Singapore

The Central Provident Fund is a key pillar of Singapore's social security system.¹ Only Singapore citizens and permanent residents take part: an employer must contribute for a citizen or permanent resident employee,² foreigners are exempt,³ and since 1 April 2024 a member who stops being a citizen or permanent resident must close the account.^4,5 The Fund keeps an Ordinary Account, a MediSave Account, and a Special or Retirement Account for each member;⁶ at 55 a Retirement Account is created and the Special Account is closed.⁷

Your employer pays both shares each month and takes yours back from your pay.⁸ From 1 January 2026, on monthly wages over S$750, the rates for members 55 and under are 17% from the employer and 20% from the employee, falling with age after that.⁹ A new permanent resident pays lower rates for the first two years, unless the CPF Board approves an application to pay full rates, which Singapore then treats as compulsory.¹⁰ Voluntary money comes in three ways. Top-ups can come from you, your family, your employer or any other CPF member, friends included, and retirement top-ups cannot be taken back;^11,12 top-ups to the Ordinary, Special and MediSave Accounts count toward a yearly limit of S$37,740 (2026) that includes compulsory contributions.¹³ An employer may also pay voluntary contributions, which Singapore taxes.¹⁴ And the government pays grants, such as a match of up to S$2,000 a year, S$20,000 in all, on top-ups for eligible seniors.¹⁵

The money can also be used for a home, for health care, for education and for investments. Ordinary Account savings can buy a flat sold by the Housing and Development Board (an HDB flat) or private residential property in Singapore, and when you sell you must refund what you used plus the interest it would have earned;^16,17,18 you may also refund it early.¹⁹ MediSave pays medical bills for you or your family and premiums for MediShield Life and other approved medical and long-term care insurance,^20,21 and the Board may deduct premiums for the Act's Home Protection and Dependants' Protection insurance schemes from your CPF savings.^22,23 The Education Loan Scheme lends your savings to a student, who repays your account with the interest they would have earned.²⁴ Investing has its own block below.²⁵

At 55, Special Account and then Ordinary Account savings move to the new Retirement Account up to the Full Retirement Sum, S$220,400 for members turning 55 in 2026; savings above it stay in the Ordinary Account and can be withdrawn,^26,27 and a member who cannot set it aside may still withdraw up to S$5,000.²⁸ You can make as many withdrawals as you like from those savings.²⁹ Monthly payouts start from 65, for most members through CPF LIFE, which has its own block below; we did not read how a member outside it is paid, but any such payout from the Fund is a distribution like any other.^27,30 The savings are invested in special Singapore government securities,³¹ and on your death they go to the people you nominated (your nominees), outside your estate.³²

A foreign trust: the Act makes the Board its trustee, and IRS counsel said so in 1997, in advice that is not precedent.

A foreign trust. The Act makes the Board, a body corporate, the trustee of the Fund,^33,34 keeps subsidiary accounts for each member for the money standing to the member's credit,⁶ and protects that money: it cannot be assigned, transferred or attached for any debt.³⁵ That fits the U.S. test for a trust: trustees holding property to protect or conserve it for the beneficiaries.³⁶ IRS counsel, in advice that is not precedent, described the Fund as held in trust for covered employees and their beneficiaries and concluded that it is a nonexempt employees' trust,^37,38 and a foreign pension fund whose members could not assign their interests had its own private ruling as a trust.³⁹ Governed by Singapore law and run in Singapore, it meets neither test for a domestic trust, so it is foreign.^40,41

The strongest authority against: Singapore calls the CPF its national social security savings scheme, and it answers to a ministry,^42,43 the IRS does not count a foreign government's social security on Form 8938,⁴⁴ and the savings sit in government securities.³¹ A trust's beneficiaries also cannot share in managing it,⁴⁵ while CPF members choose investments and housing uses. On our reading none of this changes the answer. The Act itself names a trustee and keeps an account for each member, the Form 8938 rule is about a reporting form, not classification, and a fund whose members direct their own investments was still a trust in the IRS's ruling on it.^33,46 If the CPF is not a trust, none of the answers here apply.⁴⁷

A §402(b) employees' trust: your compulsory share counts as your employer's; top-ups, refunds and returned proceeds as yours.

IRS counsel concluded, in advice that is not precedent, that the Fund is a nonexempt employees' trust described in §402(b).³⁸ A trust created outside the United States escapes §402(b) only if it would otherwise meet §401(a),^48,49 and nothing suggests the CPF does. Employer contributions are U.S. income to you when paid, to the extent vested,^50,51 and on our reading CPF money vests as it is credited to your account.⁶ The foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover them.⁵² Your compulsory share, withheld from your pay because the law requires it, counts as your employer's on the same advice,^53,54 so you are not treated as owner of the part the employer's money and your compulsory share fund.⁵⁵

Money you choose to put in is your own, taxed as pay:⁵⁶ cash top-ups you make, and on the cautious course the extra a new permanent resident pays after an application for full rates, though Singapore treats it as compulsory.¹⁰ A one-time irrevocable choice made on first becoming eligible is not an election under the §401(k) rules, which apply here only as an analogy,⁵⁷ but a choice made later fits that analogy less well, and this is not settled; the argument the other way is that money paid in at an employee's election is the employee's.⁵⁸ Top-ups from family or friends are not your employer's. No IRS guidance says whose they are: the giver funds them on your behalf,⁵⁹ but the cautious course counts them as yours, which brings ownership sooner, and as a gift to you, as the gifts section says. Your employer's voluntary contributions are the employer's.¹⁴ Whether government grants are income when credited, and whose they are, is not settled; the cautious course does not count them as your employer's.¹⁵

Housing refunds count as your own money. Using Ordinary Account savings for a home is a withdrawal from the Fund,^60,17 on the cautious course a payout taxed to you, so what you refund on a sale, or voluntarily before one, puts back money that has been taxed to you and counts as your own contribution.^18,19 The other reading treats the use as a loan secured by a charge on the property and the refund as its repayment, which would leave the mix unchanged.⁶¹ A large refund can push your own money past your employer's total. On the same course, investment scheme proceeds that come back to the Fund, as that block says, and what a student repays to your account under the Education Loan Scheme count as your own money.^62,24,63

IRS counsel said that so long as your own contributions do not exceed your employer's, no part of the Fund is treated as owned by you.⁶⁴ Once your own total exceeds the contributions counted as your employer's, you are treated as owner of the part your money funds, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met,⁶³ and the income credited to your account each year meets them.^65,6 Payouts are taxed under §72 when paid or made available, with what was already taxed to you as basis.^66,67,68

Uses of the money are payouts on the cautious course. The Act's accounts are ones from which withdrawals, transfers and deductions are made,⁶⁰ and Part III reaches what you receive directly or indirectly.^69,70 So money used for a home, for medical care or for education, money moved into the investment scheme, and the premiums deducted each year for MediShield Life and other approved insurance, the Home Protection Scheme and the Dependants' Protection Scheme are each a distribution taxed under §72 on the cautious course.^21,22,23,66 The argument the other way is that money you can use only for approved purposes is under a substantial restriction and so not received,⁷¹ which is an argument, not authority. Withdrawals from 55, monthly payouts, the balance paid out on closure, and payments to nominees on death are distributions too.^72,32

Money you could take just by asking is made available, and taxed then, whether you take it or not.^73,74 From 55 that reaches Ordinary Account savings above the Full Retirement Sum, or S$5,000 if you cannot set it aside, which you can withdraw as often as you like,^26,28,29 and IRS counsel warned that the Fund's wider uses may result in the taxation of amounts made available.⁷⁵ When your renunciation of citizenship or permanent residence completes, you may close the account and take the whole balance, and the Board closes it the next month if you don't, so on that test the whole balance is made available then.^72,76 If you gave up citizenship or permanent residence before 1 April 2024, your account was closed in April 2024, so the balance was made available then at the latest. Closure does not pay the money out: what is left stays with the Board, which asks you to transfer it to your bank account and pays interest like a bank's on it until 31 March 2027.⁷⁷ A balance that could be spent on a home or invested is not made available on our reading, since those uses are restricted and investments must come back to the Fund; the cautious course still treats a use you actually make as a payout, though that same restriction is the argument that it is not.^71,62

Moves inside the Fund. Allocating each new contribution among your accounts is crediting, not a move.^78,6 The automatic transfer at 55, of Special and then Ordinary Account savings to the Retirement Account, and the closure of the Special Account in January 2025, whose money the Board must move to your Ordinary or Retirement Account, are transfers between one member's accounts in one Fund held by one trustee.^26,79,80 The Act calls them transfers,⁶⁰ and IRS officials told GAO, in a report that is not guidance, that the IRS generally treats routine administrative transfers within a foreign plan as distributions,⁸¹ even where the member takes no action.⁸² GAO's example of a transfer within a plan is an automatic one in Hong Kong from one account to another within the same scheme.⁸³ Whether these are payouts is not settled, and they follow the shared rule on moves at the end of this guide: the cautious course shows them on Part III unless you report them as compensation income.⁸⁴ Showing them on Part III guards against the penalty for a missed distribution. On the locked reading the money keeps its mix of your employer's and your own in the Retirement Account; if the IRS reads the transfer as a payout, what moved is your own money there, which can bring Part II and Form 3520-A for the Retirement Account, and that is not settled.^81,63 Transfers you choose, to your own accounts or to a relative's, follow that rule too, and money moved to someone else's account leaves yours.¹¹

If you are a highly compensated employee and one reason the Fund 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.⁸⁵ IRS counsel thought that rare, since contributions are a uniform percentage of salary for most of each employer's employees, unless a significant number of an employer's rank-and-file staff are outside the Fund.⁸⁶ Foreigners are outside it now,³ but a nonresident alien with no U.S.-source earned income from the employer is an excludable employee in those tests,⁸⁷ so on our reading an employer whose staff outside the Fund are all such nonresident aliens is not caught, while one that leaves U.S. staff out may be. No IRS guidance on the CPF says so.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 is unlikely; the proposed regulations are possible but not settled.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual (one who has filed U.S. returns and reported the plan's income as U.S. law requires)⁸⁸ from Forms 3520 and 3520-A for a retirement trust that meets its conditions,⁸⁹ and it needs no treaty. The CPF's purpose is retirement, housing and healthcare,⁹⁰ and Rev. Proc. 2020-17's examples of permitted early payouts are in-service loans and reasons such as hardship, education and buying a primary residence, while the CPF lets you buy private residential property generally, refunding it with interest only when you sell.^91,17,18 It is tax-favored: Singapore does not tax CPF retirement benefits.^92,93 Reporting is met on our reading, under the words "otherwise available": the Fund is held by a statutory board under a ministry, with an account for each member.^43,94 Contributions are limited: compulsory ones are a percentage of wages, and the yearly limit of S$37,740 (2026; US$29,370 at the Treasury's year-end 2025 rate) covers them and top-ups to the three accounts,^13,95,96 though retirement and MediSave top-ups are capped by balances, not by a contribution figure, which on our reading still limits them.⁹⁷

Two conditions are likely not met. Contributions must come only from earned income,⁹⁸ but any CPF member, friends and relatives included, can top up your account, with no link to earnings.¹¹ Payouts must wait for retirement age, disability or death, or carry a penalty.⁹⁹ Withdrawals from 55, a specified age on our reading, and payouts on death fit, a primary residence and education are among the examples, and MediSave for medical care is close to hardship on our reading,^91,20 but closure on giving up citizenship or permanent residence pays out everything with no penalty, and that is not among the examples.⁷² The employer condition does not fit a government fund, and if it applied, the CPF covers every citizen and permanent resident employee.^100,2 With no IRS guidance on the CPF, Rev. Proc. 2020-17 is unlikely to cover it. MediSave is a subsidiary account of the same Fund, not a medical savings trust of its own.^101,6

The proposed regulations, which you may rely on now if you apply them in full and consistently with related persons,¹⁰² need contributions only "generally" from earned income, so a fund that is mostly wage money may pass,¹⁰³ and let a value test of US$600,000 (adjusted for inflation from 2026) stand in for a contribution limit.¹⁰⁴ Their payout condition has the same words, so the closure payout stays open.¹⁰⁵ They are possible for the CPF, and that is not settled.

No treaty: the United States has none with Singapore.

No treaty: the United States has no income tax treaty with Singapore, so nothing defers U.S. tax on contributions or growth, and there is no treaty election or Form 8833 to make.¹⁰⁶ U.S. tax follows §402(b) alone.⁵⁰ Singapore does not tax CPF retirement benefits, so there is no Singapore tax on a payout to credit.⁹²

Part II once your own money passes your employer's share plus your compulsory share; Part III for payouts, uses and moves.

Read as a §402(b) trust: no Part I for any contribution to your own account, top-ups and housing refunds included.¹⁰⁷ No Part II or Form 3520-A for the part funded by your employer's money and your compulsory share; once your own money exceeds that, Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the part it funds.^55,63,108 Part III for payouts and, on the cautious course, for amounts made available to you that you leave in the Fund, uses of the money, the yearly premiums, the transfer at 55 and the January 2025 closure of the Special Account, unless you report them as compensation income;^69,70,84,109 payouts from a part you own go on Part III, lines 24 and 27.¹¹⁰ 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.^70,111,84 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.^70,84 A nominee who receives your balance on your death receives a distribution from a foreign trust, and the cautious course is to report it on Part III.⁶⁹ 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.^66,112,113 If the Board does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹¹⁴

Money you put into another member's account, as a cash top-up or a CPF transfer, is different: no IRS guidance says the exception reaches it, so the cautious course reports it on Part I, as the gifts section says.⁴⁷

If the CPF is not a trust, none of these apply, since Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.⁴⁷ An eligible individual whose account qualifies under the proposed regulations files none of them, and that is not settled.¹⁰² FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

Regulations under the Act let members apply or withdraw CPF savings to make investments the Minister approves.¹¹⁷ Ordinary Account savings above S$20,000 can be invested, and Special Account savings above S$40,000;¹¹⁸ Ordinary Account money goes through a CPF Investment Account with DBS, OCBC or UOB, the agent banks.¹¹⁹ The CPF counts this money as withdrawn for investment,²⁵ proceeds must go back to the Fund,^62,120 and the investments and the account's cash can come out only once you have set aside the Full Retirement Sum, when they are transferred to you.¹²¹ A CPF nomination does not cover them: on your death your executor claims them from the bank or provider.^122,123 Cash in the investment account is insured as a deposit,¹²⁴ and CPF savings can also buy a policy with an insurer, whose proceeds must likewise go back to the Fund.^125,62

Not settled: inside the CPF, or an account you own. Cautious: a foreign trust you own, read as a whole.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses the scheme. The reading that the money never leaves the CPF: the scheme is one the CPF Act provides for,¹¹⁷ the investments and their proceeds are protected like Fund money and cannot be assigned or attached, though the Act protects money withdrawn from the Fund the same way,^62,35,126 and the proceeds and earnings must come back to your CPF.¹²⁰ Changing investments inside a plan is not a move, IRS officials told GAO.¹²⁷ On that reading the investments are part of the CPF, and only the CPF block's answers apply.

The reading that it does leave: the investment is your interest, not the Board's, since the Act puts the duty to transfer or sell it under a court order on you and not the Board,^128,129 your estate, not your CPF nominees, claims it on your death,^122,123 and the CPF itself calls the money withdrawn.²⁵ That is your interest, held by a bank or provider and locked until the Full Retirement Sum is set aside,¹²¹ and a holder that keeps such a lock does more than hold title.¹³⁰ With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹³¹ this guide takes the cautious course: the move in is a payout from the CPF, and the investment account, cash included, is a foreign trust you own.^40,41

On the cautious course, money moved in is a CPF payout under §402(b); no employer pays into the account itself.

The CPF is a §402(b) trust,³⁸ so on the cautious reading money moved out of it to invest is a distribution, taxed under §72 with what was already taxed to you as basis, unless the restriction on its use means it is not received.^66,68,71 What you report then is your own money in the investment account, and no employer pays into it, so §402(b) reaches nothing there.⁵⁰ On that reading, proceeds that go back to the CPF count as your own money in the CPF, toward the test for owning a part of it.⁶³ Whether the move is taxed is a separate question from these forms, and it is not settled: keep the records of what moved and what was taxed.^81,132

As for the CPF: Rev. Proc. 2020-17 unlikely; the proposed regulations possible, not settled.

As for the CPF, Rev. Proc. 2020-17 is unlikely: contributions to the CPF are not limited to earned income, and the closure payout is not among its examples.^98,99 Rev. Proc. 2020-17 protects a trust that takes in money from another qualifying trust in the same country, which the CPF is unlikely to be, and says nothing of money from a trust that does not qualify.¹³³ The proposed regulations are possible and not settled,^103,102 and on our reading their value test adds together your trusts in Singapore, so the CPF and this account count together.¹⁰⁴

No treaty.

Nothing defers U.S. tax on the account's income or on the move.¹⁰⁶

On the cautious course: Part III and Part I for money moved in, Part II and Form 3520-A each year, Part III for money out.

On the cautious course, money moved from the CPF into the scheme goes on Part III as a payout from the CPF unless you report it as compensation income,^69,84 and you report the investment account as a foreign trust you own. Part I for the money going in, while you are a U.S. person or within 5 years before your U.S. residency started.^47,134 Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the investment account 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.¹³⁵ Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the whole account, its cash included, because its income is held for you,^65,108 with a substitute if no one else files.¹¹⁴ On the cautious course this reporting includes a policy bought under the scheme, and Special Account investments bought straight from a product provider without an investment account, since their proceeds must also go back to the Fund.^62,125,136 Part III, lines 24 and 27, for proceeds going back to the CPF and investments transferred to you.¹¹⁰ Proceeds going back into the CPF are not a Part I transfer, since the CPF is a §402(b) trust,¹⁰⁷ unless you have no employer money in the CPF, where the cautious course of the block for such accounts reports them on Part I.⁴⁷ No Form 4970, because the income is taxed to you each year.¹¹³

Giving up citizenship or permanent residence ends your part in the scheme; the pages we read do not say how what is left is paid, and on the cautious course what you receive goes on Part III.^137,69 On the other reading the investments stay inside the CPF, and none of these apply beyond the CPF block's answers.¹²⁷ The investments 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

CPF LIFE is a national longevity insurance annuity scheme that pays monthly for life,¹³⁸ and its savings are guaranteed by the Singapore Government.¹³⁹ Members born in 1958 or after with at least S$60,000 in their Retirement Account when payouts start are included automatically;³⁰ payouts start from 65 and can be put off to 70.^27,140 The premium is withdrawn from your Retirement Account,^141,142 and you can raise it later after a cash top-up or CPF transfer to that account;¹⁴³ the Act also speaks of a member who has paid in cash towards the premium.¹⁴⁴ Premiums go into the Lifelong Income Fund, kept apart from the CPF,¹⁴⁵ and on your death any unused premium balance goes to your loved ones with the rest of your CPF.¹⁴⁶ Giving up citizenship or permanent residence ends your part in the scheme.¹³⁷

Not settled: part of the CPF, or an annuity from a fund the Act does not call a trust. The Act points to the annuity.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses CPF LIFE. One reading keeps it inside the CPF arrangement: the same Board and Act, money only from the CPF, payouts that Singapore treats as CPF benefits, and the unused premium going to your loved ones.^146,92 The other reads it as an annuity bought from a separate fund, and the Act points that way. It has Retirement Account money withdrawn to pay a premium, pays monthly income once a premium is paid and an annuity plan issued,^141,147 and says the Lifelong Income Fund is controlled and administered by the Board,¹⁴⁸ where it calls the Board the trustee of the CPF.³³ Payouts stop if that fund is not solvent,¹⁴⁹ and the Insurance Act does not apply to the scheme.¹⁵⁰ On the annuity reading the Lifelong Income Fund does not hold property for you as a trustee would,³⁶ but owes you an annuity paid from one fund into which all premiums go.¹⁵¹ This guide takes the cautious course on what that means for the forms.

On the annuity reading the premium is a CPF payout of an annuity contract at its full value; payouts are then annuity payments.

On the annuity reading, joining is the CPF, a §402(b) trust, paying out an annuity, and a regulation counts the entire value of an annuity contract such a trust distributes as the amount distributed.¹⁵² The premium is then taxed under §72 that year, with what was already taxed to you as basis,^66,68 and that amount is your basis for the monthly payments after it.⁶⁸ On the other reading payouts are distributions from the CPF, taxed under §72 when paid.⁶⁶ Either way no employer pays into CPF LIFE itself.⁵⁰

As for the CPF, and not needed on the annuity reading.

As for the CPF: Rev. Proc. 2020-17 is unlikely, and the proposed regulations are possible and not settled.^98,103,102 On the annuity reading the scheme is not a trust and needs no exemption.⁴⁷

No treaty.

No treaty.¹⁰⁶ Singapore does not tax CPF retirement benefits.⁹²

Part III for the premium and each payout unless reported as compensation; Part I and Part II only in cases that are not settled.

No Part I for a member whose CPF has employer money: on either reading what you pay towards the premium is not a transfer to a foreign trust you must report, since the CPF is a §402(b) trust and, on the other reading, the annuity fund is not a trust.^107,47 On the cautious course, a member with no employer money reports cash they pay towards the premium on Part I, as the block for such accounts says.^144,47 On the same cautious course, Part I also applies on the death of such a member who is a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the CPF is then treated as owned by them, as the block for such accounts says, or is in their gross estate: the executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹³⁵ On the cautious course, Part III for the premium in the year you join, for each later premium, and for each monthly payout, unless you report them as compensation income:^69,84 the premium is a payout from the CPF on the annuity reading, and the monthly payouts are on the other.¹⁵² A member who owns a part of the CPF shows payouts from it on lines 24 and 27.¹¹⁰ Part II and Form 3520-A only if a part of your CPF was your own when you joined, and only on the reading that CPF LIFE stays inside the CPF, where that part carries on; on the annuity reading it came out with the premium.^63,108 No Form 4970: payouts are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules.^66,112

A loved one who receives the unused premium on your death receives a distribution, on the cautious course on Part III.^146,69 Giving up citizenship or permanent residence ends your part in the scheme; the pages we read do not say how what is left is paid, and on the cautious course what you receive goes on Part III.^137,69 FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

Singapore's tax authority treats benefits from approved pension and provident funds other than the CPF separately: a payout before retirement is taxed in full, and one on retirement at the statutory age only on what accrued from 1 January 1993.¹⁵³ Money can move from such a fund into the CPF.¹⁵⁴ We found no list of approved funds and read no fund's documents.

Not settled: it turns on the fund's documents. Cautious: a foreign trust where trustees hold the money for members.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses these funds. A fund whose trustees hold its assets for members fits the U.S. test for a trust,³⁶ and the IRS ruled privately that a foreign pension fund whose members could not assign their interests is one.³⁹ A plan run as an insurance policy has no trustee holding money for you; the insurer is a corporation.¹⁵⁵ With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹³¹ this guide takes the cautious course of reading a funded plan held for its members as a trust, and a foreign one if governed by Singapore law and run in Singapore.^40,41

Cautiously, a §402(b) employees' trust: employer money is taxed when vested; your own money can make you owner of a part.

On the cautious reading it is a §402(b) employees' trust: an employer pays in, and a trust created outside the United States escapes §402(b) only if it would otherwise meet §401(a).^48,49 Employer contributions are U.S. income to you when paid, to the extent vested,^50,51 and the foreign earned income exclusion cannot cover them.⁵² Money withheld from your pay because the plan's rules require it counts as your employer's on the CPF advice, which is not precedent;⁵³ money you choose to put in is your own,⁵⁶ and once your own total exceeds the employer's you are treated as owner of the part it funds, if the grantor trust rules are otherwise met.⁶³ Payouts are taxed under §72 when paid or made available.^66,67 A highly compensated employee in a plan that fails the U.S. coverage tests includes the vested balance in income each year instead,⁸⁵ so a plan for executives alone may raise that rule.

It turns on the fund's terms; no IRS guidance addresses one.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 exempts an eligible individual from Forms 3520 and 3520-A for a retirement trust that meets its conditions,^88,89 and an employer's plan must also cover a wide range of employees, rank and file included.¹⁰⁰ Whether a fund does turns on its terms, and no IRS guidance addresses one. The proposed regulations may be relied on as the Form 3520 instructions describe.¹⁰²

No treaty.

No treaty.¹⁰⁶

Part II and Form 3520-A once your own money exceeds your employer's; Part III for payouts unless reported as compensation.

Read as a §402(b) trust: no Part I for any contribution.¹⁰⁷ No Part II or Form 3520-A for the employer-funded part; once your own money exceeds your employer's, Part II and Form 3520-A each year for the part it funds.^55,63,108 No Part III for payouts from the employer-funded part that you report as compensation income;^84,109 payouts from a part you own go on Part III, lines 24 and 27,¹¹⁰ and a move into the CPF follows the shared rule on moves at the end of this guide.⁸¹ No Form 4970: payouts from a §402(b) trust are taxed under §72, not under the trust distribution rules.^66,112 If the fund does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹¹⁴

If the plan is not a trust, none of these apply.⁴⁷ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

Some members have no employer money. The self-employed must contribute to MediSave, worked out on their net trade income.^156,157 Platform workers born before 1995 who do not opt in to higher contributions pay into MediSave only and get nothing from the platform operator.¹⁵⁸ And an account opens when the Board receives a cash top-up or a government grant, as when a Singapore citizen newborn qualifies for a MediSave grant,¹⁵⁹ so a child who is both a U.S. and a Singapore citizen can hold an account from birth with only government money in it.

