Ireland

An occupational pension scheme is one an employer sets up for its employees; membership is confined to the employer's employees, and where the employer is a company that includes its officers, directors and managers.¹ For Revenue to approve the scheme the employer must contribute,² while members need not.³ A scheme may be defined benefit, defined contribution or a hybrid, contributory or not, and each scheme has its own rules.^4,5 Members may also pay additional voluntary contributions (AVCs).⁶ A master trust or an insured scheme is the same in law: Revenue's trust condition can be met by a trust condition in an insured scheme's policy.⁷

Tax relief on members' contributions is limited to an age-related percentage of earnings, from 15% under 30 to 40% from 60, on earnings up to €115,000.^8,9 Benefits may be paid from 50 on early retirement, or at any age on ill-health,^10,11 and the lump sum is at most 1.5 times final remuneration, tax-free up to a lifetime €200,000.^12,13 At retirement a defined contribution member, or a defined benefit member who is a proprietary director (Revenue also calls them 5% directors),¹⁴ can take the balance after the lump sum in cash, taxed as income, buy an annuity, or move it to an Approved Retirement Fund (ARF), and any other defined benefit member can do the same with the benefits from their AVCs.^15,16,17

A foreign trust, on our reading: Irish law exempts a scheme only if it is under irrevocable trusts, bar a Revenue direction.

A foreign trust, on our reading. Irish tax law gives an approved scheme its exemptions only if Revenue is satisfied it is established under irrevocable trusts, or directs that they apply to another approved scheme,¹⁸ and Revenue's notes say the irrevocable trusts mean the disposal of the scheme's assets is governed by its approved terms.¹⁹ The scheme's trustees must see to the proper investment of its resources.²⁰ Trustees holding the scheme's assets for its members is what makes an arrangement a trust for U.S. purposes.²¹ A scheme governed by Irish law and run in Ireland meets neither test for a domestic trust, so it is foreign.^22,23

No IRS guidance addresses Irish schemes. An investment trust whose trustee can vary its investments is not classified as a trust,²⁴ but we read a pension scheme held in trust as one: an approved scheme exists for the sole purpose of providing benefits for service, and no pension can be surrendered, commuted or assigned beyond the retirement lump sum,^25,26 and those are features of the funds the IRS has ruled privately are trusts, one of them a fund whose members chose their own investments.^27,28 The Pensions Act also provides for schemes not set up under a trust, treating their administrator as the trustees;²⁹ a scheme Revenue exempts by direction without a trust is the exception, and the cautious course reads it as a trust too.

A §402(b) employees' trust on our reading; AVCs, salary sacrifice and contributions you can stop are your own.

No IRS ruling addresses Irish schemes, though the IRS has ruled privately that a similar foreign fund, with mandatory employer contributions and personal accounts, is a §402(b) trust.³⁰ We read an Irish occupational scheme as a §402(b) employees' trust: the employer must pay in for the scheme to be approved,² and a trust created outside the United States cannot be exempt under U.S. §501(a).³¹ §402(d) treats a foreign trust as exempt only if it would otherwise qualify,³² and on our reading nothing suggests this plan meets §401(a).

On that reading, employer contributions are U.S. income to you in the year they are paid, to the extent they are vested,^33,34 and the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover them.³⁵ You are not treated as owner of the part they fund.³⁶ In a defined contribution scheme, on our reading, employer money is vested as paid: a leaver with at least two years' qualifying service keeps a preserved benefit, and one with less gets back the employer's contributions as well as their own.^37,38 In a defined benefit scheme a leaver with less than two years gets back the contributions paid by or on behalf of them, words that, unlike the defined contribution rule, do not name the employer's,³⁹ so on our reading the employer-funded benefit vests at two years. No IRS guidance addresses Irish vesting.

Your own money, for the count below, is what you choose to put in. AVCs are paid on a voluntary basis,⁶ and Revenue treats salary sacrifice as an application of your own income rather than an expense of the employer;⁴⁰ an amount contributed at an employee's election is treated as the employee's,⁴¹ and the IRS's reading of a similar fund treats amounts paid in at the employee's election as the employee's own, taxed as pay.⁴² Contributions you can stop, or avoid by leaving the scheme while staying in the job, are your own on the same reading: under the U.S. rules for §401(k) plans, which apply here only by analogy, automatic enrollment with a right to opt out still counts as an election.⁴³ Contributions the scheme's rules take from your pay as a condition of membership, where you cannot leave while you stay employed, count as your employer's, on the IRS Chief Counsel's reading of Singapore's fund, which is not precedent,⁴⁴ and so does a one-time irrevocable choice made when you join.⁴⁵ Approval does not need members to contribute,³ and schemes set their own rules about contributions within the rules in legislation,⁴⁶ so your scheme's rules decide which yours are. Where the documents don't show which, this guide counts them as your own for the forms, the cautious course; on the employer's reading they are §402(b) income, which the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover.³⁵

Once your own contributions have come to exceed your employer's, counted from the first payment, you are treated as owner of the part your contributions fund, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met.⁴⁷ In a defined benefit scheme the employer's contribution for you may not be known; where it is not, the regulations work it out by actuarial methods.⁴⁸ No contribution to a §402(b) trust is a Part I event, your own included.⁴⁹ Payouts from the employer's part are taxed under §72 when they are paid or made available to you,^50,51 and they stay off Part III if you report them as compensation income,^52,53 unlike payouts from a part you own.⁵⁴

Retirement. An amount is made available, on the IRS Chief Counsel's reading of a similar fund, whenever you could receive it just by giving notice that you want it.⁵⁵ Once you can take the balance in cash at retirement,¹⁵ it may be made available to you, and taxed, whether you take it, move it to an ARF or leave it; whether choosing a pension the trustees pay instead escapes that is not settled. The scheme may buy an annuity for you at retirement.⁵⁶ Where a trust distributes an annuity contract, a regulation counts the contract's entire value as the distribution,⁵⁷ so on our reading an annuity bought in your name is a payout of its whole value that year, while a pension the trustees keep paying from the scheme is taxed as each payment is paid.⁵⁰

If you are a highly compensated employee and one reason the scheme is not exempt is that it fails the U.S. coverage tests, you include your vested balance, less what has already been taxed to you, in income each year instead;⁵⁸ those tests leave out nonresident aliens with no U.S.-source earned income from the employer.⁵⁹ A plan for one employee or a few chosen ones has its own block below.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17: possible, not settled: relief is limited, not contributions; refunds on leaving; no rule on who is covered.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual (one who has filed U.S. returns and reported the scheme's income as U.S. law requires)⁶⁰ from Forms 3520 and 3520-A for a retirement trust that meets its conditions,⁶¹ each a requirement established by the laws of the trust's jurisdiction.⁶² An Irish scheme points toward several. It is tax-favored: its investment income is exempt and members' contributions get relief.^63,8,64 Under Irish payroll rules, as the automatic enrolment law describes them, an employer notifies Revenue of pension deductions from pay and of its own pension contributions on or before each payment of pay,^65,66 which on our reading meets the reporting condition, though it is reported pay by pay rather than yearly.⁶⁷ Members are employees paying from their pay, and earnings taxed as a trade or profession cannot be provided for under an approved scheme.^1,68,69 Benefits wait for early retirement from 50, or ill-health.^10,11,70

Three conditions are open. The limit: Rev. Proc. 2020-17 wants contributions limited by a percentage of earned income or a dollar cap,⁷¹ but Ireland limits relief, not contributions, and Revenue restricts members' contributions only so that benefits stay within approvable limits.^8,72 Payouts: a member who leaves with less than two years' service gets a refund, taxed at 20%,^73,74 which is not tied to retirement, death or disability, and whether the 20% tax counts as a penalty on early withdrawal is not settled.⁷⁰ And who is covered: an employer's trust must let a wide range of employees, rank and file included, take part, alone or with comparable plans,⁷⁵ but Irish law sets no such rule: membership need not be open to all employees, and a scheme may cover a single employee or ones chosen at the employer's discretion.⁷⁶ My Future Fund is not the employer's plan to count with it: an independent State body runs it.⁷⁷ With no IRS guidance on Irish schemes, whether Rev. Proc. 2020-17 covers them is not settled.

The proposed regulations, which you may rely on now if you apply them in full and consistently with related persons,⁷⁸ let a value test stand in for a contribution limit: your funds in Ireland together at or under US$600,000 at every point in the year (adjusted for inflation from 2026).⁷⁹ They keep the payout condition in the same words and the employer condition,^80,81 so the refund and coverage points stay open there.

No deferral: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax; Article 18(5) is only for people who are neither citizens nor green card holders.

No deferral. Under Article 18(1)(a) of the U.S.-Ireland treaty, pensions and similar remuneration paid to a resident of one country for past employment are taxable only in that country,⁸² and the Technical Explanation reads that as covering lump sums too.⁸³ But the saving clause lets the United States tax its residents and citizens as if the treaty had not come into effect,⁸⁴ and among the provisions it spares are Article 18(1)(b) and 18(4), for everyone, and Article 18(5), only for people who are neither citizens nor green card holders.^85,86 So a U.S. citizen or resident pays U.S. tax on an Irish pension and lump sum, Ireland's tax-free lump sum included, and no article defers U.S. tax on the scheme's income. Tax Ireland charges beyond what the treaty allows is not a creditable foreign tax, so claim it back from Revenue.⁸⁷

Article 18(5) lets someone working for a while in the other country deduct contributions to a plan from home, for up to five calendar years, only for a plan that country's competent authority has agreed generally corresponds to its own;⁸⁸ it covers both employees and the self-employed,⁸⁹ and the United States grants it only to people who are neither U.S. citizens nor green card holders.^86,90 The Technical Explanation lists only U.S. plans that qualify,⁹¹ and we found no agreement naming an Irish one. Contributions it keeps out of income give no basis, so they are taxed when paid out.⁹² Disclosing a treaty position on Form 8833 is waived for pensions, annuities and pay.⁹³

A green card holder whom the treaty's tie-breaker treats as resident only in Ireland is not a U.S. resident for the treaty, and the saving clause reaches residents as Article 4 determines them, so it does not reach that person, though a U.S. citizen stays subject to it.^94,84 Such a person can figure their U.S. tax as a nonresident, filing Form 1040-NR with Form 8833,⁹⁵ but is still treated as a U.S. resident for other purposes,⁹⁶ so the cautious course is to keep filing Forms 3520 and 3520-A unless you rely on the proposed regulations, which treat you as not a U.S. person for that time.^97,78 For a long-term resident, starting to be treated as resident abroad under a treaty, without waiving its benefits, ends lawful permanent residence for tax purposes, and that is an expatriation.^98,99

Part II and 3520-A for the part your own money funds, once it exceeds your employer's; Part III for payouts and moves out.

Read as a §402(b) trust: no Part I for any contribution.⁴⁹ No Part II or Form 3520-A for the employer-funded part; Part II and Form 3520-A can apply if your own contributions, AVCs and salary sacrifice included, come to exceed your employer's, and are then due each year for the part they fund.^36,47,100 No Part III for payouts from the employer-funded part that you report as compensation income.⁵² Part III can apply if you receive a payout from a part you own, which goes on lines 24 and 27,⁵⁴ or, on the cautious course, if money moves out of the scheme, into a buy-out bond, an ARF, a Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) or an annuity bought in your name, or is made available to you at retirement, unless you report it as compensation income: an amount made available is received constructively, and line 24 covers what you receive actually or constructively.^101,55 On that course the amount for a year is what is first made available in that year, not the whole balance again each year.⁵⁰ Money counted as made available in an earlier year and paid out later goes on Part III when it is paid, with a statement naming the year it was counted, whether or not it went on Part III that year: the count was a constructive receipt and the payout is the actual one, and line 24 covers what you receive actually or constructively, whether or not it is taxable; what was taxed when it was made available is basis by then, not compensation income you report, so the compensation exception does not take it off.^101,102,52 On the cautious course, a payout that mixes that money with growth or other money taxed only when it is paid goes on Part III in full, the part you report as compensation income included, since the exception covers a distribution you report as compensation income and part of this one is not.^101,52 No Form 4970: payouts from a §402(b) trust are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules, and the income of a part you own is taxed to you each year.^50,103,104 If the scheme does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁰⁵

If the scheme is not treated as a §402(b) trust, each contribution you make is a Part I transfer and you are treated as owner of the part it funds, so Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, and Part III all apply.^{106,107,100,108} Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the scheme is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹⁰⁹ Either way, an eligible individual whose scheme qualifies under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 or the proposed regulations files none of them.^61,78 On our reading the exemption also spares your executor the report of your death, if you were an eligible individual and the plan qualified: it covers an eligible individual's transactions with, or ownership of, the trust, and an eligible individual can be someone who at any time was a U.S. citizen or resident.^110,111,112 No IRS guidance names executors, and the revenue procedure's scope speaks of the eligible individual who would otherwise report.¹¹³

A death benefit the trustees pay to you as the U.S. beneficiary of a member is, on the cautious course, a payout from a foreign trust that goes on Part III;¹⁰⁸ whether it can count instead toward Part IV has not been researched. A spouse's share of a benefit under a pension adjustment order, an order under the family law Acts, is not covered here.¹¹⁴ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

An approved scheme may cover a single employee or employees chosen at the employer's discretion,⁷⁶ and where the employer is a company its directors count as employees.¹ A one-member arrangement is a scheme set up for one person as its only member, who decides how its resources are invested;¹¹⁷ a one-member trust RAC, a retirement annuity trust scheme for one person, is in the trust RAC block. A scheme with fewer than 12 members is generally regarded as small,¹¹⁸ and Revenue approves a small self-administered scheme only if its trustees include a Revenue-approved pensioneer trustee, who carries duties beyond those of trust law.¹¹⁹

A foreign trust, on our reading, as for occupational schemes; choosing your own investments doesn't change that.

A foreign trust, on our reading, for the same reasons as an occupational scheme: exemption needs irrevocable trusts unless Revenue directs otherwise,¹⁸ and trustees hold the scheme's assets for the member.²¹ Choosing your own investments goes beyond the facts of the IRS's private ruling, whose fund let members pick from a list the trustee chose.²⁸ We read it as not changing the answer, because the retirement purpose and the bar on assignment still apply,^25,26,24 but no IRS guidance addresses it. Governed by Irish law and run in Ireland, the scheme is foreign.^22,23

As for occupational schemes, but if you control the employer, its payments count as yours on the cautious course.

As for an occupational scheme: on our reading a §402(b) employees' trust, since the employer must pay in for approval,^2,32 with employer money taxed when vested and your own money, AVCs included, counted toward the Part II test.^33,47 Where you control the company that employs you, you decide what it pays in; no IRS guidance says whether that makes its contributions your own, and that is not settled, so the cautious course counts them as your own for the forms, which brings Part II and Form 3520-A for the whole plan from the start; on the employer's reading they are §402(b) income, which the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover.^47,41,35

The highly compensated employee rule is the clearer risk here. If one reason the scheme is not exempt is that it fails the U.S. coverage tests, a highly compensated employee includes the vested balance, less what has already been taxed, in income each year;⁵⁸ a plan for one executive fails those tests unless every other employee counted is left out, as nonresident aliens with no U.S.-source earned income from the employer are.⁵⁹ Whether it applies to you is not settled; ask an adviser.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 and the proposed rules: unlikely for a plan for selected staff, unless read with the employer's other plans.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 and the proposed regulations both require an employer's trust to let a wide range of employees, rank and file included, take part, alone or in combination with the employer's other comparable plans,^75,81 and Irish law lets a scheme cover a single employee or chosen ones.⁷⁶ So a plan for one executive is unlikely to qualify unless read with a group scheme the employer runs, and the other conditions are as for an occupational scheme.⁶¹ The proposed regulations' value test can stand in for a contribution limit, but not for the employer condition.^79,78

No deferral: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax, as for occupational schemes.

As for an occupational scheme: no deferral, since the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on Article 18(1)(a) pensions and lump sums,^84,82 and Article 18(5) helps only someone who is neither a citizen nor a green card holder.⁸⁶

Part II and 3520-A once your own money exceeds your employer's, or from the start if you control it; Part III for payouts.

Read as a §402(b) trust, as for an occupational scheme: no Part I for any contribution.⁴⁹ No Part II or Form 3520-A for the employer-funded part; Part II and Form 3520-A can apply if your own contributions come to exceed your employer's, or, on the cautious course, from the start if you control the company that pays in, and are then due each year for the part they fund.^36,47,100 No Part III for payouts from the employer-funded part that you report as compensation income.⁵² Part III can apply if you receive a payout from a part you own, on lines 24 and 27,⁵⁴ or, on the cautious course, if money moves out or is made available to you at retirement, unless you report it as compensation income.^101,55 On that course the amount for a year is what is first made available in that year, not the whole balance again each year.⁵⁰ Money counted as made available in an earlier year and paid out later goes on Part III when it is paid, with a statement naming the year it was counted, whether or not it went on Part III that year: the count was a constructive receipt and the payout is the actual one, and line 24 covers what you receive actually or constructively, whether or not it is taxable; what was taxed when it was made available is basis by then, not compensation income you report, so the compensation exception does not take it off.^101,102,52 On the cautious course, a payout that mixes that money with growth or other money taxed only when it is paid goes on Part III in full, the part you report as compensation income included, since the exception covers a distribution you report as compensation income and part of this one is not.^101,52 No Form 4970: payouts from a §402(b) trust are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules.^50,103 If the trustees do not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁰⁵

If the plan is not a §402(b) trust, Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, and Part III all apply.^{106,107,100,108} Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the plan is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹⁰⁹ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

My Future Fund is the automatic enrolment retirement savings system, run by the National Automatic Enrolment Retirement Savings Authority (NAERSA), an independent State body;⁷⁷ enrolment and contributions began on 1 January 2026.¹²⁰ An employee is enrolled for a pay period if aged at least 23 and under 60, in employment that is not exempt, with pay of at least €20,000 a year;¹²¹ an employment is exempt where pension contributions for the employee are deducted from pay, or paid by the employer, to a qualifying occupational scheme, PRSA, trust RAC (a retirement annuity trust scheme) or a Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP).¹²²

The participant, the employer and the State each pay in, on gross pay up to €80,000 a year.^123,124 You and your employer each pay 1.5% in years 1 to 3, rising to 3%, 4.5% and then 6%, and the State 0.5%, rising to 2%.^125,126 Your employer deducts your share from your pay and is discharged as if it had paid you that sum.¹²⁷ Your share gets no tax relief, and the State's top-up is paid instead; your employer's share is free of benefit-in-kind tax, and the State's of income tax.^128,129,130

You may opt out only in windows more than 6 and not more than 8 months after enrolment, re-enrolment or a rate step,¹³¹ and you then get back your own contributions for the period, or after a rate step only the extra part,^132,133 while the employer's and State's stay invested.¹³⁴ At pensionable age, which the Act takes from the social welfare law, where the State pension is payable from 66,^135,136 the Authority tells you the balance is eligible for withdrawal and pays it as a lump sum when you apply, 25% of it tax-free;^{137,138,139,140} earlier only on incapacity or exceptional ill-health.¹⁴¹

Not settled: a State authority holds the units on your behalf, locked until pensionable age. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses My Future Fund. The argument that it is a trust: the units your contributions buy are registered in the Authority's name and held by it on your behalf,^142,143 recorded in an account it keeps for you,¹⁴⁴ and locked until pensionable age except on incapacity or ill-health.^137,141 The Authority does more than hold title: it assigns contributions to a risk level and pays out the balance,^145,139 so the ruling on a holder that only holds title does not decide it.¹⁴⁶ IRS Chief Counsel read Singapore's statutory fund as a §402(b) employees' trust, in advice that is not precedent.⁴⁴

The argument that it is not: that advice rested on a fund the law held in trust for covered employees,¹⁴⁷ while the Act never calls My Future Fund a trust; the Authority holds units in investment funds much as a nominee would,^142,148 and Revenue speaks of the participant as the individual beneficially entitled to the assets.¹⁴⁹ With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹⁵⁰ this guide takes the cautious course of reading it as a trust, and a foreign one, since Irish law governs it and it is run in Ireland.^22,23

Cautious: a §402(b) employees' trust. Your share is your own; whether the State's top-up is yours is not settled.

On the cautious reading it is a §402(b) employees' trust: the employer must pay in for each participant,¹²³ as in the fund of the IRS's private ruling and the CPF advice.^30,44 Employer contributions stay in the fund if you opt out,¹³⁴ so on our reading they vest as paid, and they are U.S. income when paid;³³ the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover them.³⁵

Your share is your own money, on our reading. Your employer deducts it and is discharged as if it had paid you that sum,¹²⁷ and you may opt out in set windows and have it repaid,^131,132 which under the U.S. rules for §401(k) plans, applied here only by analogy, still makes automatic enrollment an election.^43,42

The State's top-up is not settled. It is worked out on your pay and paid into your account,^123,126 which reads as yours; a government payment is income unless an exclusion applies, and the general welfare exclusion needs a payment based on need,¹⁵¹ so on that reading it may be U.S. income when paid in. On the other reading the State is a contributor, as the U.S. Saver's Match is not income until it is paid out.^152,153 It decides Part II: your rate equals your employer's,¹²⁵ and you are owner of the part your own money funds only once yours exceeds the employer's, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met,⁴⁷ which, with the top-up counted as yours, happens once the first top-up is paid in: your share and your employer's go in with your pay, and the top-up when the Authority notifies the Minister.^154,155 The cautious course counts it as yours. After an opt-out in the first windows your share is refunded and the employer's stays,¹³⁴ so from then on the employer's part is the larger.

Payouts from the employer's part are taxed under §72 when paid or made available.⁵⁰ At pensionable age the Authority tells you the balance is eligible for withdrawal and pays it when you apply,^138,139 so on the IRS Chief Counsel's reading of a similar fund it is made available, and taxed, from then, whether or not you apply.⁵⁵

Rev. Proc. 2020-17: possible, not settled: refunds when you opt out are not tied to retirement.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual for a retirement trust that meets its conditions.^60,61 My Future Fund points toward several: the State's contribution and the tax-free employer share make it tax-favored;^128,129,64 the Authority and Revenue may share information;^156,67 contributions are a percentage of gross pay up to €80,000;^{124,125,69,71} and payouts wait for pensionable age, incapacity or ill-health.^137,141 But a refund when you opt out is tied to none of those, and Ireland does not tax it,^134,70 so that condition is open. On our reading the employer condition does not apply, since the Authority, not the employer, maintains the fund.^77,75 So whether it qualifies is not settled. The proposed regulations use the same words on payouts,^80,78 so the same point stays open there.

No relief: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax.

No relief. A payout is a pension under Article 18(1)(a), which the saving clause leaves taxable in the United States for its citizens and residents.^82,84

On the cautious course, Part II and 3520-A once the first State top-up is paid in; Part III for opt-out refunds and payouts.

Read as a §402(b) trust: no Part I for any contribution.⁴⁹ Part II and Form 3520-A can apply if your own money exceeds your employer's, which on the cautious course, counting the State's top-up as yours, is once the first top-up is paid in; they are then due each year for the part your money and the top-up fund.^47,100 Part III can apply if you get an opt-out refund, a payout from the part you own that goes on lines 24 and 27,⁵⁴ or a payout at pensionable age or on ill-health, and on the cautious course once the balance is made available to you, unless you report the employer's part as compensation income.^101,52 On that course the amount for a year is what is first made available in that year, not the whole balance again each year.⁵⁰ Money counted as made available in an earlier year and paid out later goes on Part III when it is paid, with a statement naming the year it was counted, whether or not it went on Part III that year: the count was a constructive receipt and the payout is the actual one, and line 24 covers what you receive actually or constructively, whether or not it is taxable; what was taxed when it was made available is basis by then, not compensation income you report, so the compensation exception does not take it off.^101,102,52 On the cautious course, a payout that mixes that money with growth or other money taxed only when it is paid goes on Part III in full, the part you report as compensation income included, since the exception covers a distribution you report as compensation income and part of this one is not.^101,52 No Form 4970: payouts from a §402(b) trust are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules.^50,103 If the Authority does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520, built from the yearly statement of what you, your employer and the State paid in.^105,157

If it is not a trust, none of these apply.¹⁰⁶ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

Most public service pension schemes are unfunded: benefits are paid on a pay-as-you-go basis from current revenue,¹⁵⁸ and new public servants since 1 January 2013 are, in general, in the Single Public Service Pension Scheme.¹⁵⁹ A statutory scheme is one established by or under an enactment.¹⁶⁰ Defined benefit schemes in the commercial semi-state sector, by contrast, generally hold an invested fund.¹⁶¹ One run as a Revenue-approved trust follows the occupational schemes block; one established by statute is not covered here, since no IRS guidance says whether it is a trust, and on the cautious course it also follows that block.

Not a trust: an unfunded scheme pays pensions from current revenue, with no fund of assets.

Not a trust for an unfunded scheme: benefits come from current revenue,¹⁵⁸ and a trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees holding property for the beneficiaries.²¹

Does not apply: there is no trust to contribute to.

§402(b) reaches an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and an unfunded scheme has no trust.¹⁵⁸

Not needed.

§6048 reaches only foreign trusts.¹⁰⁶

Taxed only in Ireland unless you are a U.S. resident and national; U.S. citizens and green card holders are taxed either way.

Article 19(2) makes a pension paid by Ireland or out of its funds for services to it taxable only in Ireland, unless the person is a resident and a national of the United States, when it is taxable only in the United States.¹⁶² The saving clause keeps Article 19 only for someone who is neither a U.S. citizen nor a green card holder, so U.S. citizens and green card holders are taxed in the United States either way.^84,86 A pension for services in connection with a business the State carries on, as in a commercial semi-state body, falls under the pension article instead.¹⁶³

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A for an unfunded scheme.

For an unfunded scheme: no Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970, since Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.^106,100,108 FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

You are entitled to the State pension (contributory) once you have applied, reached pensionable age and met the contribution conditions,¹⁶⁴ and it is payable at 66.¹³⁶ Social insurance payments come out of the Social Insurance Fund's current account, which the Minister manages.¹⁶⁵

Not a trust: a statutory benefit from a pooled State fund, with no account for you.

Not a trust: the pension is a statutory entitlement paid from a pooled State fund,^164,165 and a trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees holding property for the beneficiaries.²¹

Does not apply: there is no employees' trust.

§402(b) reaches an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and there is none here.¹⁶⁵

Not needed.

§6048 reaches only foreign trusts.¹⁰⁶

Taxed only in the U.S. for a U.S. resident; a U.S. citizen living in Ireland gets no such rule and can be taxed in both.

Article 18(1)(b) makes social security a country pays to a resident of the other taxable only in the other,¹⁶⁶ and the saving clause spares it for everyone.⁸⁵ So the Irish State Pension paid to a U.S. resident is taxed only in the United States, where foreign social security is taxed as an annuity unless a treaty exempts it or treats it as U.S. Social Security,¹⁶⁷ and Article 18(1)(b) only says which country may tax it.¹⁶⁶ That article does not reach the State Pension Ireland pays to someone living in Ireland, so a U.S. citizen living there is taxed on it in the United States as if the treaty had not come into effect, with a credit for the Irish tax.^166,84,168 U.S. Social Security paid to a U.S. citizen living in Ireland is exempt from U.S. tax.^169,170 A U.S. citizen is a U.S. resident for the treaty only with a substantial presence, permanent home or habitual abode in the United States.¹⁷¹ The Technical Explanation's Article 18 passage says paragraphs 1 to 3 are subject to the saving clause, which conflicts with Article 1(5)(a) and with its own Article 1 passage for paragraph 1(b); the treaty text governs.^172,85 A social security agreement with Ireland is in force.¹⁷³

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A, and Form 8938 does not count it.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts, and the State Pension is not one.^106,100,108 Form 8938 does not count a foreign government's social security.¹⁷⁴ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

A Personal Retirement Savings Account (PRSA) is an account a contributor sets up with a PRSA provider under a PRSA contract,¹⁷⁵ and the providers are investment firms, insurers and credit institutions.¹⁷⁶ Anyone may contribute, though not everyone gets tax relief,¹⁷⁷ and an employer may contribute too: since 2025, up to 100% of the employee's pay in the year without a benefit-in-kind charge.¹⁷⁸ An employer with no scheme open to an employee must give access to a Standard PRSA and deduct from pay what the employee asks.¹⁷⁹ A Standard PRSA may hold only pooled funds, apart from cash for liquidity.¹⁸⁰ A PRSA that takes an occupational scheme member's AVCs is still a PRSA,¹⁸¹ and a Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) follows these PRSA blocks by its provider, on our reading.¹⁸²

Before payments are invested, a provider that is not an insurer must hold them in a custodian account, clearly identifiable and legally separate from its own assets.¹⁸³ The custodian keeps cash and securities, but not policies of insurance or units in collective investment schemes,¹⁸⁴ and the PRSA assets are the assets held on your behalf in the PRSA, an employer's contributions included.¹⁸⁵ You are their beneficial owner by statute, and no charge may be put on them.^186,187 The provider must send a statement at least every 6 months, separating your contributions from your employer's where appropriate.¹⁸⁸

Benefits may be taken from 60, from 50 for an employed contributor, or at any age on permanent incapacity; up to 25% is tax-free, and the rest can buy an annuity, be taken in cash, go to an ARF or stay in the PRSA as a vested PRSA, from which you may draw down as and when you choose.^189,190 Before then the provider may pay the assets out only as the tax law allows, or as a refund of €650 or less after 2 years without contributions.¹⁹¹ From the year you are 60 for the whole year, a vested PRSA bears a yearly imputed distribution of 4%, 5% or 6%, taxed as if withdrawn.^192,193

Not settled: the provider and its custodian hold for you as statutory beneficial owner, under a lock. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses PRSAs. Federal law, not Ireland's label, decides.¹⁹⁴ The argument that it may be a trust: the provider holds the assets on your behalf, a custodian keeps cash and securities for the provider, and you are by statute their beneficial owner,^185,195,186 so legal title sits in one person and the benefit in another, the shape of a trust.²¹ The provider does more than hold title: it invests contributions under a default investment strategy and may not pay the assets out before retirement except as the law allows,^196,191 so the narrow ruling on a holder that only holds title does not decide it.¹⁴⁶

The argument that it is not: you own the assets beneficially and the provider and custodian keep them, which is the case of a holder who only holds and transfers title at the owner's direction and is no trustee.¹⁴⁸ Once you start drawing on it, a vested PRSA has no lock, and Revenue says its income and assets are beneficially owned by you.^189,197 With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹⁵⁰ this guide takes the cautious course of reading it as a trust, before and after vesting, and a foreign one, governed by Irish law and run in Ireland.^22,23 That is the course this site takes for a UK stocks and shares ISA.

Not settled where an employer pays in: Revenue calls it a sponsored scheme. Cautious: your own money, as the statute counts it.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust.³³ On our reading it does not apply to a PRSA, even where an employer pays in: a PRSA is your own contract with the provider, and the statute counts the value of an employer's contributions among the assets held on your behalf, which you own beneficially.^175,185,186

The strongest point against: Revenue deems a PRSA an employer pays into to be an arrangement within a sponsored superannuation scheme,¹⁹⁸ which points to an employer plan and so to a §402(b) employees' trust, with no Part I. Revenue does not treat the employer's payment as your pay: within the employer limit it is no benefit in kind.¹⁷⁸ So the U.S. character of an employer's PRSA payment is not settled; this guide reports it as yours for the forms, and on a §402(b) reading the foreign earned income exclusion would not cover it.³⁵

Unlikely under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 and the proposed regulations: anyone may pay in, whatever their earnings.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 is unlikely. A PRSA is tax-favored, with its investment income exempt,^199,64 and benefits wait for 60, or 50 for an employed contributor, or incapacity.^190,70 But contributions must come only from earned income,⁶⁹ and anyone may contribute to a PRSA.¹⁷⁷ The proposed regulations need that only "generally", with allowance for limited contributions by the unemployed,^200,78 which is narrower than an account open to anyone, so they are unlikely to help either. A vested PRSA you can draw on as you choose meets no payout condition at all.^189,80 The employer condition does not apply to a plan no employer maintains.⁷⁵

No deferral: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on payouts.

No deferral. Payouts are taxed in the United States for its citizens and residents: a pension under Article 18(1)(a) is subject to the saving clause,^82,84 and the Technical Explanation reads "pensions and other similar remuneration" as covering all private retirement plans and arrangements for past employment, an IRA included,²⁰¹ so a PRSA you fund yourself probably fits; if it does not, the U.S. result is the same. Revenue taxes drawdowns from a vested PRSA whatever your residence and will not let the provider pay an owner who is not resident in Ireland without deducting Irish tax;¹⁹⁷ whether Irish tax on a payout is creditable, and in which year, is outside this guide.⁸⁷

On the cautious course, full reporting, as for a foreign trust you own, with Part I for money that goes in.

On the cautious course, you report it as a foreign trust you own: you are treated as owner, including for money paid in before you became a U.S. person, because its income is held for you,^202,107 so Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year for the whole account,¹⁰⁰ and payouts, drawdowns from a vested PRSA included, go on Part III, lines 24 and 27, as payouts to an owner.^108,54 Part I can apply if money goes in: each contribution you make as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer, an employer's included as made for you, and so is money moved in from an occupational scheme or a RAC, and one made within 5 years before your U.S. residency started is treated as made on your residency starting date and goes on Part I for that year.^106,203,204 Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the PRSA is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹⁰⁹ If the provider does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁰⁵ No Form 4970, because the income is taxed to you each year.¹⁰⁴

The yearly imputed distribution is an Irish tax charge on money that stays in the account,¹⁹² so Part III reports what actually leaves it. Before benefits start, a PRSA passes on death to the estate.²⁰⁵ Whether what a U.S. heir of a saver who was not a U.S. person then receives is a bequest from a foreign estate, on Part IV, or a distribution from the PRSA, on Part III, is not settled; on the reading of a PRSA as a trust, the cautious course reports it on Part III, as the gifts section says.^206,207 Once drawdown has begun, a payment from the vested PRSA to a U.S. heir of a saver who was not a U.S. person is, on the reading of a PRSA as a trust, a payout from a foreign trust, and the cautious course reports it on Part III;¹⁰⁸ whether it can carry out income kept in earlier years, with Form 4970, is not settled.²⁰⁸ If it is not a trust, none of these apply, and you own the assets directly.¹⁴⁸ The funds a PRSA holds may be subject to the PFIC rules; this guide does not decide that. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

An insurer that is a PRSA provider confines its PRSA business to effecting and carrying out life assurance policies, and is relieved of the duty to enter into a custodian contract.^209,210 Who may pay in, when benefits may be taken, the statements and the rest are as for a PRSA with an investment firm or bank.^177,189,188

Not settled: a life policy, yet the statute makes you beneficial owner of its assets. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses PRSAs. The argument that it is not a trust: the provider is a licensed insurer whose PRSA business is confined to life assurance policies,²⁰⁹ the Code treats insurance companies as corporations,²¹¹ and a policy is a contract with the insurer, not property a trustee holds for you.²¹ The strongest authority the other way, the private ruling that held a foreign pension entity a trust, concerned a body for covered employees who could not assign their interests, not policies an insurer sells to the public.²⁷ Under a unit-linked policy you may be treated for U.S. tax as owning the assets behind it, which makes no trust.²¹²

The argument that it may be one: the statute makes you the beneficial owner of the PRSA assets, the assets held on your behalf, and bars any charge over them, for an insurer's PRSA as for any other;^186,187,185 the insurer's relief from the custodian rules does not switch that off.²⁰⁹ Beneficial ownership of assets an insurer holds on your behalf is closer to property held for you than to a claim on an insurer, and we read no insurer PRSA's policy conditions. With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹⁵⁰ this guide takes the cautious course of reading it as a foreign trust, as for a PRSA with an investment firm or bank.^22,23

Not settled where an employer pays in, as for a PRSA with an investment firm or bank. Cautious: your own money.

As for a PRSA with an investment firm or bank: §402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and on our reading a PRSA is your own contract, with an employer's contributions counted among the assets you own beneficially;^185,186 Revenue's treatment of a PRSA an employer pays into as part of a sponsored superannuation scheme is the point against.¹⁹⁸ If the policy is an annuity contract, an employer's premiums are your income under §403(c), and no IRS guidance says whether a PRSA policy is one.²¹³

Unlikely, as for a PRSA with an investment firm or bank: anyone may pay in.

As for a PRSA with an investment firm or bank: unlikely under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 and the proposed regulations, since anyone may contribute.^177,69,200

No deferral: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on payouts.

As for a PRSA with an investment firm or bank: payouts are taxed in the United States for its citizens and residents, under Article 18(1)(a) and the saving clause.^82,84

On the cautious course, full reporting, as for a foreign trust you own, with Part I for money that goes in.

On the cautious course, you report it as a foreign trust you own: you are treated as owner, including for money paid in before you became a U.S. person, because its income is held for you,^202,107 so Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year,¹⁰⁰ and payouts go on Part III, lines 24 and 27, as payouts to an owner.^108,54 Part I can apply if money goes in: each contribution you make as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer, an employer's included, and so is money moved in, and one made within 5 years before your U.S. residency started is treated as made on your residency starting date and goes on Part I for that year.^106,203 Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the PRSA is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹⁰⁹ If the insurer does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁰⁵ No Form 4970, because the income is taxed to you each year.¹⁰⁴

If it is not a trust, you hold a contract with an insurer, none of these apply, and how a foreign policy is taxed in the United States is not decided here.¹⁰⁶ Funds held under a policy may be subject to the PFIC rules; this guide does not decide that. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

A RAC must be a contract between an individual and an insurance company, on standard terms the insurer agrees with Revenue,²¹⁴ and relief on premiums needs relevant earnings, from a trade, a profession or a non-pensionable employment.²¹⁵ Revenue has approved no new RACs since 1 January 2024, though approved RACs may still be sold to new members and existing contracts continue.²¹⁶ Benefits may be taken from 60, even while you are working, and by your 75th birthday, earlier in some occupations or on serious ill-health,²¹⁷ and at retirement the balance can buy an annuity, be taken in cash or go to an ARF.^15,218

Not a trust: a contract between you and an insurance company. If the documents don't say, treat it as a trust RAC.

Not a trust, resting on legal form, and no IRS guidance addresses RACs. A trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees who take title to property to protect or conserve it for beneficiaries,²¹ and a RAC is a contract with an insurer,²¹⁴ which the Code treats as a corporation.²¹¹ The strongest authority the other way is the private ruling that held a foreign pension entity a trust,²⁷ but a licensed insurer selling to the public is not a body for covered employees, and under a unit-linked contract you may be treated as owning the assets behind it, which makes no trust.²¹² Check the documents: if they don't make clear that the contract is with an insurer and there is no trust, the cautious course is the trust RAC block.

Does not apply: only you pay in, and a contract is not a trust.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and a RAC is neither: you pay the premiums from relevant earnings.²¹⁵

Not needed for a contract.

Not needed: §6048 reaches only foreign trusts.¹⁰⁶

No deferral: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on payouts and annuities.

No deferral. A pension from a RAC is a pension under Article 18(1)(a), which the Technical Explanation reads as covering all private retirement arrangements, and an annuity bought for adequate and full consideration falls under Article 18(2); the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on both for citizens and residents.^201,219,84

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A for the contract.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts, and a RAC is a contract.^106,100,108 Its U.S. income tax is not decided here.

Money moved from a RAC into a PRSA you report as a trust you own is reported at that end, as its block says.^204,106 FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

A trust RAC is a trust scheme Revenue approves in place of a contract with an insurer: established under Irish law and administered in Ireland, for individuals in a particular occupation, to provide retirement annuities, under irrevocable trusts set up by a body representing most of those in the occupation.²²⁰ The Pensions Act also defines a one-member trust RAC, set up for one person as its only member, who decides how it is invested.¹¹⁷ Its trustees have the duties of a pension scheme's trustees, and must give each member a Pension Benefit Statement at least once a year.^20,221 Relief on premiums and when benefits may be taken follow the RAC rules.^220,217

A foreign trust: set up under irrevocable trusts by a body representing an occupation.

A foreign trust: it is established under irrevocable trusts,²²⁰ trustees holding its assets for its members is what makes an arrangement a trust for U.S. purposes,²¹ and governed by Irish law and administered in Ireland, it meets neither test for a domestic trust.^22,23 Choosing your own investments in a one-member trust RAC doesn't change that, on our reading, though it goes beyond the facts of the IRS's private ruling.^117,28

Does not apply: members pay their own premiums.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and a trust RAC is for people with relevant earnings who pay their own premiums.²¹⁵

Rev. Proc. 2020-17: possible, not settled: relief is limited, not premiums. Proposed regulations: possible.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual for a retirement trust that meets its conditions.^60,61 A trust RAC's fund income is exempt,^220,64 relief needs relevant earnings, though we found no rule that only people with relevant earnings may pay in,^215,69 and benefits wait for 60, earlier only in some occupations or on serious ill-health.^217,70 The earnings condition and the limit are open: Ireland limits relief by an age-related percentage of earnings, not premiums,^222,71 and we found no rule on reporting a trust RAC to Revenue each year.⁶⁷ With no IRS guidance on Irish plans, whether it qualifies is not settled. Under the proposed regulations, which you may rely on as the Form 3520 instructions describe, a value test at or under US$600,000 (adjusted for inflation from 2026) can stand in for a contribution limit.^78,79

No deferral: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on payouts.

