Expat with a pension plan with an employer

[ChristinaTax]

I am a permanent resident of Sweden and a U.S. citizen. I qualify for the foreign tax exclusion. My employer has a pension plan for me which only they pay into every year. Do I have to report this account on my taxes and to fbar if I am not yet retired? Am I taxed on that now? Will I be taxed on it in the future?

If I start a personal fund with stocks with my bank that only I pay into every month? Do I have to report that on my taxes and am I taxed on it every year? 

[SusanY1]

For your pension plan, generally,  you are taxed on the amount of money that the company puts into the plan in the year that they pay it.  It then becomes part of your basis when you withdraw funds from the account later.  

The income that you recognize from the contributions is, however, eligible to be part of the income that you exclude with the Foreign Earned Income and Exclusion.  Therefore, you may actually 

If the contributions are to the Swedish Social Insurance system they may be treated differently due to the Totalization Agreement between the US and Sweden.  

Whether or not you are required to report the account on your FBAR report depends on how it's structured.  If it is deposited to an account segregated for your benefit, you should report it.  If it is deposited to a company account to secure a benefit for you in the future with no specific allocation that is "yours", you would not.  

Any time you're not sure when it comes to FBAR - just list the account.  There is no tax that comes from this and failing to report something can be costly.  Also, in general, if there is an account number assigned to you specifically then that generally indicates it is something that is best to report. 

For the investment part of your question, please see your other post as I had answered there before I saw this one.   

[ChristinaTax]

Hi,

Thank you for answering this so thoroughly and with expertise. When I look at the service document. It lists me as the pension insured and my employer is the insurance owner. I don’t see an account number but I have an insured person’s number. It seems like the money is paying them for a plan and at the time of my retirement, I get the pension released. The company is private. It’s unclear if they are paying taxes to the Swedish government. I cannot take the money out as far as I know.