TurboTax

File with experts
File your taxes
Experts at your fingertips

An expert helps with your taxes, or does them for you
TurboTax Expert Full Service

TurboTax Expert Assist

TurboTax Self-Employed
Prior year taxes
File myself
File myself
Do it yourself

We'll guide you step-by-step
TurboTax Do It Yourself

TurboTax Self-Employed

TurboTax Desktop
TurboTax Free

Activate your product

Prior year taxes
Business
Business
Business taxes

Get your T2 corporate return done right, your way
TurboTax Business

TurboTax Business Desktop
Tax situations
Tax situations
Tax situations

Find extra guidance for your big life moves
For investors

For 25 and younger

For self-employed

For new to Canada

For life changes
Resources
Resources
Resources

Explore tax tools, get tips, and read reviews
Personal income tax calculator

RRSP savings calculator

Learning hub

TurboTax support (FAQ)

TurboTax community
Pricing

Community

Question

Efile with form 3520

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
February 16, 2024
10 replies
0 views

Hello,

I have a need to file form 3520 along with the 2023 tax return. I also completed form 8938 as part of the Turbotax to list the foreign account information.

However, at the last stage of review, TurboTax indicates that I cannot Efile since I have indicated that I will be filing form 3520 and indicated a count of 1 on the form 8938 for the Form 3520.

I checked with CPAs and it is perfectly ok from IRS side to Efile your return with this same set of information and send the Form 3520 as paper filing separately.

It seems to be a limitation on TurboTax side which must be resolved at the soonest since it is causing grievance and issues for customers.

Please assist and resolve this at the soonest to support e-filing along with the indication that there will be a form 3520 sent via paper mail.

TurboTax Premier Online

AmyC

Employee

The Form 3520 is not part of the software. You can upload documents and attach things to the return but this does not yet relate to this form officially. When you mail your return, be sure to use tracking for the safe arrival of your forms.

Reference: Forms Not Included

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

ash2sap2Author

Thanks so much for your response. I understand that form 3520 is not part of the efile and it has to be paper mailed.

The question is why does Turbotax take away the efile option, given that the form 3520 is sent via paper and is NOT to be sent/filed along with the return as per the IRS filing requirements?

The solution should have been to let people still eFile and the Form 3520 would need to be anyway sent separately via paper mail.

This seems to be a limitation in Turbo tax's implementation.

DaveF1006

Yes, I agree. Turbo Tax does allow some returns to file electronically while allowing certain forms to be mailed in in a separate transmittal form. Perhaps at some point, a 3520 will be a form that can be submitted in a separate transmittal form but for now, this option is not available.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

Darenl

Hi has this been resolved or have you figured out what to do? Or end up filing by print out and mail it?

ash2sap2Author

I tried one of the competitor one's too and that has the same issue and did not allow e-filing. Guess, paper filing is the only option.

SL1234

I gave up on waiting on TT to fix this and went ahead and redid my taxes with TaxAct and I was able to file Federal and State online, and only send my 3520 by regular mail.

ronnierrl

Is there a way to submit a request to fix the bug on not allowing efile when the box for Form 3520 was checked on Schedule B? I hope TurboTax will fix the bug, so that I can still efile my Form 1040 and mail in the Form 3520 separately.

ash2sap2Author

Don't know for sure. I reported it via Support, but nothing has happened so far.

spsefton

Has anyone tried reporting the same amounts disclosed on Form 3520 on form 8938 in TurboTax (it says you don't need to, but it doesn't say you can't) and then not entering this in the Number of Copies to be Filed field so that you can then e-file? It would work, but would it cause other issues with the IRS?

ronnierrl

I think as long you remove the number of Form 3520 from Part IV of Form 8938, TurboTax will allow you to e-file. However, there is a check mark on Form 3520 to indicate whether you filed Form 8938. In other words, these two forms talk to each other, so I personally will not risk an inconsistent filing which could increase my audit risk. I will paper file my federal return to make sure it is correct and consistent. However, I will remove the number to trig the system to allow me to e-file my state return as Form 8938 is not reqired to be attached to my state.

spsefton

This is true. The wording on Form 3520 c) is "Check if any excepted specified foreign financial assets are reported on this form." with meaning that you haven't reported them on 8938. If you don't check c) but report them on both 3520 and 8938 too then I wonder if this is good enough? The duplicative reporting change was brought in to make life easier, but because TT can't get its act together is actually makes it harder!

yihaow1229

Hi,

I also need to file 3520 and I saw this topic. Seems like if you need to file both 8839 and 3520 then it will not be allowed to be efiled by TT? I am wondering if 3520 is the only form that I need to attach(actually mail), would it be applicable then(say no need to file 8839 as the value is always less than 10k in my oversea account), or will this still be risky as some said above these 2 forms are talking to each other.

onemoment

I can eFile with 3520 copy set to 1 with Turbo Tax in 2021 ( and mail out 3520 form manually). Turbo Tax should fix this BUG!

SusanY1

When indicating on 8938 that you have filed X numbers of 3520s you are indicating that you are omitting certain information on 8938 because it is, instead, on Form 3520.

There should be no issue with not indicating that an asset is on Form 3520 as long as it is duplicated on Form 8938.

If overly concerned about omitting the indicator on 8938 for Form 3520, the only option with TurboTax at this time is to file the return by mail.

@RobSI

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

taxuserabc123

This makes the software pretty much useless without efile, and worse still it won't let me efile state either without federal efile. This was working last year. Please please please fix it or I will be seeking a full refund.

To clear up confusion, I know we can't file 3520/3520a online. I am going to mail that but I was able to efile the actual tax return last year even with an 8938. I will not allow this now. There is no reason this can't be allowed. 3520 is mailed to a completely separate address. Please fix regression in functionality.

RobSI

I agree with others on this thread. This functionality worked in Turbotax last year. Intuit appear to have found a way to take away the eFile feature which has a value we all paid for. I think we are owed a refund from the vendor. I've now invested too much time to back out of TT for this year but this should have been warned way before doing the error check and investing so much time.

Separately, I can't quite understand from above answers by @SusanY1 if listing 'zero' or blank 3520 forms on the 8938 form would make an eFile 8938 form out of compliance when submitting a different number of 3520 paper forms to Ogden by mail. I'm pretty well resigned to paper filing and cross checking responses in all the different forms manually - very tedious

TAD-SAT

Well folks, I've spent the weekend going through all the IRS documents, forms and instructions. Warning! I am not a CPA tax consultant or advisor. Just a normal tax paying American citizen trying to complete my 2023 income tax return.

For my specific situation, which is an inheritance from a foreign country, I have to complete Form 3520, including documents from the Non-USA entity, and MAIL the 3520 to Ogden, UT. As far as I can tell the ability to eFile Form 3520 has never existed, because the IRS instructions specifically state Form 3520 must be snail-mailed in paper form.

On my individual Form 1040 for 2023 tax year, which I will be eFiling, on Schedule B, Part III, Foreign Accounts and Trusts, I have to check "Yes" 3 times, boxes for Para's 7a,7b,8. This tells the IRS to expect a completed Form 3520 documenting my inheritance, and also expect a FinCEN Form 114 sent to the U.S. Treasury Department, because I'll have >$150,000 in foreign financial accounts. For my situation, submission of the Form 3520 and Form 114 are one-time deals. In 2024 tax years and beyond, I only have to complete Form 8938 which is attached & submitted electronically with Form 1040 to the IRS. The prior commenter @RobSI mentioned Form 8930, which I'm not familiar with and doesn't show up in my TurboTax 2023 list of Forms for my tax return.

I elected to keep most of my inheritance in the foreign country because the $USD is so strong right now against most other currencies. There's also the uncertainty of the US Presidential elections this November. I thought it was a good idea to have one foot out of the USA, from a financial risk mitigation perspective. Hoping this helps out other US Citizens in my situation. TAD-SAT

Eric_SD

Totally agree with you. 🙂

RobSI

Paper filed on Friday and checked status at IRS online account. Apparently paper filing of 1040 may take as long as 6 weeks to process. I'm sure IRS will want to send a word of thanks to Intuit for creating more delays 😉

treasure hunt

I face the same issue with TurboTax ***2024*** with 3520. While many TurboTax users think this is a bug, Intuit is expected to provide a reasonable justification to disable e-file with 3520 being sent separately.

BillM223

I imagine that TurboTax does not e-file the 3520 for the simple reason that the IRS will not accept it by e-file.

The IRS instructions for the 3520 still state

Send Form 3520 to the following address.

Internal Revenue Service Center
P.O. Box 409101
Ogden, UT 84409

Taxpayers need to understand that filing anything is a two-way street - not only must TurboTax have the software to send it electronically, but the IRS must have the software to receive it.

At this point, the IRS does not have the capability (or perhaps the desire) to receive the 3520 electronically.

**Say "Thanks" by clicking the thumb icon in a post**Mark the post that answers your question by clicking on "Mark as Best Answer"

Cincilla

The problem is that, while the IRS allows e-filing of the rest of the rest of the return, requiring only that the 3520 be sent by mail, Turbotax, as of the last couple of years, no longer supports that. So instead the entire return must be mailed to one address and form 3520 to another.