Form 8621: is it necessary to split up MF's in an account?

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CdnAmerican
Posts: 247
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:15 am

Form 8621: is it necessary to split up MF's in an account?

Post by CdnAmerican »

I think this is an easy one. I am a USC living in Canada and filing US taxes. I have 2 RESP accounts which each contain 3 Cdn mutual funds. Do I need to file a separate 8621 for all of these (that is, 6 Forms 8621), or is it sufficient to file 2 Forms 8621 with a statement about the mutual funds that make up these accounts? I did the latter approach last year, but am not sure I took the right approach (that said, I did not get questioned). The instructions don't seem clear to me.

Other info: I'm filing these mark-to-market, and claiming the growth as income on my US taxes (not Cdn taxes, of course).

Thanks!
Not a professional opinion.
MGeorge
Posts: 313
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:23 am
Location: Canada

Post by MGeorge »

Hi CdnAmerican,

I think technically, you have to file 6 8621s. Are the 3 Cdn mutual funds common to both accounts? If you only hold 3 different funds (in 2 accounts), then you can file 3 8621s. It might be tricky to get the 3520A right - you'd have to make sure everything adds up.

I think the reason for this, is that you might not be allowed to use the loss from one fund to offset the gain of another, since, combining several funds on 1 8621 would result in not keeping track of "unreversed inclusions".

Regards,
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