International Tax Forms Practice Aid

   IRS and Treasury Reporting Requirements for U.S. Persons with Interests in Foreign Bank, Brokerage and Insurance Accounts or Ownership in Foreign Entities
 

Note to Members of the AICPA

The following information is intended for U.S. tax practitioners who do not have extensive experience with cross-border (outbound) tax reporting requirements.

There are a variety of tax forms that are required for taxpayers who have cross-border transactions. This practice aid provides a brief description of 21 of the most frequently required forms for foreign investments, grantors or beneficiaries of foreign trusts and U.S. owners of foreign corporations or foreign limited liability companies. 

A comparative tabulation of most of these forms is available by linking to Foreign Forms.

For additional information about the U.S. treatment of international transactions, see Offshore Tax Links.

Vernon Jacobs

International Task Force Committee Members:

This practice aid was prepared by Vernon Jacobs, a member of the AICPA Tax Division's International Tax Technical Resource Panel's International Tax Reporting Requirements Task Force. Other members of the task force are J. Ben Vernazza, Howard Godfrey, Neil Suyllivan, Olaf Barthelmal and Eileen Sherr, Technical Manager.


Free copies of IRS Tax Forms and Instructions are readily available from their web site at http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/lists/0,,id=97796,00.html

The following links are to brief (one or two page) summaries of the elements of different tax forms that are often required in connection with foreign investments, foreign trusts or foreign business interests. 

The IRS instructions to these forms are often very confusing and the following reports attempt to provide a plain English "bottom line" explanation of 

  • who is required to file, 
  • what information is required by the form,
  • when is the form due,
  • how long does it take to prepare the form,
  • what are the penalties for not filing, and
  • practical comments about the form
By putting this information into separate web pages, practitioners can then refer (and link) to these web pages in connection with other other reports or articles and can avoid constant repetition of information about frequently mentioned forms -- such as the Form 5471, the Form 3520 or the Form 8832.

This is not a comprehensive list of the forms that may be required in connection with any international transactions. These are simply the forms that are most likely to be required for U.S. grantors of a foreign trust, U.S. investors in foreign securities or U.S. entrepreneurs with international transactions.

Form 56 - Notice Concerning Fiduciary Relationship

Form 709 - U.S. Gift Tax Return

Form 720 - Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return

Form 926 - Transfers to a Controlled Foreign Corporation

Form 1040 - Income Tax Return for U.S. Residents and Citizens

Form 1040-B, Part III - Information Regarding Foreign Accounts or Trusts

Form 1040-NR - Income Tax for Non-resident Aliens with U.S. Source Income

Form 1116 - Foreign Tax Credit for Individuals

Form 1118 - Foreign Tax Credit for Corporations

Form 1120-F - Income Tax for Foreign Corporations Doing Business in the U.S. 

Form 2555 - Foreign Earned Income Exclusion

Form 3520 - Creation of and Transfers to a Foreign Trust

Form 3520-A - Annual Return of Foreign Trust with U.S. Beneficiaries

Form 5471 - Information Return for Foreign Corporation

Form 5472 - Information Return of Foreign Owned Corporation

Form 8621 - Information Return for Passive Foreign Investment Company

Form 8804 & 8805 - Foreign Partner's Information Statement

Form 8832 - Entity Classification Election

Form 8833 - Treaty Based Return Position

Form 8865 - Information Return for Foreign Partnership

Form TD F 90-22.1 - Information Return for Foreign Financial Accounts
 

Copies of IRS Tax Forms and Instructions are available from their web site at http://www.irs.gov/forms_pubs/formpub.html

Index to Tax Forms


 


Sponsored by Offshore Press, Inc . Copyright, 2003, All rights reserved. Offshore Press, Inc., Box 8194, Prairie Village, KS 66208. (913) 362-9667. Email to Offshore Press.  Vernon K. Jacobs, Webauthor .