No deferral: payouts are taxed in the United States for its citizens and residents under Article 18 and the saving clause. The Technical Explanation reads the pension rule as covering all private retirement arrangements, so a pension from a self-employed person's plan probably fits, and the U.S. result is the same either way.^201,84

Full reporting, as for a foreign trust you own.

You are treated as owner of the part your premiums fund, including premiums paid before you became a U.S. person, because its income is held for you,^202,107 so Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year,¹⁰⁰ and payouts go on Part III, lines 24 and 27, as payouts to an owner.^108,54 Each contribution you make as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer,¹⁰⁶ and one made within 5 years before your U.S. residency started is treated as made on your residency starting date and goes on Part I for that year.²⁰³ Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the RAC is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹⁰⁹ If the trustees do not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁰⁵ No Form 4970, because the income is taxed to you each year.¹⁰⁴ An eligible individual whose trust RAC qualifies under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 or the proposed regulations files none of these.^61,78 On our reading the exemption also spares your executor the report of your death, if you were an eligible individual and the plan qualified: it covers an eligible individual's transactions with, or ownership of, the trust, and an eligible individual can be someone who at any time was a U.S. citizen or resident.^110,111,112 No IRS guidance names executors, and the revenue procedure's scope speaks of the eligible individual who would otherwise report.¹¹³ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

A buy-out bond (BOB) is an insurance policy or bond that a pension scheme's trustees buy in the name of a member who has left, in place of the member's right to claim benefits from the scheme.²²³ Revenue also describes deferred benefits provided by buying an annuity bond in the employee's name.²²⁴ The Pensions Act section that would end new buy-out bonds and let them be moved into PRSAs is not yet in force,²²⁵ and a PRSA may not take money from one or send money to one.²²⁶

Not a trust: an insurance policy or bond a scheme's trustees buy in your name.

Not a trust, resting on legal form, and no IRS guidance addresses buy-out bonds. A bond is a policy or contract of insurance held in your name,^225,223 and a trust for U.S. purposes needs trustees who take title to protect or conserve property for beneficiaries;²¹ the insurer is a corporation.²¹¹ The strongest point against is that Revenue treats a bond as a retirement benefits scheme and deals with transfers to and from it as between exempt approved schemes.²²⁷ It does so because a bond is a contract within the definition of that term, not because anything is held in trust, while the exemption that needs irrevocable trusts belongs to trust schemes.^227,18 The private ruling that held a foreign pension entity a trust concerned a body for covered employees, not a policy an insurer issues in your name.²⁷

Applies to the scheme the money came from, not to the bond: the move in is that scheme's payout.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and the bond is a contract. The money comes from the scheme you left, and moving it in is that scheme's payout: when a trust distributes an annuity contract, a regulation counts the contract's entire value as the distribution, taxed that year above your basis.^57,92 Whether a buy-out bond is an annuity contract for that rule is not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses it.

Not needed for a contract.

Not needed: §6048 reaches only foreign trusts.¹⁰⁶

No deferral: the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on payouts.

No deferral: a payout is a pension under Article 18(1)(a) or an annuity under Article 18(2), and the saving clause keeps U.S. tax on both for citizens and residents.^82,219,84

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A for the bond itself; the move in is reported on the sending scheme's forms.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970 for the bond itself: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts, and a bond is a contract.^106,100,108 Its U.S. income tax is not decided here.

The move in is the sending scheme's: on the cautious course the money going out goes on that scheme's Part III, unless you report it as compensation income, and on lines 24 and 27 for a part you owned.^52,54 FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

At retirement the balance of a pension, after the lump sum, can be taken in cash, used to buy an annuity, or moved into an Approved Retirement Fund (ARF).¹⁵ The option is open at retirement to holders of RACs, trust RACs and PRSAs, to members of defined contribution schemes and proprietary directors (Revenue also calls them 5% directors) in defined benefit ones, and to other defined benefit members for their AVCs.^{228,218,16,14,17} An ARF can also be set up with benefits on a member's death in service, or by transfer from a deceased spouse's or civil partner's ARF.^228,229 An ARF must be held by a qualifying fund manager in the name of the individual beneficially entitled to its assets,²³⁰ managed for that individual,²³¹ and the managers are banks, building societies, credit unions, life assurance companies, collective investment undertakings, stockbrokers and certain investment intermediaries.²³² Approved Minimum Retirement Funds (AMRFs), which an earlier rule required for part of the fund, became ARFs on 1 January 2022, so an old AMRF follows this block.^233,234

The money remains your property and may be withdrawn at any time, and its income and gains are free of tax while kept in the ARF.²³⁵ Each distribution is taxed as pay under Schedule E,²³⁶ and from the year you are 60 for the whole year a deemed distribution of 4%, 5% or 6% is taxed each year.^192,193 From 2026 each manager makes a yearly return to Revenue on each ARF it administers.²³⁷

Not settled: a qualifying fund manager holds and manages it for you as beneficial owner. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses ARFs. Federal law, not Ireland's label, decides.¹⁹⁴ The argument that it is not a trust: the ARF is in your name, you are its beneficial owner, and the money is yours to withdraw at any time, with no retirement lock;^230,235 Revenue treats you as owning its capital, income and gains when it applies Ireland's tax treaties;²³⁸ and a holder who only holds and transfers title at the owner's direction is no trustee.¹⁴⁸

The argument that it may be one: the law has the manager hold the fund and manage its assets for you, and assets are transferred or assigned to the manager,^230,231,239 which puts title with the manager and the benefit with you;²¹ and the manager does more than hold title: it accounts for tax on distributions and makes the yearly return to Revenue.^237,146 That is the case of a UK stocks and shares ISA, which this site also reports on the cautious course. With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹⁵⁰ this guide takes the cautious course of reading an ARF as a trust, and a foreign one, governed by Irish law and run in Ireland.^22,23 Some ARFs a life assurance company sells are unit-linked funds;²⁴⁰ we read no such product's terms, so the cautious course stays unless the documents show a policy.

Does not apply: no employer pays in; the move in is the sending plan's payout.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and an ARF takes in money by transfer: a pension's balance at retirement, benefits on a member's death in service, or a deceased spouse's or civil partner's ARF.^228,229 The move in is the sending plan's payout, on our reading: once you can take the balance in cash it is made available to you, and moving it to an ARF is taxed as a distribution above your basis.^55,50,92 From a PRSA or trust RAC you report as your own, it is a payout to an owner.⁵⁴

Possible, not settled: tax-favored and reported, but money comes only by transfer and leaves at will.

