Serbinski Accounting Firms

Filo, regarding your comment "when I don't sell the asset but I do have distributions from the asset, the 1116-FTC I have arises from the distributions, *not* from 'holding or disposing of the asset,'" you have distributions because you hold the asset (or held it through it's record date) so I'm not ...

No. Search the instructions for "deduction" and you will see it appears only four times and each time the context ties it to foreign assets or accounts. For example " . . . deductions . . . from holding or disposing of the asset . . . ."

Filo, I'm only guessing here, but "credits" appears in the instructions in a list " . . . income, gain, loss, deduction, or credit . . . ." (search for it) I think that deductions and credits have their usual meanings. A deduction is something you subtract from total income to arrive at adjusted ...

I was going to drop out of this discussion but Filo's number (3) above made me think of something new.

Mach7, if you want to list the shares in Part II, what are you going to do about the account at Computershare? You have a relationship with them. There is an account number and statements. They ...

Mach7, I'm guessing here, but the problem I anticipate is that you will need to report the name of the company in Part II, line 7 but you will have statements and T slips in the name of Computershare. You could hedge on this by describing the holding in Part II, line 1 as "shares in XYZ company held ...

Filo, I'm sure we could find plenty of other examples where the IRS has failed to demonstrate having enough brains. One is the numerous revenue procedures over the years for reporting RRSPs, finally ending up with the fairly simple Form 8891. Being the first year for Form 8938, I don't find the ...

Yes, I think that will look fine.

There are other instances where multiple copies of forms get filed but summary information only goes on the first one and where a note gets printed on the top. For example, if you have two copies of Form 1116, Turbo Tax prints "Copy 1" and "Copy 2" on top of each ...

Filo, I have long suspected that very few of these information forms actually get examined. I don't know for sure but I imagine that if you file a paper return, they get scanned or some clerk keys in certain numbers. Then a computer must check for math, missing fields and inconsistencies. I doubt the IRS can afford the resources to spend much time examining each return. So you want to pass the automated checks and then have everything complete in case it does get examined. If a human has to examine it, as long as what you have done makes sense I doubt it matters even if it is not done exactly as intended. All the forms also have an Attachment Sequence number so that you put them in the correct order. I can't imagine that people get penalized in any way for that kind of thing either.

The instructions for Part I say:

"Use Part I to report information for foreign deposit and custodial accounts. If you have more than one account, attach a continuation sheet with the required information for each additional account and check the “If you have attached additional sheets, check hereâ€￾ box at the top of the form."

The instructions for Part II are similar.

It sounds like what they have in mind is that you use page 1 of another copy of the form as your continuation sheet for Part I accounts and pages 1-2 of another copy of the form as your continuation sheet for Part II assets. Since this discussion of continuation sheets is in the sections describing just Part I and Part II entries, it sound like you need to just fill in those sections on the continuation sheets, which suggests that Part III only gets done once.

I couldn't imagine doing a return without software. What Turbo Tax Basic did for me is produce a continuation sheet that included just the lines for Part I, twice so that two additional accounts fit on each continuation sheet. Turbo Tax didn't provide a way to fill in Part III more than once. And since I know that Turbo Tax has to get IRS approval for its forms, I'm confident that those continuation sheets are correct. That's a further argument for completing Part III only once.

Mach7, what matters here is what the IRS thinks they are. Read through the threads on this forum dealing with Canadian mutual funds. Most are organized as trust but the IRS apparently considers them corporations and you need to report them as such.

So what kind of entity is Computershare? Forget ...

Thanks, nelsona.

It's not really my intent to become a US tax resident. It might be a little cheaper taxwise and might simplify filing a bit but I would like to come back to Vancouver on weekends. I'm just trying to anticipate pitfalls and come up with the best way to structure the working ...

I am a dual citizen currently living in Vancouver with my Canadian citizen wife. I am interviewing for a job in Seattle. How would residency be determined based on the following facts:

- Work in Seattle as an employee. Possibly telecommute one or two days a week from Vancouver.

- Rent an apartment ...

I think "custodian" has two meanings. One is certainly the meaning you found.

If you look around the financial industry you will find the other meaning in use. For example, fee only financial planners ofter refer to custodians as financial institutions which hold the clients assets. A discount ...

Yes, I think you, Filo and I are comfortable that Computershare is a foreign financial institution. It meets this definition in the instructions, "It holds financial assets for the account of others as a substantial part of its business."

"With respect to Part 3 of the 'summary'. basically what you ...

Mach7, I share Filo's view. Your shares are held in an account at Computershare. You should use Part I to report your holding.

1. The type of account is Custodial. Banks take deposits. Brokers are custodians of stock certificates. (Technically, for each stock they hold the shares from all their ...

This has been helpful. I plan to file MFS and my wife will not file at all since she is a NRA.

Thanks for the advice on spitting the FTC. I can figure those out by studying the examples in Publication 514.

The remaining thing to figure out is itemized deductions. Since I do have a large amount of ...