Form 8621 (Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund) is not included in the standard TurboTax software package.
According to the official IRS instructions, this form is used for the following (5) circumstances:
1. Receives certain direct or indirect distributions from a PFIC,
2. Recognizes gain on a direct or indirect disposition of PFIC stock,
3. Is reporting information with respect to a QEF or section 1296 mark-to-market election,
4. Is making an election reportable in Part II of the form, or
5. Is required to file an annual report pursuant to section 1298(f).
In practice, however, where I have seen it used the most is for taxpayers to report ownership of foreign mutual funds, hedge funds, and similar investments that have overseas headquarters / operations, but that are not registered securities in the United States.
In order to use and file Form 8621 properly, with TurboTax, a taxpayer would want to complete the rest of their tax return in TurboTax, fill out Form 8621 manually, and then "insert" the completed Form 8621 into their tax return documents (using Attachment Sequence Number 69). Finally, they would then paper-file (not e-file) their complete tax return, including Form 8621. This tax return filing would be sent to the normal, regular, IRS office where taxpayers in that person's particular state routinely file.
Note: please see the attached picture file illustration at the bottom of this text for an example of where to look for the "Attachment Sequence" number of any IRS tax form; simply click the picture to open.
Alternatively, Form 8621 can be paper-filed, manually, by mailing it alone to the "
Internal Revenue Service Center, Ogden, UT 84201-0201." In that case the remainder of the taxpayer's return could be e-filed.
However, if a US taxpayer is otherwise filing an individual tax return (
i.e., the Form 1040 series), then it is more proper (per IRS guidance) to include Form 8621 with the rest of that taxpayer's regular return.
Please see Page 1 of the Form 8621 instructions at the following link to confirm:
https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8621.pdfBecause there is no actual tax due with the filing of Form 8621, however, as a practical matter it should be acceptable to file it by either method (with or without the rest of your return), as it is simply a disclosure and compliance document.
Thank you for asking this question.