Possible, not settled. An ARF is tax-favored, its income and gains free of tax while kept in it,^235,64 and its manager reports to Revenue each year.^237,67 The option opens only at retirement, save for benefits moved in on a member's death in service,^228,70 and money comes in only by transfer, from a pension or a deceased spouse's or civil partner's ARF,²²⁹ which Rev. Proc. 2020-17 protects only if the sending plan itself qualifies.²⁴¹ No IRS guidance addresses ARFs, so whether one qualifies is not settled; the proposed regulations use the same words on payouts.^80,78

No deferral; Revenue taxes a non-resident's withdrawals, and whether that tax is creditable is not settled.

No deferral. Revenue says an ARF distribution is not a payment of pension, and taxes it whatever the holder's residence;^242,243 for its treaties it treats the holder as owning the ARF's capital, income and gains, and traces each distribution to income and gains of the year first and then capital.^238,244 On the cautious reading you own the ARF's assets, so the United States taxes its income to you each year, and the saving clause keeps that tax;^104,84 whether Irish tax on a withdrawal of capital the United States does not tax can be credited is not settled.⁸⁷

On the cautious course, full reporting, as for a foreign trust you own, with Part I for money moved in.

On the cautious course, you report the ARF as a foreign trust you own: you are treated as owner because its income is held for you,^202,107 so Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year,¹⁰⁰ and withdrawals go on Part III, lines 24 and 27, as payouts to an owner.^108,54 Part I can apply if money moves in: money moved in while you are a U.S. person is a Part I transfer, and money moved in within 5 years before your U.S. residency started is treated as moved on your residency starting date and goes on Part I for that year.^106,203 Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the ARF is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹⁰⁹ If the manager does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹⁰⁵ No Form 4970, because the income is taxed to you each year.¹⁰⁴

A withdrawal paid to a U.S. heir of a holder who was not a U.S. person is a payout from a foreign trust, and the cautious course reports it on Part III;¹⁰⁸ whether it can carry out income kept in earlier years, with Form 4970, is not settled.²⁰⁸ An ARF can also be set up in your name with benefits on a member's death in service, or by transfer from a deceased spouse's or civil partner's ARF.^228,229 The money going in is then a payout from a foreign trust to you on this reading, and the cautious course reports it on Part III;¹⁰⁸ once it is in your ARF you may draw on it at any time,²³⁵ and a person who alone can take a trust's assets is treated as its owner,²⁴⁵ so the cautious course gives it this block's Part II, Form 3520-A and Part III answers, with no Part I, since you put nothing in. If an ARF is not a trust, none of these apply, and you own its assets directly.¹⁴⁸ An ARF's funds may be subject to the PFIC rules; this guide does not decide that. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

This block covers savings and investment policies you buy from a life assurance company outside a pension, and bank and credit union deposits and securities held in your own name or by a broker for you. Life assurance companies are among the providers the law lets run PRSAs and ARFs,^176,232 and Revenue describes a unit-linked product as one where you invest in a pooled fund and own units in it, not the assets underneath.²⁴⁰

Not a trust: a contract with a life assurance company, which holds the assets, or property that is yours.

Not a trust, on our reading. A trust needs trustees who take title to protect or conserve property for beneficiaries,²¹ and an insurer owns its assets and owes you a contract; the Code treats insurance companies as corporations.²¹¹ The strongest authority the other way is the IRS's private ruling that a foreign pension entity was a trust,²⁷ but that entity held assets for covered employees who could not assign their interests, not policies an insurer sells to the public. Under a unit-linked policy you may be treated as owning the assets behind it for U.S. tax, which makes no trust.²¹² A deposit or a security in your own name has no trustee at all.²¹ Where a bank or broker holds title to your securities only to transfer it at your direction, that is not a trust either, and you are treated as owning them directly.¹⁴⁸ Whether a policy meets the U.S. definition of life insurance is a separate question this guide does not decide.

Does not apply: no employer pays in, and none of these is a trust.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,³³ and a policy or account you hold yourself is not one.

Not needed.

Since §6048 reaches only foreign trusts.¹⁰⁶

No effect on these forms.

The saving clause lets the United States tax its residents and citizens as if the treaty had not come into effect.⁸⁴

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A. A policy's U.S. income tax is not decided here.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.^106,100,108 How a foreign policy is taxed in the United States is not decided here. Funds held under a policy, or in your own name, may be subject to the PFIC rules; this guide does not decide that. FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

Irish trusts include discretionary trusts, in which no beneficiary has an immediate benefit and the trustees manage and distribute the property under the powers in the deed or will,²⁴⁶ trusts set up by will, and bare trusts. Irish tax has its own rules for them, separate from Forms 3520 and 3520-A: a 20% surcharge on the undistributed income of certain discretionary trusts,²⁴⁷ a discretionary trust tax of 6% once and then 1% each year on the property in certain discretionary trusts,²⁴⁸ and Capital Acquisitions Tax on a benefit appointed out of a discretionary trust.²⁴⁹ If the trustee mainly runs a business for profit rather than holding property for the family, U.S. law may classify the arrangement as a business entity rather than a trust.²⁵⁰

A foreign trust, unless a U.S. court supervises it and U.S. persons control its substantial decisions.

An ordinary trust where the trustee holds property for the beneficiaries,²¹ and a foreign trust where a trustee in Ireland administers it under Irish law, since it then fails the court test, which alone makes it foreign, even where the trustee is a U.S. citizen.^22,23 A trust is domestic only on a day a U.S. court can supervise its administration and U.S. persons control all of its substantial decisions, counting everyone who can make one, not only the trustees.²⁵¹ Powers a settlor keeps, or a protector's consent rights, do not on our reading stop it being a trust; they go to who is owner, below, and where a foreign person holds one that is a substantial decision, such as a power to revoke the trust or to replace the trustee, it also keeps the trust foreign, even with a U.S. trustee.^252,253 A bare trust whose trustee only holds title for an adult entitled to the property may not be a trust for U.S. purposes,¹⁴⁸ but that ruling is narrow,¹⁴⁶ so whether a bare trust is one is not settled, and the cautious course reports it as a trust. A bank or trust company that holds your own investments only to act on your instructions is not that kind of bare trust; it is an account, not a trust.¹⁴⁸ The deposits and securities block covers such an account.

A U.S. person who funds it is owner when it has a U.S. beneficiary; a foreign settlor only in two narrow cases.

Who is treated as owner decides who files Part II and Form 3520-A. A U.S. person who transfers property to the trust is treated as owner of the part it funds for any year in which the trust has a U.S. beneficiary.¹⁰⁷ Someone who funds the trust while not a U.S. resident and becomes one within 5 years is treated, for this rule and for Part I, as transferring that part of the trust on the day their U.S. residency starts.²⁰³ A settlor who is not a U.S. person is treated as owner only if they can revoke the trust alone or with the consent of a related or subordinate party subservient to them, or if only they or their spouse can receive distributions during their life.²⁵⁴ Otherwise, unless another grantor trust rule makes a U.S. person owner,²⁰² no one is owner, and the trust is taxed as a separate, non-grantor trust.²⁵⁵