3520a filing deadline

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echo
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:02 pm

3520a filing deadline

Post by echo »

I have TFSA accounts with TD and ING Canada. They are not filing 3520a for me. Just noticed 3520a deadline is Mar 15! I obviously have missed it and did not file an extension request. If I am filing 3520a myself, is the deadline Apr 15?

Thanks!
DaveM
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:46 am

Post by DaveM »

The deadline is Mar.15 regardless.
DaveM
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:46 am

Post by DaveM »

The deadline for the 3520 (not the 3520a) is Apr.15.
mikec2
Posts: 14
Joined: Thu May 03, 2007 10:15 am

Post by mikec2 »

I believe i read elsewhere in this forum that Mar 15 is the deadline for the financial institution to file 3520A. That said since your banks are in Canada they will not do so. The alternative is for you to produce the form yourself as best you can. In this case where you are filling the 3520A i believe the deadline is that same as for your 1040. This is what i have assumed and plan to do as my situation is the same. I recently made another post regarding the TFSA and this form.
echo
Posts: 25
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2013 2:02 pm

Post by echo »

[quote="mikec2"]I believe i read elsewhere in this forum that Mar 15 is the deadline for the financial institution to file 3520A. That said since your banks are in Canada they will not do so. The alternative is for you to produce the form yourself as best you can. In this case where you are filling the 3520A i believe the deadline is that same as for your 1040. This is what i have assumed and plan to do as my situation is the same. I recently made another post regarding the TFSA and this form.[/quote]

That's what I thought as well. My banks are not doing it for me. I do it myself and mail both 3520 and 3520a by Apr 15. But I can not find the Apr 15 deadline anywhere on IRS website for 3520a filed by taxpayer himself.
MGeorge
Posts: 313
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:23 am
Location: Canada

Post by MGeorge »

My view is that it is the 3520 that you are filing by the deadline of your 1040 - which is April 15, or June 15th if you are a non-residence citizen.

Any business filing the 3520A must do so by March 15th.

Your filing is only the 3520 - and you are required to fill in a 3520A form and attach it to your 3520. The 3520A is an attachment to 3520 - so I believe the due date is April 15th (or June 15th for non-residents).
How could an attachment be due before the form (3520).

This said, I've always played it safe and filed 3520, with the 3520A attachment before March 15th, but I don't believe I have to.

Interested in what others have to say about this.
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MGeorge is neither an accounting nor taxation professional.
DaveM
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:46 am

Post by DaveM »

The IRS Instructions for the filing dates of the 3520A and 3520 are pretty explicit:

3520A:
"File a complete Form 3520-A with the IRS Service Center by the 15th day of the 3rd month after the end of the trust's tax year" (which would be March 15 for year-end 12/31/14 filers).

3520:
"In general, Form 3520 is due on the date that your income tax return is due, including extensions."

Personally, I don't see the 3520A as being an attachment to 3520 since they both have different filing deadlines. In addition, one of the purposes of the 3520A is to provide the Foreign Grantor Trust Owner Statement to other owners and the Foreign Grantor Trust Beneficiary Statement to beneficiaries which are to be sent by the 3rd month (usually Mar15) so they can be filed with the 3520 in time for the 1040 filing date. So, with the latter function, the 3520A (in my mind) is also not acting as an attachment.

All that said, I'm willing to bet that the IRS is getting a lot of 3520As sent with the 3520 after Mar.15. Don't know what the implications of that is, if any. :)
Buddy
Posts: 16
Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 9:50 pm
Location: British Columbia

Post by Buddy »

The 3520 instructions state: “In general, Form 3520 is due on the date that your income tax is due, including extensions.â€￾ i.e. April 15. However, that’s only “in generalâ€￾. The filing deadline for 3520-A is March 15th, and since, in the case of a TFSA “grantor trustâ€￾, the only 3520-A filed will be the one attached to your 3520, it seems to follow implicitly, if not explicitly, that the 3520 with its attached 3520-A must be filed by March 15th. If you are tempted to think otherwise, study the ominous conclusion of 3520, Part II, #22: “See instructions for information on penaltiesâ€￾, which information, in the case of 3520-A, will include: “criminal penalties . . . for failure to file on timeâ€￾.

The trust institution isn’t sending the 3520-A, you are - attached to your 3520. Unless, and only if, a Form 7004 extension has been obtained, it is prudent to assume that the combined 3520/3520-A required filing deadline is not April 15, but March 15.
DaveM
Posts: 52
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2014 12:46 am

Post by DaveM »

Buddy: "The 3520 instructions state: “In general, Form 3520 is due on the date that your income tax is due, including extensions.â€￾ i.e. April 15. However, that’s only “in generalâ€￾. The filing deadline for 3520-A is March 15th, and since, in the case of a TFSA “grantor trustâ€￾, the only 3520-A filed will be the one attached to your 3520, it seems to follow implicitly, if not explicitly, that the 3520 with its attached 3520-A must be filed by March 15th. If you are tempted to think otherwise, study the ominous conclusion of 3520, Part II, #22: “See instructions for information on penaltiesâ€￾, which information, in the case of 3520-A, will include: “criminal penalties . . . for failure to file on timeâ€￾.

The trust institution isn’t sending the 3520-A, you are - attached to your 3520. Unless, and only if, a Form 7004 extension has been obtained, it is prudent to assume that the combined 3520/3520-A required filing deadline is not April 15, but March 15."

I think you are potentially adding an unnecessary reason for people to be even more paranoid than they already are when it comes to the already-daunting offshore forms and due-date requirements.

When it comes to grantor trust situation where both a 3520a and 3250 are required, whether it be TFSAs, RESPs etc., nowhere does the IRS require that Form 3520 be attached to the 3520a such that if the 3520a has to be filed by March 15, then so must the 3520. In the typical situation where the 3520 is due on the date of one's tax return, it is discretionary whether one files both forms by March 15, while it is mandatory that the 3520a is filed by March 15 and the 3520 by April 15 (the 3520 must have the Owner statement attached to it from the 3520a and also the Benefiiciary statement, if applicable). I have yet to read anywhere that the 3520 must be filed by March 15.
ND
Posts: 291
Joined: Thu Feb 21, 2013 5:28 pm

Post by ND »

https://www.congress.gov/114/bills/hr32 ... 3236ih.pdf
The NEW due date for Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts, will be April 15 for calendar-year filers, with a maximum six-month extension.
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