Foreign Pension Disclosure

[hemmee]

I will start receiving a pension next year from a company that I worked for in the UK over 20 years ago.  I didn't even know I was eligible until a few weeks ago when I got a letter from them notifying me of such.  It's not a pension I contributed to, it's a defined benefit plan.  My questions are:

1. Do I need to disclose this pension on a form 3520 or 8938?  I'm not familiar with these forms or how a defined benefit plan works. 

2. How do I determine a value for the pension when if I'm not receiving benefits yet and have no account statement to make a determination.

Thank you

[DaveF1006 · Accepted solution]

Yes, according to the instructions for 3520: You are a U.S. person (including a U.S. owner) or an executor of the estate of a U.S. person who received, directly or indirectly, a distribution from a foreign trust during the current tax year; or you are a U.S. person who is a U.S. owner or beneficiary of a foreign trust and in the current tax year you or a U.S. person related to you received.  A foreign pension is administered by a foreign trust account thus the distribution needs to be reported on a 3520.

There is also a 8938 requirement to file because a pension is a specified asset according to this IRS link. This needs to be reported if the amount of the pension exceeds $50,000 at any time during the year.

[mdd108]

I have a small UK pension from the Civil Service - I always add it to Miscellaneous Income - other reportable income.  

[DaveF1006]

I forgot to add in my last post  that you will need to contact the pension trust administrator to find out what the value of the pension is because you need this information to report on your 3520 and 8938. Other than this, I don't have any other tips on how you can find out the value of your pension. 

Mdd108, you are correct in reporting this in miscellaneous income>other reportable income. Hopefully, you will receive a statement with your pension distribution you will receive.

@hemmee @mdd108 

[hemmee]

Ok thank you very much