Free · reporting and tax kept apart
I received money or assets from abroad. What U.S. reporting may apply?
Usually a reporting question, not a tax one. Gifts and bequests from non-U.S. people above $100,000 in a year go on Form 3520; receiving them is generally not taxable. A trust, a company as the giver, or funds and business interests in what you received are what add work.
This assessment reads each gift or inheritance, separates what may need reporting from what may be taxable on every line, and opens a PFIC or business check only where it is needed.
Describe what you received
One gift or inheritance at a time: who gave it, roughly how much, in what form, and where it is now. The result separates what may need reporting from whether anything is taxable — usually it is not.
About 2 minutes per gift. Results before any email.
What the assessment looks at
- Who gave it
- A non-U.S. person or estate, a foreign company, a trust, or a U.S. person — each leads to a different answer.
- How much, roughly
- In ranges built around the reporting thresholds.
- What it was
- Money, funds, shares, property or a business interest.
- When and where
- The year (thresholds are per year) and where it is held now.
Who it is for
U.S. citizens, green card holders and U.S. residents who received a gift, an inheritance or a trust distribution from abroad.
What it does not do
It does not value assets, compute a trust's accumulated income, or decide whether a payment from a company was really a gift. It names what may need reporting and what may be taxable, and routes the rest.
Questions people ask
Do I need Form 3520 for a foreign inheritance?
If you are a U.S. person and gifts or bequests from non-U.S. individuals or estates total more than $100,000 in a year (gifts from related people are added together), Form 3520 reports them. Gifts from foreign companies or partnerships are reportable above a lower, indexed amount, and distributions from a foreign trust are reportable whatever the amount.
Is a foreign inheritance taxable in the U.S.?
Generally not to the person who receives it: a gift or inheritance is not income, and the U.S. has no inheritance tax on the recipient. Form 3520 is an information return — the penalty is for not reporting, not a tax on the gift. What the money earns afterwards is taxable.