Referral for Form 3520 help?
 

All my contacts have so far come up empty so I'm curious if anyone here has any leads for a CPA or tax attorney (preferably in NYC, but it doesn't really matter) who can help me navigate the minefield of Form 3520 ("Annual Return To Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts") -- in my case for an bequest from a liquidated family trust. It makes FBAR and Form 8938 look like pieces of cake!

Re: Referral for Form 3520 help?
 

This almost certainly requires re-doing the trust accounting for US tax purposes back to the day the trust was created; followed by preparation of Form 3520. There are only a few larger international firms that would take on this work. Frank Hirth have a New York and could do this. They will not be inexpensive. Generally speaking one would have the trust pay for the US trust tax accounting and reporting before making distributions to beneficiaries. As the trust is already dissolved this will not be possible which will make the net after tax cost higher for you.

Re: Referral for Form 3520 help?
 

Sounds potentially more onerous that it should be -- this was an irrevocable trust established for my mother's estate in the UK upon her death. I was not a trustee or indeed the primary beneficiary, only one of the secondary beneficiaries who inherited the funds after the death of the primary beneficiary (a death that triggered the trust's liquidation). I assumed that my mother's UK-based trust was beyond even the long tentacles of the US government if I had nothing to do with its creation or management and had no claim to its funds while the primary beneficiary was alive.

What confuses me about form 3520 is whether I should complete Part 3 or Part 4, because although it was essentially an inheritance, triggered by a family death, it came from this trust.

Re: Referral for Form 3520 help?
 

Sounds like a foreign grantor trust to me. Will the trustees assist with the 3520?

Re: Referral for Form 3520 help?
 

Re: Referral for Form 3520 help?
 

My sincere apologies for confusing you I had meant to type foreign nongrantor trust in my previous reply.

Re: Referral for Form 3520 help?
 

Good Morning Cook_County,

You seem very knowledgeable about trusts, I was wondering if you could review my recent topic on the forum and provide any input if you feel it is a trust too. There is an open discussion about foreign pension contributions that I feel with your expertise on the topic can help with. The topic is titled Tax help (stressed alot) :unsure: