Serbinski Accounting Firms

"I can't point to a reference": There is no reference from the Treasury Department. Obviously, I report my pension income on 1040. I report the pension's existence on 8938 because the 8938's instructions demand that. The IRS's 1040 and 8938 have nothing to do with the Treasury Department's...

Groom Law Group gives the most detailed discussion I've found on the above issue, but it finally concludes (pp7-8) that it is still an open question.

http://www.groom.com/media/publication/ ... ebsite.pdf

Does there exist a clear answer to this?

@testone ("Interesting . . . But not true.") -- FWIW, this is the site where I got the above-stated opinion: http://www.ica.bc.ca/kb.php3?pageid=4770&mobileSession=a34b516a61cdded03bbabe466a90e4bf It says (in November 2010) -- "Earlier this year, the Internal Revenue Service chang...

USC resident in Canada. I am retired and I receive payouts from my past employer's defined benefit pension plan. (1) Do I have to list that plan on the TD F 90-22.1 ? (2) If so, what is the maximum value in a given year? Having searched this site, I found clear answers that a defined benefit pension...

'. . . just "mailing it in" when it came to understanding anything related to cross-border' I came across an accounting site that presented a Client Information Form for the 8938. It consisted of the client's stating, line by line, *all* the information to be put onto the 8938 for each acc...

No, of course not. But then it's no wonder that Americans abroad are as wary of "professional assistance" as we are of the IRS itself.

I hope someone more knowledgeable answers; I can only express my understanding of the 8938 instructions. (a) On page 2 of the 8938 instructions -- "If you received no distributions during the tax year and do not know or have reason to know based on readily accessible information the fair market...

Oh please, can you tell us who those six CA's are?

primo -- thank you for that link. I have often seen the $636,000 figure mentioned, but not the $2,000,000 figure. I'm not rich, but I own a house, and that really louses things up because it was bought when the Canadian dollar was low, so the US-calculated capital gain of a deemed disposition is hig...

I'm not disagreeing with primo, because I really don't know the answer to netrover's question. Is it possible that the notion of "community property" implies that *all* assets are considered joint, not just the ones that have both names listed as owners? When our wills were made up years a...

"(which you are doing for the first time this year no doubt)" -- There has been no transaction in that fund for a long time. No sells, no buys. In principle I have a couple of weeks to make up my mind, but at this point I do not intend to do a mark-to-market for 2011 (which I have never do...

Thank you. That clarifies things. At a local branch of one of Canada's largest banks, the manager and one of the long-term high-ranking employees both know I am a USC. I bank in person, not online, and I talk to these people from time to time. The bank has never asked me to fill out a W-9. I know I'...

Thank you, nelsona. For many years my CA reported the income from this fund as Dividends on Schedule B, and then I continued that practice. No other entries or forms were filed for this fund. The IRS always accepted this with no objections. I file on paper by postal mail. Can I just sell the fund no...

@NickH:

It's a money-market fund. Do you know whether a rising Cdn $ (over a given tax year) implies a capital gain?

As regards your remarks about the W-9: -- Does that mean it's my responsibility, not the financial institution's nor the IRS's, to initiate the W-9 submission process? -- Does that apply to every account on the FBAR and to every account and every non-account asset on the 8938? If so, then why don't ...