A foreign trust: the same Fund as for employees.

Whose Board the Act makes its trustee,³³ and which IRS counsel read, in advice that is not precedent, as an employees' trust.³⁸ If it is not a trust, none of the answers here apply.⁴⁷

No employer pays in, so §402(b) taxes nothing to you; whether the CPF's Part I exception covers you is not settled.

§402(b) reaches an employer's contributions,⁵⁰ and there are none, so it taxes nothing to you here. Your own money funds the account, so you are treated as owner of it, since its income is credited to you.^63,65 Whether a platform operator is an employer for these rules is not settled, and the cautious course counts what it pays as yours.¹⁵⁸

The argument against Part I is stronger here than for most plans. The exception tests the trust, not the member: it covers a trust described in §402(b),¹⁰⁷ the compensatory-trust regulation speaks of a nonexempt employees' trust including one created on behalf of a self-employed individual,¹⁶⁰ and here the trust is the whole CPF, which IRS counsel read as a §402(b) trust.³⁸ A private ruling found that a fund individuals could also join was a §402(b) trust,¹⁶¹ but it ruled only for members whose employer paid in more than they did.¹⁶² No IRS guidance says a member with no employer money is within the exception, so the cautious course reports each contribution you make;⁴⁷ a missed Part I can cost the greater of $10,000 or 35% of it, capped at the amount.^163,164

Government money is not a transfer by you. A newborn's MediSave grant comes from the government,¹⁵⁹ so it is no Part I event for the child. On the cautious course that money is still read as the member's own, which makes the child owner of the account, with Part II and Form 3520-A each year from birth and Part III whenever MediSave pays a premium.^108,69,21 Whose government money is, for the owner count, is not settled.⁵⁹ On the other reading the government is the grantor of that money and no one is treated as owning it, as the Child Development Account block reads its grants, so a payout of income it earned in earlier years could carry Form 4970 tax; that is not settled.^165,166

As for the CPF: Rev. Proc. 2020-17 unlikely; the proposed regulations possible, not settled.

As for the CPF, Rev. Proc. 2020-17 is unlikely, since anyone who is a CPF member may top up an account and the closure payout is not among its examples,^98,99,11 and the proposed regulations are possible and not settled.^103,102 The employer condition does not apply where no employer pays in.¹⁰⁰

No treaty.

No treaty.¹⁰⁶

On the cautious course: Part I for what you pay in, Part II and Form 3520-A each year, Part III for payouts and uses.

On the cautious course, you are treated as owner of your account, because your own money exceeds any employer's for you and its income is held for you,^63,65 so Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year,¹⁰⁸ with a substitute if the Board does not file,¹¹⁴ and payouts and uses of the money, the yearly premiums included, go on Part III, lines 24 and 27, as payouts to an owner.^69,110 The transfer at 55 and other moves inside the Fund go on lines 24 and 27 on the cautious course, as the CPF block says.¹¹⁰ Each contribution you make as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer on the cautious course,⁴⁷ and one made within 5 years before your U.S. residency started goes on Part I for that year,¹³⁴ though the exception for a §402(b) trust may reach it, as the §402(b) step says.¹⁰⁷ A government grant is not your transfer, so it needs no Part I.⁴⁷ On the same cautious course, Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the account is then treated as owned by you or is in your gross estate, unless the exception for a §402(b) trust reaches the account, as it may: your executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.^135,107 No Form 4970 for what you own, because its income is taxed to you each year.¹¹³ Form 4970 tax can apply if a payout carries out income that a government grant earned in earlier years, on the reading that the government, not you, owns the grant; that is not settled, as the §402(b) step says.¹⁶⁶

A payment on death to a U.S. nominee of a member who was not a U.S. person is a payout from a foreign trust, and the cautious course is to report it on Part III.⁶⁹ No U.S. owner was taxed on that income, so the reason given for the owner does not reach the nominee: whether the payment can carry out income kept in earlier years is not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses it.¹⁶⁶ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

The Supplementary Retirement Scheme, introduced in 2001 and operated by the private sector, is voluntary and complements the CPF.¹⁶⁷ The Income Tax Act provides for it, for voluntary cash contributions by individuals and by their employers on their behalf, to encourage saving for old age.¹⁶⁸ Accounts are kept by three bank operators.¹⁶⁹ Citizens, permanent residents and foreigners can have one, and you or your employer for you may pay in cash at any time up to the year's cap,¹⁷⁰ S$15,300 for citizens and permanent residents and S$35,700 for foreigners, the caps since 1 January 2016.¹⁷¹ An employer's payment is part of your pay.¹⁷²

The money can be held as a deposit or invested in shares, unit trusts, bonds and other investment products, and some single-premium insurance, but not directly in property.^173,174,175 Investing is not a withdrawal,¹⁷⁶ and gains and sale proceeds must go back to the account.¹⁷⁷ At the operators whose terms we read, investments are registered to a nominee company the bank appoints, or at one bank possibly in your own name.^178,179,180

Withdrawals before the statutory retirement age in force when you first paid in (64 for a first contribution from 1 July 2026, lower for an earlier one, and unchanged by later rises) are fully taxed and carry a 5% penalty.^181,182,183 At or after that age, on medical grounds, or in a full withdrawal by someone who has been neither a citizen nor a permanent resident for at least ten years and has kept the account ten years, half is taxed and there is no penalty.^184,185,186 Once retirement withdrawals start, everything must come out within ten years, and what is left is then treated as withdrawn.^187,188 There is no nomination: on death the balance is treated as withdrawn and forms part of the estate.^189,190

Not settled: your deposit plus investments held by the bank's nominee under a statutory lock. Cautious: a foreign trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses the SRS. Federal law, not Singapore's label, decides.¹⁹¹ The argument that it is not a trust: the cash is a deposit at the bank, insured as one,¹²⁴ the investments are yours, reachable by creditors and part of your estate,^192,190 and a nominee that only holds title on your instructions is not a trustee.¹⁹³

The argument that it may be one: the operator does more than hold title.¹³⁰ The law makes it keep each account's money apart from all other funds,¹⁹⁴ see that gains and sale proceeds come back to the account,¹⁷⁷ deduct the 5% penalty,¹⁸³ and pay out in cash, releasing an investment itself only on a retirement, medical or foreigner's withdrawal or after a deemed one,^195,196 and you may not pledge the money.¹⁹⁷ Its purpose is saving for old age.¹⁶⁸ With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹³¹ this guide takes the cautious course of treating an account holding investments as a foreign trust, for the whole account, since investing does not take money out of it.^176,40,41 An account holding only cash and deposits is the strongest case for no trust, and the next block reads it as a deposit.¹²⁴

Does not apply: an employer's payment is your pay, put in for you.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵⁰ and the SRS is no employer plan: an employer's payment is part of your pay, put in for you.¹⁷²

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

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 is unlikely. The SRS is tax-favored and reported: contributions earn tax relief, only half of a retirement withdrawal is taxed, and the operator reports contributions and withdrawals to the tax authority each year.^{198,184,199,93,94} Contributions are capped each year.^171,96 Withdrawals before retirement age carry a 5% penalty, which meets the payout condition,^183,99 though a full withdrawal after ten years without citizenship or permanent residence is penalty-free and not among the examples.¹⁸⁶ But contributions must come only from earned income,⁹⁸ and anyone eligible may pay in cash up to the cap, with no link to earnings.¹⁷⁰ The proposed regulations need that only "generally", with allowance for limited contributions by the unemployed,^103,102 which is narrower than a cap open to anyone, so they are unlikely to help either. The employer condition does not apply.¹⁰⁰

No treaty. Singapore withholds tax from a non-citizen's withdrawal; what it will refund is not a creditable tax.

No treaty.¹⁰⁶ Singapore taxes withdrawals itself: from a withdrawal by a foreigner or permanent resident the operator withholds tax on the taxable part, at 24%, or 15% if the year's withdrawals are S$200,000 or less and you have no other income that year; the final tax is at resident rates for a Singapore tax resident, and for a non-resident 15% or the resident rates, whichever is higher, with any excess refunded.^200,201,202 An amount Singapore will refund is not a creditable foreign tax;²⁰³ whether the rest can be credited, and in which year, is outside this guide.

On the cautious course, full reporting, as for a foreign trust you own.

On the cautious course, you report the account 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,^65,204 so Part II and Form 3520-A are due each year for the whole account, cash included,¹⁰⁸ and withdrawals, cash or in kind, go on Part III, lines 24 and 27, as payouts to an owner, as does, on the cautious course, the balance Singapore treats as withdrawn at the end of the ten-year window, even if it stays in the account.^{69,110,188,196} Each contribution you make as a U.S. person is a Part I transfer, an employer's included, since it is your pay,^47,172 and one made within 5 years before your U.S. residency started goes on Part I for that year.¹³⁴ Part I also applies at your death as a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the account 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.¹³⁵ In the year an account holding only cash and deposits first buys another investment, the cautious course treats its whole balance as paid in then, on Part I, with Part II and Form 3520-A from that year. Once an account has held an investment, keep reporting it this way until it is closed, since selling an investment does not take money out of the account.^176,177,47 If the bank does not file Form 3520-A, you attach a substitute to your Form 3520.¹¹⁴ No Form 4970, because the income is taxed to you each year.¹¹³

If it is not a trust, none of these apply, and you are treated as owning the assets directly.¹⁹³ The investments 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 an SRS account whose money stays as cash in the account or is placed in deposits.^173,174 Paying in, withdrawals, the penalty and death work as for an account holding investments.¹⁸³

Not a trust, on our reading: a deposit with the bank, insured as one. No IRS guidance addresses it.

Not a trust, on our reading, and no IRS guidance addresses it. A trust needs trustees who take title to protect or conserve property for beneficiaries,³⁶ and here the bank owes you a deposit: Singapore's deposit insurance covers Singapore-dollar money placed with a bank under the SRS.¹²⁴ The rules that make the bank keep each account's money apart and forbid pledging it,^194,197 and the tax penalty on early withdrawal,¹⁸³ limit what you can do with your deposit but do not make the bank a trustee of it.³⁶

Does not apply: no employer plan, and a deposit is not a trust.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵⁰ and there is no employer plan here: an employer's payment is your pay.¹⁷²

Not needed.

Since §6048 reaches only foreign trusts.⁴⁷

No treaty; Singapore's withholding works as for an invested account.

No treaty.¹⁰⁶ Singapore taxes and withholds on withdrawals as for an invested account,²⁰⁰ and an amount it will refund is not a creditable foreign tax.²⁰³

Nothing on Form 3520 or 3520-A while it holds only cash and deposits.

No Part I, Part II, Form 3520-A, Part III, or Form 4970: Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.^47,108,69 Once the account holds any other investment, read the whole account as an SRS account holding investments.¹⁷³ 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 Child Development Account provides savings for a Singapore citizen child's education and healthcare.²⁰⁵ The parent who registers the birth becomes the CDA trustee and opens it at a bank,²⁰⁶ the government pays in a grant and matches the parents' deposits up to a cap,²⁰⁷ and the money can be used only at approved institutions, such as preschools and medical providers, and cannot be withdrawn as cash.²⁰⁸ At the end of the year the child turns 12 the account closes and its balance moves to the child's Post-Secondary Education Account, run by the Ministry of Education, up to that account's cap, with any excess paid to the child.²⁰⁹ We did not read the Child Development Co-Savings Act or the rules of the education account.²⁰⁵ This guide does not cover the Post-Secondary Education Account itself.

Not settled: a bank account with a parent as its trustee, locked to the child's care and schooling. Cautious: a trust.

Not settled, and no IRS guidance addresses the CDA. The argument that it is a trust: the government's own page calls the parent its trustee, and the money is held for the child, who cannot use it, for set purposes only.^206,208,36 The argument that it is not: it is an account at a bank kept for a child's expenses,^206,205 and a holder who only holds title on someone's instructions is not a trustee;¹⁹³ we did not read the law that says who owns the money. With the question open and the penalty for a missing Form 3520-A large,¹³¹ this guide takes the cautious course of reading it as a trust, and a foreign one, governed by Singapore law and kept in Singapore.^40,41

Does not apply: no employer pays in.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵⁰ and no employer pays into a CDA. On the cautious reading the parent who deposits funds the part those deposits pay for, and the government funds its grant and matching.⁵⁹ Whose that government money is, is not settled: the block for CPF accounts with no employer money reads a newborn's MediSave grant as the child's own, which would make a U.S. child owner of that part, with Part II and Form 3520-A each year.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17's medical and educational category is the one to test; not settled.

