form 8621 , holding GTU in taxable account

[steve]

Form 8621 has been updated for 2012 , it is almost the same but the revised instructions contains a new Part I, Summary of Annual Information, which
will expand reporting requirements, but it is currently reserved for future use. The revised instructions also indicate that new Part I is not required until the Section 1298(f) regulations are published. In addition, the revised instructions re-order the elections in Part II without making any material changes. Finally, the revised instructions include a minor administrative change in the Form of a field that has been added to request the reporting of a PFIC or a QEF “Reference ID Number.”?

[dragoncar]

Cool, I was hoping this thread would come up again for 2012.  Do you know of any summaries out there that say exactly what I have to do?  I purchased GTU in 2012, so I believe I need to file two forms: one to make an election, and one to report the foreign assets?

[steve]

Cool, I was hoping this thread would come up again for 2012.  Do you know of any summaries out there that say exactly what I have to do?  I purchased GTU in 2012, so I believe I need to file two forms: one to make an election, and one to report the foreign assets?

As far as I know if you hold GTU in a US brokerage account like Vanguard etc. you do not have to do separate foreign asset filing.
I think all you need is form 8621 making the election and add attachment with

A shareholder of a PFIC must attach certain information to Form 8621. This information includes:
• The number of shares in each class of stock owned by the shareholder at the beginning of its tax
year;
• Any changes in the number of shares in each class of stock during its tax year and the dates of
such changes; and
• The number of shares in each class of stock at the end of its tax year

Note that I am not a tax specialist or accountant, this is how I do it and hope that I am correct.

[Greg]

If you don't fill out the 8621 form for the tax year, are you allowed to have a tax loss of your ordinary tax rate instead? (i.e. if I have $500 in taxable loss, I don't fill out the paperwork so I can take 25% of that off of my taxable income versus only 15% for capital gains which is what happens when you fill out the form)?