List of international tax forms (first draft)
Upcoming speech
I am going to be giving a one-hour high speed presentation at the 2011 Tax Update and Planning Conference sponsored by the California Society of CPAs. It will be presented in Universal City, San Francisco, and on the web.
My hour is intended to give practitioners a checklist approach to the various tax and reporting forms they might need to know about in the international context. For someone who deals primarily with domestic stuff, the international world is a mystery. I want to dispel that mystery a bit.
First draft of a list
Here, from my course materials for my Tax Planning and Compliance for Multinational Families course is where I am in gathering a comprehensive list of all of the tax forms that are specific to international tax practice.
I need help
Help! Do you know of any other forms out there that I might have missed?
Another point — what would be a good way to organize these? By taxpayer type (individual, trust, estate, corporation, etc.)? By inbound/outbound? By reverse height according to eye color? What is useful?
Tax Forms
- Form W-7 — (Application for Individual Taxpayer Identification Number)
- W-8 — Certificate of Foreign Status
- W-8EXP — Certificate of Foreign Government or Other Foreign Organization for United States Tax
- W-8BEN — Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding
- W-8ECI — Certificate of Foreign Person’s Claim for Exemption From Withholding on Income Effectively Connected With the Conduct of a Trade or Business in the United States
- W-8IMY — Certificate of Foreign Intermediary, Foreign Partnership, or Certain U.S. Branches for United States Tax Withholding
- Form 706 — United States Estate (and Generation-Skipping Transfer) Tax Return
- Form 706-A — United States Additional Estate Tax Return
- Form 706-GS(D) — Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return for Distributions
- Form 706-GS(D-1):Notification of Distribution from a Generation-Skipping Trust
- Form 706-CE — Certificate of Payment of Foreign Death Tax
- Form 706-GS(T) — Generation-Skipping Transfer Tax Return for Terminations
- Form 706-NA — United States Estate (and Generation Skipping Transfer) Tax Return
- Form 706-QDT — U.S. Estate Tax Return for Qualified Domestic Trusts
- Form 720 — Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return
- Form 1001 — Ownership, Exemption, or Reduced Rate Certificate
- Form 1040NR — U.S. Non-Resident Alien Income Tax Return
- Form 1040NR-EZ — U.S. Income Tax Return for Certain Nonresident Aliens with No Dependents
- Form 1042 — Annual Withholding Tax Return for U.S. Source Income of Foreign Persons
- Form 1042-S — Foreign Person’s U.S. Source Income Subject to Withholding
- Form 1078 — Certificate of Alien Claiming Residence in the United States
- Form 1120-F — U.S. Income Return of a Foreign Corporation
- Form 5472 — Information Return of a 25% Foreign-Owned U.S. Corporation or a Foreign Corporation Engaged in a U.S. Trade or Business
- Form 8288 — U.S. Withholding Tax Return for Dispositions by Foreign Persons of U.S. Real Property Interests
- Form 8288-B — Application for Withholding Certificate for Dispositions by Foreign Persons of U.S. Real Property Interests
- Form 8300 — Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business
- Form 8709 — Exemption from Withholding on Investment Income of Foreign Governments and International Organizations
- TD F 90-22.1 — Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts
- TD F 90-22.47 — Suspicious Activity Report
- TD F 90-22.53 — Designation of Exempt Person
U.S. Direct Investment Abroad
These forms are found at the United States Department of Commerce website for the Bureau of Economic Analysis: http://bea.gov/surveys/diasurv.htm
- BE-10A — Benchmark Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad
- BE-11A — Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad — Report for U.S. Reporter
- BE-11B(LF) — Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad — Report for Majority Owned Foreign Affiliate
- BE-11B(SF) — Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad — Report for Majority Owned Foreign Affiliate
- BE-11C — Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad — Report for Minority Owned Foreign Affiliates
- BE-11 — Annual Survey of U.S. Direct Investment Abroad — Claim for Not Filing
- BE-577 — Direct Transactions of U.S. Reporter with Foreign Affiliate
Foreign Direct Investment in the United States
These forms can be found at the United States Department of Commerce website for the Bureau of Economic Analysis: http://bea.gov/surveys/fdiusurv.htm
- BE-12(LF) — Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.
- BE-12 Bank — Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.
- BE-12(SF) — Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.
