Form 3520-A

Annual Information Return of Foreign Trust With a U.S. Owner, required by §6048(b). The obligation is the trust's, but the exposure is the US owner's: if the trustee does not file, the owner must file a substitute Form 3520-A to avoid the penalty. The due date catches people out — 15 March, not April, following the trust's tax year, extendable to 15 September on Form 7004. The trust must also furnish an Owner Statement and Beneficiary Statement to the relevant US persons. The §6677(b) penalty is the greater of $10,000 or 5% of the gross value of the trust assets treated as owned by the US person. Certain foreign pension and savings arrangements are treated as trusts under US law even where local law does not, which is how an ordinary retirement account abroad can pull in this form.