Sec. 1.672(f)-2 Certain foreign corporations.
(a) Application of general rule in this section. Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section, if the owner of any portion of a trust upon application of the grantor trust rules without regard to section 672(f) is a controlled foreign corporation or a passive foreign investment company (as defined in section 1297), the corporation is treated as a domestic corporation for purposes of applying the rules of §1.672(f)-1. For purposes of this section, a controlled foreign corporation has the meaning provided in section 957, determined without applying section 318(a)(3)(A), (B), and (C) so as to consider a United States person as owning stock which is owned by a person who is not a United States person.
(b) Gratuitous transfers to United States persons
(1) Transfer from trust to which corporation made a gratuitous transfer. If a trust (or portion of a trust) to which a controlled foreign corporation, passive foreign investment company, or foreign personal holding company has made a gratuitous transfer (within the meaning of section 1.671-2(e)(2)), makes a gratuitous transfer to a United States person, the controlled foreign corporation, passive foreign investment company, or foreign personal holding company, as the case may be, is treated as a foreign corporation for purposes of section 1.672(f)-4(c), relating to gratuitous transfers from trusts (or portions of trusts) to which a partnership or foreign corporation has made a gratuitous transfer.
(2) Transfer from trust over which corporation has a section 678 power. If a trust (or portion of a trust) that a controlled foreign corporation, passive foreign investment company, or foreign personal holding company is treated as owning under section 678 makes a gratuitous transfer to a United States person, the controlled foreign corporation, passive foreign investment company, or foreign personal holding company, as the case may be, is treated as a foreign corporation that had made a gratuitous transfer to the trust (or portion of a trust) and the rules of section 1.672(f)-4(c) apply.
(c) Special rules for passive foreign investment companies
(1) Application of section 1297. For purposes of determining whether a foreign corporation is a passive foreign investment company as defined in section 1297, the grantor trust rules apply as if section 672(f) had not come into effect.
(2) References to renumbered Internal Revenue Code section. For taxable years of shareholders beginning on or before December 31, 1997, and taxable years of passive foreign investment companies ending with or within such taxable years of the shareholders, all references in this section 1.672(f)-2 to section 1297 are deemed to be references to section 1296.
(d) Examples. The following examples illustrate the rules of this section. In each example, FT is an irrevocable foreign trust, and CFC is a controlled foreign corporation. The examples are as follows:
Example 1. Application of general rule. CFC creates and funds FT. CFC is the grantor of FT within the meaning of section 1.671-2(e). CFC has a reversionary interest in FT within the meaning of section 673 that would cause CFC to be treated as the owner of FT upon application of the grantor trust rules without regard to section 672(f). Under paragraph (a) of this section, CFC is treated as a domestic corporation for purposes of applying the general rule of section 1.672(f)-1. Thus, section 1.672(f)-1 does not prevent CFC from being treated as the owner of FT under section 673.
Example 2. Distribution from trust to which CFC made gratuitous transfer. A, a nonresident alien, owns 40 percent of the stock of CFC. A's brother B, a resident alien, owns the other 60 percent of the stock of CFC. CFC makes a gratuitous transfer to FT. FT makes a gratuitous transfer to A's daughter, C, who is a resident alien. Under paragraph (b)(1) of this section, CFC will be treated as a foreign corporation for purposes of section 1.672(f)-4(c). For further guidance, see section 1.672(f)-4(g) Example 2 through Example 4.
(e) Applicability dates. Except as provided in this paragraph (e), the rules of this section apply to taxable years of shareholders of controlled foreign corporations and passive foreign investment companies beginning after August 10, 1999, and taxable years of controlled foreign corporations and passive foreign investment companies ending with or within such taxable years of the shareholders. The provisions in paragraph (a) of this section relating to the controlled foreign corporations taken into account for purposes of this section apply to taxable years of foreign corporations ending on or after October 1, 2019, and taxable years of United States shareholders in which or with which such taxable years of foreign corporations end. For taxable years of foreign corporations ending before October 1, 2019, and taxable years of United States shareholders in which or with which such taxable years of foreign corporations end, a taxpayer may apply such provisions to the last taxable year of a foreign corporation beginning before January 1, 2018, and each subsequent taxable year of the foreign corporation, and to taxable years of United States shareholders in which or with which such taxable years of the foreign corporation end, provided that the taxpayer and United States persons that are related (within the meaning of section 267 or 707) to the taxpayer consistently apply such provisions with respect to all foreign corporations. For taxable years of foreign corporations ending before October 1, 2019, and taxable years of United States shareholders in which or with which such taxable years of foreign corporations end, where the taxpayer does not apply the provisions of paragraph (a) of this section relating to controlled foreign corporations, see paragraph (a) of this section as in effect and contained in 26 CFR part 1, as revised April 1, 2020.
[T.D. 8831, 64 FR 43267-43280, Aug. 10, 1999, as amended by T.D. 8890, 65 FR 41332-41334, July 5, 2000; T.D. 9908, 85 FR 59428-59436, Sept. 22, 2020.]
