.

If you transfer property to a foreign trust in exchange for an obligation of the trust (or a person related to the trust), it will be a gratuitous transfer unless the obligation is a qualified obligation. Obligation and qualified obligation are defined below.

Gross Reportable Amount

Gross reportable amount is:

• The gross value of property involved in the creation of a foreign trust or the transfer of property to a foreign trust (including a transfer by reason of death);
• The gross value of any portion of a foreign trust treated as owned by a U.S. person under the grantor trust rules or any part of a foreign trust that is included in the gross estate of a U.S. citizen or resident;
• The gross value of assets deemed transferred at the time a domestic trust to which a U.S. citizen or resident previously transferred property becomes a foreign trust, provided such U.S. citizen or resident is alive at the time the trust becomes a foreign trust (see section 679(a)(5)); or
• The gross amount of distributions received from a foreign trust.

Gross Value

Gross value is the FMV of property as determined under section 2031 and its regulations as if the owner had died on the valuation date. Although formal appraisals are not generally required, you should keep contemporaneous records of how you arrived at your good faith estimate.

Guarantee

A guarantee:

• Includes any arrangement under which a person, directly or indirectly, assures, on a conditional or unconditional basis, the payment of another's obligation;
• Encompasses any form of credit support, and includes a commitment to make a capital contribution to the debtor or otherwise maintain its financial viability; or
• Includes an arrangement reflected in a comfort letter, regardless of whether the arrangement gives rise to a legally enforceable obligation. If an arrangement is contingent upon the occurrence of an event, in determining whether the arrangement is a guarantee, you must assume that the event has occurred.

Nongrantor Trust

A nongrantor trust is any trust to the extent that the assets of the trust are not treated as owned by a person other than the trust. Thus, a nongrantor trust is treated as a taxable entity. A trust may be treated as a nongrantor trust with respect to only a portion of the trust assets. See Grantor Trust above.

Obligation

An obligation includes any bond, note, debenture, certificate, bill receivable, account receivable, note receivable, open account, or other evidence of indebtedness, and, to the extent not previously described, any annuity contract.

Owner

An owner of a foreign trust is the person that is treated as owning any of the assets of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules.

Property

Property means any property, whether tangible or intangible, including cash.

Qualified Obligation

A qualified obligation, for purposes of this form, is any obligation only if:

1. The obligation is reduced to writing by an express written agreement;
2. The term of the obligation does not exceed 5 years (including options to renew and rollovers) and it is repaid within the 5-year term;
3. All payments on the obligation are denominated in U.S. dollars;
4. The yield to maturity of the obligation is not less than 100% of the applicable Federal rate under section 1274(d) for the day on which the obligation is issued and not greater than 130% of the applicable Federal rate;
5. The U.S. person agrees to extend the period for assessment of any income or transfer tax attributable to the transfer and any consequential income tax changes for each year that the obligation is outstanding, to a date not earlier than 3 years after the maturity date of the obligation, unless the maturity date of the obligation does not extend beyond the end of the U.S. person's tax year and is paid within such period (this is done on Part I, Schedule A, and Part III, as applicable); and
6. The U.S. person reports the status of the obligation, including principal and interest payments, on Part I, Schedule C, and Part III, as applicable, for each year that the obligation is outstanding.

Related Person

A related person generally includes any person who is related to you for purposes of section 267 and 707(b). This includes, but is not limited to:

• A member of your family - your brothers and sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters, spouse, ancestors (parents, grandparents, etc.), lineal descendants (children, grandchildren, etc.), and the spouses of any of these persons.
• A corporation in which you, directly or indirectly, own more than 50% in value of the outstanding stock.

See section 643(i)(2)(B) and the regulations under sections 267 and 707(b).

Person related to a foreign trust.   A person is related to a foreign trust if such person, without regard to the transfer at issue, is a grantor of the trust, a beneficiary of the trust, or is related to any grantor or beneficiary of the trust. See the definition of related person above.

Reportable Event

A reportable event includes:

1. The creation of a foreign trust by a U.S. person.
2. The transfer of any money or property, directly or indirectly, to a foreign trust by a U.S. person, including a transfer by reason of death. This includes transfers that are deemed to have occurred under sections 679(a)(4) and (5).
3. The death of a citizen or resident of the United States if:
   • The decedent was treated as the owner of any portion of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules or
   • Any portion of a foreign trust was included in the gross estate of the decedent.

Responsible Party

Responsible party means:

• The grantor in the case of the creation of an inter vivos trust,
• The transferor, in the case of a reportable event (defined above) other than a transfer by reason of death, or
• The executor of the decedent's estate in any other case.

U.S. Agent

A U.S. agent is a U.S. person (defined below) that has a binding contract with a foreign trust that allows the U.S. person to act as the trust's authorized U.S. agent in applying sections 7602, 7603, and 7604 with respect to:

• Any request by the IRS to examine records or produce testimony related to the proper U.S. tax treatment of amounts distributed, or required to be taken into account under the grantor trust rules, with respect to a foreign trust or
• Any summons by the IRS for such records or testimony.

A U.S. grantor, a U.S. beneficiary, or a domestic corporation controlled by the grantor or beneficiary may act as a U.S. agent. However, you may not treat the foreign trust as having a U.S. agent unless you enter the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of the U.S. agent on lines 3a through 3g. If the person identified as the U.S. agent does not produce records or testimony when requested or summoned by the IRS, the IRS may redetermine the tax consequences of your transactions with the trust and impose appropriate penalties under section 6677.

The agency relationship must be established by the time the U.S. person files Form 3520 for the relevant tax year and must continue as long as the statute of limitations remains open for the relevant tax year. If the agent resigns, liquidates, or its responsibility as an agent of the trust is terminated, see Notice 97-34.

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