- quote -

The PFIC rules were targeted at foreign mutual funds. If they didn't
exist, U.S. persons could invest in foreign mutual funds that don't
pay current dividends (instead the mutual funds would reinvest all of
their earnings). This would allow the U.S. investors unlimited
deferral on what is essentially investment income. Without the PFIC
rules, there would be a strong incentive to invest in foreign mutual
funds rather than U.S. mutual funds (which are required to annually
distribute their income).

- quote -

In the QEF context, distributions in excess of earnings will be
treated as return of basis and when basis is gone they will be treated
as gain on sale or exchange of an asset.

- quote -

I don't know.

- quote -

Yes, if you make the QEF election you can get long term capital gain
treatment to the extent it exists. Note that you need to annually get
a detailed statement from the PFIC if you want to election QEF status.

Andrew Mitchel
Essex, Connecticut
http://www.andrewmitchel.com

--
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And a fourth question: if I take the QEF election, and the company
reports both ordinary income and capital gains, am I at least allowed to
take the capital gains and declare it on my return as capital gains? Or am
I forced to take the PFIC's capital gains and declare that as ordinary
income as well?

--
Will


"Will" <westes-usc[at]noemail.nospam> wrote in message
news:kvmdnYSpcqkET0vVnZ2dnUVZ_o_inZ2d[at]giganews.com...
- quote -

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

I am looking at an investment in a passive foreign invesment company (PFIC),
and the implications of this are explained on the company's web page here:

http://www.genesislease.com/document...ocumentID=1891

Wow, that gets complicated, and it looks complicated with or without the QEF
election.

My first question is why does the U.S. not treat such companies as ordinary
corporations distributing qualified dividends? Is it simply because they
invest in assets like airplanes that are held for a long term? It seems
awfully discriminatory against such companies to treat their earnings as
ordinary income. And why create such hellish complexity for ordinary
shareholders?

Second, if I take the QEF election as I read it I pay tax based on actual
earnings rather than distributions. If the company distributes nothing, I
pay tax based on the earnings anyway, and I get to increase my tax basis.
What is less clear is what happens if the company pays out *more* dividend
than it reports as earnings? In this case do I pay tax based on the
earnings, but not get taxed on the difference and simply decrease tax cost
basis in the stock for the difference? In such case what would happen in a
future year when the tax cost basis in the stock goes to zero?

Third, does any of this hideousness get less complex if I buy the stock in
an IRA account, or are there still requirements to pay out tax for IRAs
(with or without the QEF election)?

--
Will

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >