TFSA - Forms 7004, 8082 + Schedule B

[blackdog.tasha]

I am currently filing 3520 and 3520A for the first time for a TFSA started in October 2011. I see in the instructions for 3520 that if we do not receive a "Foreign Grantor Owner Trust Statement" we should report this on form 8082. I was curious if people have done this in the past as I find no mention of it on the rather thorough Serbinski forums.

Also, I am late in filing 3520A and I see that there is form 7004 to apply for an extension. I was wondering if I should just quietly disclose 3520, 3520A and 8082 with a note explaining that I only just became aware of the TFSA filing requirements or should I also apply for the extension for 3520A.

Lastly, I was hoping to verify that accumulated interest from all my accounts is only reported on 1040 Schedule B if it is in excess of $1500.

cheers and thank you.

[nelsona]

3520 and 3520A are not late until Oct 15th

[blackdog.tasha]

Thank you - in the end I decided to submit form 8082 as the instructions seem pretty clear. As for my Schedule B question I was able to find the answer in the forums - essentially all interest on all accounts is reported as income - but not on schedule B unless over $1500.

[nelsona]

Incorect. You don't file scedule B if you don't meet ANY of the requirements. But because you have foreign accounts, you MUST file sched B to answeer the questions at the bottom. Once you submit sched B for this reason, then evey interest income must be included, regardless of each amount or the total.

Don't do taxes by hand.

[blackdog.tasha]

Hmm...thanks. I did fill out the bottom of Schedule B this year, but I didn't include the interest there and Schedule B wasn't filled out for the past 6 years. I only put the interest from my TFSA on line 16 of my 1040. I assume then I should submit a 1040X with Schedule B for each year listing each account and a tally of the interest. The 1099-INT instructions seem to indicate foreign interest is excluded so I don't think I need that form.

Definitely next year I'll use software. I used a tax lawyer last year to backfile my taxes so I was just going off of what he had done previously. As I progressed through I found many errors. After getting some of these things sorted out with the IRS over the phone the tax lawyer said not to backfile for any more changes but to "let sleeping dogs lie." Somehow I'm not comfortable with that as I know, even though the changes won't affect whether I owe tax or not, my record is inaccurate so I am inclined to fix it. I am also considering hiring another tax person, to review my past taxes and determine if I should backfile and correct any errors. At least for peace of mind.

[nelsona]

If you submitted ached b, corecty answered the questions, and put all interst on your 1040, I would not bother with ameding return.

[jchen]

I have an FBAR question related to sub-accounts. I have spent quite a while looking for information on this on-line but couldn't find much. There was one post here about combining different RRSPs on the FBAR, but in that case all sub-accounts were RRSPs.

Can accounts at the same bank starting with the same account number be treated as sub-accounts and be reported once as an aggregate balance?

For example, all account numbers starting in 9999
9999A Open trading account, $10,000
9999B Open trading account in USD, $10,000
9999C RRSP account $10,000
9999D TFSA account $10,000

1) Can this be reported as account 9999 $40,000?
or
2) are four separate entries required to report each sub-account?

Is (1) permitted, grey-zone, or a no-go?

[jchen]

Very sorry. I meant my last post to be a new topic. It doesn't belong here. Please feel free to delete it (I can't).

[blackdog.tasha]

@nelsona: thanks.