Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
Moderator: Mark T Serbinski CA CPA
Form 8938 Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets
Is the Public Service pension plan to be included in this report? Also I assume you principal residence is not considered a Financial Asset.
I am looking over 8938 and it doesn't seem nearly as daunting as I originally thought. So long as all your assets are held in "Foreign Deposit or Custodial accounts", you only need to fill in Parts 1, 3, and 4. For the most part this means reporting maximum account values (similar to FBAR). Part 2 is where the form gets really ugly but that only seems to apply if you have "other foreign assets" that are not in a "foreign deposit or custodial account". I'm guessing means buying shares directly from a company or having investment certificates stored in a safety deposit box.
So for example, I believe that if you have a taxable Cdn brokerage account that holds a bunch of stocks, some cash, a few GICs, REITs, etc, you would simply report this brokerage account in Part 1 (based on total value) and do not need to break this out by security (as you would need to do in part 2 for those securities not in an account). Am I interpreting this correctly? I sure hope so.
Here's a related question: What is the difference between a "deposit account" and a "custodial account"? A bank account is obviously a "deposit account". What about a taxable Cdn brokerage account? I'm guessing that in this context, that is also a "deposit account" but would appreciate another opinion on that. And I'm not really sure what would qualify as a "custodial account"??? Of course, the instructions don't provide any clarity.
Thanks.
So for example, I believe that if you have a taxable Cdn brokerage account that holds a bunch of stocks, some cash, a few GICs, REITs, etc, you would simply report this brokerage account in Part 1 (based on total value) and do not need to break this out by security (as you would need to do in part 2 for those securities not in an account). Am I interpreting this correctly? I sure hope so.
Here's a related question: What is the difference between a "deposit account" and a "custodial account"? A bank account is obviously a "deposit account". What about a taxable Cdn brokerage account? I'm guessing that in this context, that is also a "deposit account" but would appreciate another opinion on that. And I'm not really sure what would qualify as a "custodial account"??? Of course, the instructions don't provide any clarity.
Thanks.
The instructions for form 8938 say that you do have to report foreign pension plans (if you meet the reporting threshold I assume). It specifically tells you how to value a foreign pension plan for which you couldn't possibly know the value at the end of the year (no statement etc.) Also, talks about what value to put down for the plan if you are receiving the pension benefits if you couldn't possibly know the plan's total value.