Rev. Proc. 2020-17 covers a foreign trust run exclusively or almost exclusively for medical, disability or educational benefits,¹⁰¹ and a CDA is for a child's education and healthcare, usable only at approved institutions.²⁰⁸ Its other conditions are a tax benefit, which a government contribution can supply,²¹⁰ yearly reporting to the tax authority, contributions of $10,000 or less a year or $200,000 or less in all, and payouts tied to those benefits or penalized.²¹¹ We did not read the law on deposits or reporting, and any excess over the education account's cap is paid to the child,²⁰⁹ so whether it qualifies is not settled, and it would help only an eligible individual.⁸⁸

No treaty.

No treaty.¹⁰⁶

On the cautious course: Part I and Part II for a U.S. parent's deposits, Part III for a U.S. child.

On the cautious course, a U.S. parent who deposits files Part I for each deposit,⁴⁷ and while the child is a U.S. person that parent is treated as owner of the part the deposits fund, with Part II and Form 3520-A each year.^204,108 Part I also applies on the death of a parent who is a U.S. citizen or resident, if any part of the account is then treated as owned by them or is in their gross estate: the executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹³⁵ What is paid out for a U.S. child, to a school or a doctor, and the balance moved to the education account or paid out when the account closes, are distributions the child receives indirectly, on Part III.^69,70 Form 4970 tax can apply if a payment carries out income kept in earlier years from money no one is treated as owning, such as the government's grant and matching or deposits by a parent who is not a U.S. person; that is not settled.^165,166 If the bank does not file Form 3520-A, the owner attaches a substitute to Form 3520.¹¹⁴

If a CDA is not a trust, none of these apply. An eligible individual whose account qualifies under Rev. Proc. 2020-17 files none of them, and that is not settled.¹⁰¹ On our reading the exemption also spares the executor the report of a U.S. owner's death, if the owner was 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.^212,213 No IRS guidance names executors, and the revenue procedure's scope speaks of the eligible individual who would otherwise report.²¹⁴ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate, and an exemption from Forms 3520 and 3520-A does not remove them.^115,116

Insurers in Singapore are licensed and governed under the Insurance Act.²¹⁵ This block covers their whole life, endowment, annuity and investment-linked policies. SRS money can buy a single-premium policy, or one whose life cover is at most three times the premium,¹⁷⁵ and CPF savings can buy policies under the CPF Investment Scheme.¹²⁵

Not a trust: a contract with a licensed insurer, which holds the assets.

Not a trust, on our reading. A trust needs trustees who take title to protect or conserve property for beneficiaries,³⁶ and an insurer owns its assets and owes you a contract; the Code treats insurance companies as corporations.¹⁵⁵ The strongest authority the other way is the IRS's private ruling that a foreign pension entity was a trust,³⁹ but that entity held assets for covered employees who could not assign their interests, not policies an insurer sells to the public. Under an investment-linked policy you may be treated as owning the assets behind it for U.S. tax, which makes no trust.²¹⁶ 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 a policy is not a trust.

§402(b) reaches only an employer's contributions to an employees' trust,⁵⁰ and a policy you buy is not one.

Not needed.

Since §6048 reaches only foreign trusts.⁴⁷

No treaty.

No treaty.¹⁰⁶

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.^47,108,69 A policy bought inside an SRS account is one of its investments, and the account is read as an SRS account holding investments;¹⁷⁶ money taken from the CPF for a policy follows the CPF Investment Scheme block.¹²⁵ How a foreign policy is taxed in the United States is not decided here. 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

Trust law in Singapore centers on the Trustees Act.²¹⁷ An express trust is one a settlor creates, with instructions on how the property is to be held.²¹⁸ Private trust companies act as trustees for a single private group, typically a family; they are exempt from licensing but must engage a licensed trust company.^219,220 Singapore taxes a trust's income through the trustee's own return, Form T, under rules separate from Form 3520.^221,222 A business trust is engaged in managing an operating business,²²³ and U.S. law may classify a trust that runs a business for profit as a business entity rather than a trust.²²⁴

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,³⁶ and a foreign trust where a trustee in Singapore administers it under Singapore law, since it then fails the court test, which alone makes it foreign, even where the trustee is a U.S. citizen.^40,41 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.²²⁵ 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.^226,227 A bare trust whose trustee only holds title for an adult entitled to the property may not be a trust for U.S. purposes,¹⁹³ but that ruling is narrow,¹³⁰ 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.¹⁹³ Singapore's law on trust companies leaves bare trustees out of its scope,²²⁸ which does not decide whether a bare trust is a trust for U.S. purposes.

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.²⁰⁴ 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.¹³⁴ 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.¹⁶⁵ Otherwise, unless another grantor trust rule makes a U.S. person owner,⁶⁵ no one is owner, and the trust is taxed as a separate, non-grantor trust.²²⁹

A trust has a U.S. beneficiary for the transferor rule if anyone has discretion to pay or benefit any person, unless its terms identify the class who may benefit and none of them is a U.S. person that year,²³⁰ even if nothing is paid to a U.S. person that year;²³¹ a power to amend the trust to benefit a U.S. person counts, and so does a letter of wishes or other understanding that points to benefiting one, even one that says it is only a suggestion.²³² Where a U.S. person funds the trust, the IRS may treat it as having a U.S. beneficiary unless that person shows it has none.²³³ A beneficiary who first became a U.S. person more than 5 years after the transfer is not counted,²³⁴ and a transferor whose trust gains a U.S. beneficiary is taxed that year on the income the trust kept for that part to the end of the year before, as an accumulation distribution with the interest charge.^235,236 A settlor who is not a U.S. person keeps the revocable-trust exception for a year only if they can take the property back alone, or with the consent of a related or subordinate party subservient to them, for at least 183 days of it; a power that needs anyone else's consent, such as an independent trustee's or protector's, does not count.^237,238 Once the exception fails for a year it is lost for good.²³⁹ Separately, a portion already treated as owned under §676, or under §677 other than its life insurance rule, on September 19, 1995 keeps that owner for the property it held that day, for as long as it stays so treated.²⁴⁰ A U.S. settlor of a trust with no U.S. beneficiary can still be owner under another rule, for example by keeping a power to take the property back,²⁴¹ and a U.S. beneficiary who alone can take the property is owner of it.^242,165

When a settlor who was not a U.S. person dies, the revocable-trust and spouse-only exceptions end for that settlor's portion, because the person left with the power, even a surviving spouse, is not its grantor;²⁴³ a U.S. person who alone can take the property, or a U.S. person who funded the trust, can still be owner, and otherwise the portion is taxed as a non-grantor trust.^242,204,229 When a portion stops being owned by a U.S. person, the owner is treated, for the gain rule, as transferring it to a foreign trust that day.²⁴⁴ At death the gain is excused only if the trust's basis in the property is then reset to its value at death under section 1014(a), as where the owner could still revoke the trust;²⁴⁵ otherwise the owner is treated as transferring it immediately before death and recognizes the gain.²⁴⁶

No relief.

The United States has no income tax treaty with Singapore.¹⁰⁶

Part I for whoever funds it, Part II and Form 3520-A for an owner, Part III for whoever receives a distribution.

A U.S. person who transfers property to the trust files Part I for that year.⁴⁷ A transfer to a foreign trust is treated as a sale, and you recognize any gain on what you transfer;²⁴⁷ a transfer is not, to the extent anyone is treated as owning the part it funds.²⁴⁸ Part I also applies on the death of a U.S. citizen or resident who was treated as owner of any part of the trust, or whose gross estate includes part of it, and to property that passes to the trust by reason of a U.S. person's death; the executor reports it, whether or not the executor is a U.S. person.¹³⁵ The gain rule does not apply to property that passes to the trust by reason of a U.S. person's death, if its basis in that property is set under section 1014(a).²⁴⁵ A U.S. owner files Part II and makes sure Form 3520-A is filed, or files a substitute, each year.^108,114 A U.S. beneficiary who receives a distribution files Part III for that year.⁶⁹ A distribution from a non-grantor trust that carries out income the trust kept in earlier years is an accumulation distribution, taxed with an interest charge on Form 4970.¹⁶⁶ Form 4970 can also apply to a transferor taxed when the trust gains a U.S. beneficiary, as the owner step says.²³⁶ Rev. Proc. 2020-17 does not apply: it covers only retirement trusts and medical, disability, or educational savings trusts.²⁴⁹

A distribution is any gratuitous transfer from the trust, whether or not it is a grantor trust and whether or not you are named as a beneficiary, including a credit card bill it pays or guarantees and a check written on its account.²⁵⁰ On the proposed rules, a payment from a company the trust owns to a U.S. person who is a grantor, owner or beneficiary of the trust, or related to one, is treated as a distribution from the trust, unless that person shows it is properly attributable to their own interest in the company.^251,102 A loan of cash or marketable securities, or use of trust property, to you or a related U.S. person goes on Part III whether or not it is taxable;²⁵² it is treated as a distribution for income tax, except a loan made on a qualified obligation (a written loan in U.S. dollars, for 5 years or less, at an interest rate tied to the federal rate, for which you extend the IRS's time to assess and that you report each year) or use you pay the fair market value for within a reasonable time,^{253,254,255,256} and where a U.S. person funded the trust, the loan instead makes it a grantor trust, and it still goes on Part III.²⁵⁷

If you are the U.S. owner of the part that pays you, you complete only lines 24 and 27, and the rest of this paragraph does not apply to you.¹¹⁰ Otherwise, with a complete Foreign Grantor Trust Beneficiary Statement you treat a payment as coming from the owner, so a gift from the owner is not your income;²⁵⁸ without one, the default method applies even to a distribution from a grantor trust.²⁵⁹ From a non-grantor trust you may use the actual method if you have a Foreign Nongrantor Trust Beneficiary Statement,²⁶⁰ and without one the default method applies: the part of this year's distributions above 1.25 times the average of the three years before is an accumulation distribution, taxed on Form 4970 with an interest charge figured on Form 3520's Schedule C, and the rest is ordinary income,^261,166,262 and once you use the default method you must keep using it in later years, except that in the year the trust ends you may use the actual method if you have the statement.²⁶³ In the trust's first year as a foreign trust, you stop Part III once you have entered how many years it has been foreign, so no accumulation distribution is figured that year.²⁶⁴ The statute treats the whole distribution as an accumulation distribution where adequate records are not given;²⁶⁵ the default method is the IRS's relief from that, open if you can give the trust's distributions for the three years before,²⁶⁶ and where there were none, it too makes the whole distribution an accumulation distribution.²⁶¹ A foreign trust's distributable net income, the income its distributions carry out, includes its capital gains,²⁶⁷ and the exception for income kept before a beneficiary was born or turned 21 does not apply to it.²⁶⁸ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate and may also apply.²⁶⁹

Unit trusts are among the investments SRS money can buy,¹⁷⁴ and the SRS rules value them at their published price.²⁷⁰ CPF savings can also be invested in approved funds through the CPF Investment Scheme.¹¹⁷ We did not read Singapore's law on collective investment schemes or a fund's trust deed.

Not a trust where its manager can vary its investments; then a foreign corporation if all investors have limited liability.

Not a trust for U.S. purposes where its manager can vary its investments: an investment trust with that power is not classified as a trust,²⁷¹ and a trust that runs a business is not one either.²²⁴ As a foreign entity, such a fund is treated as a corporation if all its investors have limited liability, unless it elects otherwise.²⁷² A fund that cannot change its investments may be a trust; check the deed.

No owner: the grantor trust rules do not reach a corporation.

The grantor trust rules apply to trusts, so no one is treated as owner of a fund treated as a corporation; its investors hold shares in a foreign corporation.²⁷² The PFIC rules may apply to units you hold, directly or through a CPF investment or SRS account; this site does not determine PFIC status.

No treaty.

No treaty changes how the fund is classified or reported.¹⁰⁶

No Form 3520 or 3520-A for a fund treated as a corporation.

For a fund treated as a corporation: no Part I, Part II, Part III, or Form 3520-A, and no Form 4970, because Forms 3520 and 3520-A report foreign trusts.^47,108,69 A fund that is a trust is reported under the trust rules in the block before this one.²⁷¹ FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) and Form 8938 are separate and may also apply.²⁶⁹