How to contact IRS after their letter indicating 3520 error?

CdnAmerican · Post by **CdnAmerican** » Mon Oct 24, 2011 11:18 pm

Hello! I am a US citizen living in Canada. After learning of the need to submit the 3520, I sent in 3520 & 3520A forms in August for the past 5 years. This was a grand total of 17 forms each, for various accounts. Last week I received a bundle of 14 letters from the IRS, stating that I needed to complete some lines on these forms. However, in looking at the lines that were called incomplete, I cannot find any mistakes on 13 of these 14 forms, other than not filling in a line asking me to indicate other trust holders (I could have put NA, I suppose), and leaving blank a few lines for an address that I referred to "see above", as the address was a few lines up the page.

I tried to phone the IRS to get clarification; however, I cannot call the 1-800 numbers listed on the letters from Canada. I tried several different numbers for the Ogden office; 4 of the 5 that I found on various websites were not in service. I left a message on the 5th one, but this was associated with a different Ogden address than the one I sent the 3520's to, so I'm not confident I will get a return call.

My inclination is to re-send these forms with an attached letter, adding NA in these boxes, fixing the 1 that had a significant omission, and then just wait for their written response. I'm posting this to see if anyone has a better strategy. I'd like to talk to an IRS person directly (ideally, the sender of the 14 letters) but don't really see how to do that. Any ideas?

Thanks!

CdnAmerican · Post by **CdnAmerican** » Wed Oct 26, 2011 12:40 am

Just a quick follow-up .. the IRS did indeed call back, and recommended I call the International Service Office, which makes sense.

Jolyfla · Post by **Jolyfla** » Fri Nov 11, 2011 9:44 pm

Did you get the issue with the 3520's resolved? I'm just doing mine now, and would like to avoid the "mistakes" that the IRS says you made? What kind of investments were the 3520's for, and what line numbers were involved?

Thanks in advance, John

CdnAmerican · Post by **CdnAmerican** » Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:01 am

Thanks Joyfla - Well, I resubmitted my 3520/3520A's. I did hear back from one of the IRS numbers I called and the respondent said I could call the International Tax Office. I figured there wouldn't be much value in this if I couldn't talk directly to the office that sent me the letters (Ogden) in the first place. So, I resubmitted all of these forms, making the only changes I could see - but also stapling together each 3520 with its correspondign 3520A. The first time I mailed these in, I had them collated but not stapled, and I wonder if it was just impossible to go through them like that (in retrospect, I should've stapled them; I just figured stapling them would add extra time on the IRS end, so I didn't - but I could see the 2nd time around that making sense of these unstapled forms would be very difficult).

The only mistakes I could see were a) one line that I left blank related to other foreign owners; I didn't put "NA" there, and b) in several places, I noted "see above" as I did not want to retype an address that was on the same page. But I don't know if these were the specific mistakes or not, as the letters alluded to multiple lines - I'm guessing that's a form letter, or more likely a letter made of pre-written paragraphs.

But honestly that's just a guess on my part. At this point I am just waiting to see if I hear from them again. I am feeilng that no news is good news - if the forms are now fine, I doubt I'll get any indication thereof. I am perhaps in the minority, as I'm thinking that the IRS is not really out to give me trouble, and since I am not liable for any additional tax, all will be well. We'll see if that's a naive belief soon enough ..

Jolyfla · Post by **Jolyfla** » Tue Nov 22, 2011 9:37 am

Thanks for the reply. I'll take a look at my 3520's before I send them in. Did you have any Canadian Mutual Funds that were not RRSP's? I live in Ottawa. Where are you located?

sunny · Post by **sunny** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:07 pm

I, too, have received a letter that sounds similar to you. Well, more than one letter really since I have various accounts. Basically it says that for Form 3520, since I marked the second checkbox on page 1 (that I am the US owner of a foreign trust), that I need to complete lines 20 through 23 of Part II. The problem is..... that I did complete Part II, so I don't know WHAT they are talking about? Crazy. I guess I will have to invest yet MORE time in these Forms 3520 and write to them telling Odgen that they need to check THEIR work before they ask me to check MY work!

CdnAmerican · Post by **CdnAmerican** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:35 pm

Hi Sunny - This sounds very similar to my situation! I re-sent the 3520 & 3520A's. I filled in NA where appropriate on those lines, and wrote a cover letter describing what I did. I sent that in about two months ago; I haven't heard back and am assuming no news is good news.

I wonder if they sent in this request because I had multiple accounts. I did not staple them together the first time - I thought that would be easier for them, but that was probably incorrect. So I tried to organize them better this time & perhaps that has done the trick. The important thing on my end is that there was no fine or penalty - just a request to redo what I did once before. No biggie.

Oh, and from the previous post, I am in Alberta.

primo · Post by **primo** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 5:01 pm

[quote="sunny"]I, too, have received a letter that sounds similar to you. Well, more than one letter really since I have various accounts. Basically it says that for Form 3520, since I marked the second checkbox on page 1 (that I am the US owner of a foreign trust), that I need to complete lines 20 through 23 of Part II. The problem is..... that I did complete Part II, so I don't know WHAT they are talking about? Crazy. I guess I will have to invest yet MORE time in these Forms 3520 and write to them telling Odgen that they need to check THEIR work before they ask me to check MY work![/quote]

I just received the same letter and I also had everything filled out on lines 20 to 23 of part II. I have tried calling to no avail. So I am writing a letter and sending the 3520's back in changing the N/A to no other owners. What did you end up doing and did you ever hear back?
Thanks

CdnAmerican · Post by **CdnAmerican** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 8:18 pm

I sent them in late October or early November, and have not heard antyhing back since other than the letter above commenting on their delay in evaluating my returns. I included a cover letter where I clarified what I did, and I am guessing this is sufficient. I did send it registered so that I could ensure that it got there - I figured the extra ten bucks or so was worth my piece of mind.

primo · Post by **primo** » Thu Apr 05, 2012 9:35 pm

I don't get why they didn't accept the N/A for question 20 about other ownere. The rest of the questions were answered. They aren't actually hard questions! I've added a letter as well so hopefully it settles it.

In the letter it said to mail my reply to the address at the top of the letter. Did you send it registered to that address or something different?
Thanks!

CdnAmerican · Post by **CdnAmerican** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 1:07 am

I had to do some digging to find an actual street address to send it to in Ogden. I couldn't send it registered from Canada to the PO Box they provided. I presume that's OK, as I did it that way both times, and presumably they got it each time.

When you sent in your the first time, did you staple them individually? I just wondered if that's what they didn't like about mine (unstapled 3520s -> confusion -> request for re-sending).

primo · Post by **primo** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:36 am

I had read your post about having them all returned before I sent mine in. So I made sure not to leave anything blank and I stapled everything by year. I only have one account so it couldn't possibly be that confusing. I'm a little freaked out because I really don't know what else they want. After sleeping on it, I'm going to rewrite my letter and explain in plain English my answer to each line that they claim is unanswered. Like I'm talking to a two year old! They are so frustrating. I did call the international line for information and they transferred me to someone else that also couldn't help. The most they offered was to send a request in writing to ask for further explanation. I was told that Ogden would have 30 days to reply. Considering that they are threatening me with penalties if I don't reply by April22, I figured I would rather send my own letter. Thanks for your help. I'll try to find a street address.

primo · Post by **primo** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 7:45 am

Does 1973 Rulon White Blvd., Ogden, UT seem like the address you used?
Thanks.

CdnAmerican · Post by **CdnAmerican** » Fri Apr 06, 2012 6:18 pm

Yep, that's the one!

primo · Post by **primo** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 9:22 am

Thanks!