Kathy, if you´re referring to the discussion, earlier, about whether the owners had to pay FMV of rentals for their use of their own condos!, I think the consensus was- and I agree- that if the trust is a grantor trust (you own it), you do not have to compensate the trust for your use of the property. Was that what you were referring to?
Yup, thanks V. I'm Very Much Done with this whole subject and I've done my very best with those damn forms (and taken hours upon hours off paid work to figure them out) and now I'm going to print and mail. I also found a good link here How To File Forms 3520 and 3520-A for a fideicomiso old, but I found a couple places on the forms I'd missed thanks to that link.
Good for you, Kathy! And that's a nice article you cited us to. The best thing about it is that the author had the balls to go into detail about how to do it, something I'd be hesitant to do for fear of my having it wrong! I did notice one thing I'd question: I am named trustee in my fideicomiso, and have appointed myself as the U.S. agent, giving a U.S. contact address (not required, but who wants to trust the speed and reliability of the MX Post, if IRS sends a notice)! The form to use for the appointment appears in the instructions. Making the appointment means, among other things, that you don't have to copy and include your fideicomiso with the returns, as I read the rules. For clarity, I put a footnote on the forms everytime an address appeared, noting whether it was a "mailing address" or my "residence address".
yeah, I waffled back and forth on that too and went the opposite of you. I'd rather send them the Fide and I just wasn't comfortable making myself the US agent - just seemed like an extra step/complication I didn't want to add. Course I'm sure you've researched this more than I have but I am D.U.N. And yeah, I peppered the form with US mailing addy and MX addy. Sheesh. It will all probably go into a bin and never be looked at for all the sweat we put into them.
This was tough going, for me, with many of the concepts taking a while to ¨catch hold of¨. Since my Fidei names me trustee, and since my bank has NO intention of doing anything in relation to these I.R.S. reporting requirements, I felt it best to dispel all doubt about who was going to do it, and be responsibile for it, as well as be the person designated to receive any notices directed to the trust from the IRS, by officially appointing myself as U.S. agent for the trust. This is something you can do at any time, should you decide to do so. There was, in addition to this clarity, a substantive reason for doing this, but I just can´t, at the moment, remember what it was! When I do, I´ll post, again! Congrats, on getting this far with it! ____________________ As for the necessity of doing all this, the situation reminds me of how the IRS moved in on Swiss bank accounts, a few years ago. Supposedly secret, the Treasury got the Swiss to cooperate by revealing the existence of these accounts, and the owners of them; then, spent a couple of years offering ¨amnesty¨ to those who made voluntary disclosures before moving in on the others (as I understood what took place). It may be that the Treasury already has a list of those of us who hold property pursuant to a Fideicomiso, obtained from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which must approve every application for a new Fideicomiso, and is just ¨building the case¨ against those who don´t report, voluntarily (pure speculation on my part, by the way).
Just as we would wish, Kathy! Do it, and forget it! Not hearing from the IRS is the best possible outcome any time we file anything with them.
Well, it was a good feeling to get Forms 3520 and 3520a into the mail, and in order, as near as I can figure. Every blank and box to check raised questions in my mind and forced me to do hours of research (well, it certainly seemed like a lot). I think it may have actually been around four to five entire eight hour days, but spread over many days. 3520 was in on time: 2010 was our first year of ownership, here, so I was OK with that one. 3520 is due when your tax return is due, with extensions: since we live abroad, we had until June 15, but we filed for an extension, giving us till Oct 15 to get that one in. 3520a was another story, perhaps. 3520a is supposed to be filed by the "15th day of the 3rd month after the end of the trust's tax year". You can request an extension of time for filing 3520a, using Form 7004, and I did, but I'm not sure I sent it in on time; so, I felt that might put me in the status of needing a letter accompanying the submission which explains why there was "reasonable cause" for the late filing, and that it was not a product of "willful neglect". My cover letter brought tears to my eyes when I read it, but I'm not sure IRS agents are given to tears.... For good measure, I also made reference to the "2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclose Initiative." Just hope it works, as the penalties for unexcused late filings are over the top, if they decide to impose them. _______________________
Internal Revenue Manual For those who would like to know exactly what IRS will do with your forms when they get them, read these instructions to their agents, contained in the Internal Revenue Manual, Internal Revenue Manual - 3.21.19 Foreign Trust System
Amazing news, I just called the IRS, 1-800-829-4933, and they told me my Form 7004, request for extension of time to file Form 3520a, had been received on March 15, 2011, the exact last day for it to be filed if you are to be guaranteed it will be granted. It was granted, giving me until 15 Sept to file! So, all my forms will be timely, a nice thing, first time around. For those who owe no taxes, there is still the concept of voluntary compliance, with reasonable cause for late filing, leading to no penalties imposed, if IRS agrees you had reasonable cause, and the late filing was not a product of willful neglect. For those who owe back taxes, there is still the option of following the procedures outlined in the "2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative." See the IRS website for details, as the process is a bit complex. The deadline to act is August 31, 2011.
Deadline extended Because of the potential for disruptions to normal operations, caused by hurricane Irene, the IRS has extended the deadline for filing delinquent reports of foreign assets to September 9, 2011. 2011 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Initiative
