(a) In general. A U.S. transferor who transfers property to a foreign trust is treated as the owner of the portion of the trust attributable to the property transferred if there is a U.S. beneficiary of any portion of the trust, unless an exception in §1.679-4 applies to the transfer.

(b) Interaction with sections 673 through 678. The rules of this section apply without regard to whether the U.S. transferor retains any power or interest described in sections 673 through 677. If a U.S. transferor would be treated as the owner of a portion of a foreign trust pursuant to the rules of this section and another person would be treated as the owner of the same portion of the trust pursuant to section 678, then the U.S. transferor is treated as the owner and the other person is not treated as the owner.

(c) Definitions. The following definitions apply for purposes of this section and §§1.679-2 through 1.679-7:

(1) U.S. transferor. The term U.S. transferor means any U.S. person who makes a transfer (as defined in §1.679-3) of property to a foreign trust.

(2) U.S. person. The term U.S. person means a United States person as defined in section 7701(a)(30), a nonresident alien individual who elects under section 6013(g) to be treated as a resident of the United States, and an individual who is a dual resident taxpayer within the meaning of §301.7701(b)-7(a) of this chapter.

(3) Foreign trust. Section 7701(a)(31)(B) defines the term foreign trust. See also §301.7701-7 of this chapter.

(4) Property. The term property means any property including cash.

(5) Related person. A person is a related person if, without regard to the transfer at issue, the person is—

(i) A grantor of any portion of the trust (within the meaning of §1.671-2(e)(1));

(ii) An owner of any portion of the trust under sections 671 through 679;

(iii) A beneficiary of the trust; or

(iv) A person who is related (within the meaning of section 643(i)(2)(B)) to any grantor, owner or beneficiary of the trust.

(6) Obligation. The term obligation means any bond, note, debenture, certificate, bill receivable, account receivable, note receivable, open account, or other evidence of indebtedness, and, to the extent not previously described, any annuity contract.

(d) Examples. The following examples illustrate the rules of paragraph (a) of this section. In these examples, A is a resident alien, B is A's son, who is a resident alien, C is A's father, who is a resident alien, D is A's uncle, who is a nonresident alien, and FT is a foreign trust. The examples are as follows:

Example 1. Interaction with section 678. A creates and funds FT. FT may provide for the education of B by paying for books, tuition, room and board. In addition, C has the power to vest the trust corpus or income in himself within the meaning of section 678(a)(1). Under paragraph (b) of this section, A is treated as the owner of the portion of FT attributable to the property transferred to FT by A and C is not treated as the owner thereof.
Example 2. U.S. person treated as owner of a portion of FT. D creates and funds FT for the benefit of B. D retains a power described in section 676 and §1.672(f)-3(a)(1). A transfers property to FT. Under sections 676 and 672(f), D is treated as the owner of the portion of FT attributable to the property transferred by D. Under paragraph (a) of this section, A is treated as the owner of the portion of FT attributable to the property transferred by A.

[T.D. 8955, 66 FR 37889, July 20, 2001]


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