Department of the Treasury Archives - Future Wealth Navigator

Proposed Treasury Regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) have recently been issued to update and clarify existing reporting obligations for U.S. persons who receive gifts from abroad or who are owners or beneficiaries of foreign trusts.^[1] These gifts, ownership interests, and distributions are required to be reported annually to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) using Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions with Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts. The Proposed Regulations provide guidance under Internal Revenue Code (“IRC”) Sections 643(i), 679, 6039F, 6048, and 6677 with respect to reporting receipt of large foreign gifts, transactions with foreign trusts, and loans from, and uses of, property of foreign trusts.

Kyle G. Durante —

There is one common law rule that haunts most law students, and many legal practitioners: “no interest is good unless it must vest, if at all, not later than twenty-one years after some life in being at the creation of the interest.” This rule, known as the rule against perpetuities, has many applications, but, most importantly, it limits the duration that an irrevocable trust may remain in existence. This rule was initially adopted in an effort to limit dead-hand control over property by requiring property to vest in a beneficiary within a certain period of time.

Generally, at common law, an irrevocable trust could remain in existence for a period of time not exceeding 21 years after the death of all members of a particular class of persons who were alive at the time the perpetuities period began. For an irrevocable trust, generally, the perpetuities period will begin on the date the trust was created. While some states, such as New York,[1] continue to follow the common law rule, a number of states, such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and South Dakota,[2] have completely abrogated the rule, while others have extended the period of time that an irrevocable trust may remain in existence, such as Connecticut (which applies an 800 year period in gross) and Florida (which applies a 1,000 year period in gross).