- BE-12(X) — Benchmark Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S. — Claim for Exemption from Filing BE-12(LF), BE-12(SF), or BE-12Bank
- Initial Report on a Foreign Person’s Direct or Indirect Acquisition, Establishment, or Purchase of the Operating Assets of a U.S. Business Enterprise, Including Real Estate
- Report by a U.S. Person Who Assists or Intervenes in the Acquisition of a U.S. Business Enterprise by, or Who Enters Into a Joint Venture With, a Foreign Person
Other Surveys
These forms are found at the United States Department of Commerce website for the Bureau of Economic Analysis: http://bea.gov/surveys/fdiusurv.htm
- BE-605 — Transactions of a U.S. Affiliate, Except a U.S. Banking Affiliate, with Foreign Parent
- BE-605 (Bank) — Transactions of a U.S. Affiliate, Except a U.S. Banking Affiliate, with Foreign Parent & Bank, Transactions of U.S. Banking Affiliate with Foreign Parent
- BE-15(LF) — Annual Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.
- BE-15(SF) — Annual Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.
- BE-15 Supplement C — Annual Survey of Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S. — Claim for Exemption from Filing a BE-15(LF) or BE-15(SF)
- BE-22 — Annual Survey of Selected Services Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons
- Ocean Freight Revenues and Foreign Expenses of U.S. Carriers, Foreign Airline Operators’ Revenues and Expenses in the U.S.
- U.S. Airline Operators’ Foreign Revenues and Expenses
- Annual Survey of Construction, Engineering, Architectural, and Mining Services Provided by U.S. Firms to Unaffiliated Foreign Persons
- Annual Survey of Reinsurance and Other Insurance Transactions by U.S. Insurance Companies with Foreign Persons
- BE-93 — Annual Survey of Royalties, License Fees, and Other Receipts and Payments for Intangible Rights Between U.S. and Unaffiliated Foreign Persons
- BE-120 — Benchmark Survey of Selected Services Transactions with Unaffiliated Foreign Persons
- 16 CFR 803—Appendix: Notification and Report Form for Certain Mergers and Acquisitions (this is the “Hart, Scott, Rodino Notification”)
PS.
Just for yucks, go to the IRS website and on their “forms and instructions” page search for forms with the word “foreign” in the “title”.
The list runs to 3 pages.
And don’t forget the good ol’ IRS pubs:
54 (the classic)
Esp. for citizen/resident clients in the USA:
8802 (application for US residency certification. Often the first step in obtaining refunds of excess withholding on certain foreign investments.)
673 Statement for Claiming Exemption from Withholding on Foreign Earned Income Eligible for Exclusion(s) provided by Section 911
Esp. for citizen/resident clients outside USA:
2555 (Foreign earned income exclusion)
1116 (Foreign tax credit for individuals)
8833 (Treaty based return position)
8621 (PFIC)
For NRAs:
8805 (partnership withholding under §1446)
For Businesses:
Form 926 (Return by a U.S. Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation)
I’m sure there’s more but these are the ones I see the most.
A few things I’d add. You could start the presentation going from the most common to less common cases. If you want to put some dramatic effect, comment on the FBAR and FATCA. To close, you them with a leave them with a jaw dropper and do a case example of someone like your potential Canadian IRS Felon with a PFIC/FBAR/FATCA nightmare case study example and how much misery they’re in for just dealing with one of those.
Robert,
This is a good idea.
Also, I’m thinking that since I only have one hour I will limit my speech to stuff a CPA would need in preparing an individual income tax return.
The CalCPA Tax Update and Planning Conference is attended by practitioners who are on their own or in smaller firms and I suspect this will satisfy their needs more than a discussion of corporate tax esoterica.
Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Keep them coming.
If there is some particular problem with a form, please comment about that, too.
I’ll give you an example: how the &^%(*$$ do you make a Form 3520 and Form 3520-A work when you have a Mexican fideicomiso? There are two possible answers:
— One: a fideicomiso is not a foreign trust so you don’t have to do a Form 3520 and the fideicomitente (which is always a Mexican bank) does not have to supply Form 3520-A.
— Two: a fideicomiso is a foreign trust and it does not in any way match the way a fideicomiso ownership interest is acquired and maintained by a U.S. taxpayer.
I’d organize it by the way you’d be a CPA asking the client questions about his International Life. Do you just live overseas or domestic Do you work there, earn an income there? Do you have investments or Asset overseas? Did you receive any gifts property from overseas? etc etc.
New FATCA reporting form 8938
Form 5471, 8865 and 3520.