Serbinski Accounting Firms

Hi Mrs. Jack,

If you make a QEF election for a PFIC, the actual distributions received from the fund do not have to get report. The amounts will reduce your USD cost basis in the units of the fund.

In 2016, you have to report the "ordinary earnings" on line 21 (other income) for the 1040. You said ...

Hello,

Market-linked GICs would not be considered PFICs. Similar to futures and other contract derivatives - these wouldn't be considered PFICs. I saw a bank suggesting these as a good option for US taxpayers living in Canada.

Hi puzon23,

I agree, collapsing it is probably the best idea. The only reason I have an RESP is because I live in Canada and get the grants.

Regarding the Canadian tax on collapsing - I really don't know how this is done for non-residents. I believe you will get back all of your contributions tax ...

Me again.

Just a thought, since you're in the US, why don't you open a 529 plan (US plan similar to RESPs). You can fund it and invest in non PFICs while living in the US.
You could close your RESP and move the assets to the 529. you'd have to pay back the Canadian grants.

Becoming a non-resident ...

Hi puzon23,

OK, given the higher exemption of $50k, you could probably put off filing form 8621 for a few years, but you will have to file 8621 when you exceed the threshold, or you sell a fund for a gain. Also, if one of the fund makes a "higher than normal distribution" known as an excess ...

Hi puzon23,

OK, so 3 mutual funds in your RESP. Have a look at the balance on Dec 31. Does this put you over $25,000 USD? The exchange rate to use is 0.7448 I believe. If all of the mutual funds that you own are less than $25k, then you might qualify for the "de-minimus" exemption.

Before I ...

Hello again,

This might be helpful. There is a statement that "unsecured" credit card accounts are not generally reportable as a financial account.

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/0603026.pdf

I read somewhere, but can't substantiate, that credit cards and lines of credit have to be reported unless there is an automatic refund to you if you overpay. In other words, if the balance goes positive, they send you a check automatically. None of my accounts do this. I don't report credit cards ...

Hi,

I think you do have to file form 3520. Simply owning a foreign trust triggers this obligation. It is also the filing of form 3520 which triggers the requirement to file 3520A since no RESP promoter will do this for you.

Another possible difference between a group RRSP and a personal RRSP might be the way the withdrawals are treated with respect to the NIIT (form 8960). While a personal RRSP is treated as a non-qualified annuity when withdrawn, this means that it would go on form 8960 as annuity income.

In the ...

Hi ethanpurdy,

I've been filing 8621s now for 5 years. This year, I'm filing 8 of them on my tax return, and I just figured out that TaxAct won't let me efile more than 5. I'm trying to reduce the number of PFICs that I hold. What I try to do is only use a PFIC if I have to, and it seems that in ...

Hello,

Yes you are correct in my opinion. The 4 sold for a loss can simply go on schedule D (there was some analysis done in another thread that shows that PFICs sold for a loss with no election made, can go on schedule D as if they weren't PFICs).

The 4 sold for a gain would have to go on 8621 ...

I just read in another thread that the California tax authority doesn't care about the PFIC rules - please disregard that point from my previous post! You might be fine with those Horizons ETFs (a smart move now that I think about it!)

Hi There,

Those Horizons total return swap based ETFs would certainly be considered PFICs under US tax laws. As a resident of Canada, I can't believe they are allowed here. They make no distributions, and all investments gains are only taxable when the units are sold. This is exactly what the PFIC ...

Hi speer,

You are correct about keeping track of your investment in the fund by converting CAD to USD for each purchase. QEF income is the amount you have to claim on your tax return. This is the amount that the US tax rules say that the fund should have distributed to you (but maybe it didn't ...