FileAbroad

Foreign gift consultation

Received Money or Property From Abroad? Identify the Real Donor, Reporting Path, and Basis Records Before You File.

A transfer called a gift is not automatically income or automatically Form 3520. The answer depends on your U.S. status, the ultimate donor, related persons and intermediaries, whether a trust or entity was involved, dates and values, covered-expatriate history, donor basis, and what happened after receipt. In a paid consultation, I map those facts, identify the U.S. reporting questions, and define the records, preparation work, or specialist referral needed next.

Start My Foreign Gift Intake

Send a free inquiry first. I review it personally and explain whether a paid assessment is appropriate before you book or pay.

30 minutes · $100 · directly with Chip

Organize the gift facts before paying for a review

Start with the donors, intended recipients, tax year, broad amount and transfer history. The sending bank's location alone does not settle the reporting question. Keep companies, trusts, intermediaries and uncertain tax status visible in your notes.

Use the foreign-gift facts worksheet

The consultation

What we'll review

The consultation focuses on the facts that determine what needs further attention.

Recipient, donor, and relationship

U.S.-person status, filing year, ultimate donor, residence and citizenship, related parties, possible covered-expatriate history, and the legal and economic transfer chain.

Transfer character and intermediaries

Gift intent versus services, loan, support, reimbursement, purchase, forgiveness, distribution, contribution, or exchange, including companies, partnerships, trusts, nominees, and joint accounts.

Dates, values, and donor categories

Every receipt and title date, original currency, valuation support, donor-category aggregation, direct tuition or medical payment facts, and the applicable filing-year instructions.

Basis and life after the gift

Donor adjusted basis, gift-date fair market value, gift tax and holding-period records, later income, use, sale, currency, depreciation, and asset-specific classification.

Forms, deadlines, and next route

Prior Forms 3520/708, income and account reporting, extensions, omissions, notices, secure record needs, preparation scope, and legal, valuation, donor-side, trust, entity, or foreign referrals.

After the call

What you leave with

By the end of the consultation, you'll have a clear map of the issues that need attention and the next practical step.

  • A donor-to-recipient timeline separating the legal owner, sender, intermediaries, related persons, dates, values, currencies, property, and stated purpose of every transfer.
  • The provisional Part IV, foreign-trust, covered-expatriate, income, basis, account, asset, entity, and later-transaction questions that require further work.
  • A focused request for gift letters, transfer and ownership records, donor status and basis documents, valuations, entity or trust instruments, later statements, and prior filings, with secure-upload instructions after intake.
  • Whether FileAbroad can accept a defined U.S. reporting or preparation stage and which inheritance, trust, entity, account, PFIC, correction, valuation, donor-side, legal, or foreign-law path is appropriate.
  • Foreign-country legal, tax, valuation, banking, remittance, title, and local-filing conclusions are outside FileAbroad's scope; confirm those with the relevant foreign authority and a licensed local professional.

You are not required to hire FileAbroad for preparation after the consultation.

Scope

What the consultation does not include

The consultation is a review and scoping session. It does not include preparation or filing of a tax return, FBAR, information return, amended return, or Streamlined submission.

It also does not create an open-ended support engagement. Additional research, document review, preparation, or follow-up work is included only when it is specifically agreed or purchased.

FileAbroad does not provide legal advice or tax litigation services.

Current pricing

Optional $100 scope assessment

30-Minute Expat Tax Scope Assessment

$100

Focused review of your filing situation with a written list of the years and forms that need attention, a document checklist, key scope flags, and an exact preparation quote when FileAbroad can accept the work.

Preparation is priced separately. A paid assessment is offered when substantive review is needed; it is not required for every preparation engagement. Straightforward tax-year-2025 federal expat returns start at $575, and standalone current-year FBAR preparation starts at $100. Prior-year, delinquent, amended, entity, trust, partnership, PFIC, Streamlined, and other complex international work is quoted after review.

See preparation services and pricing

The process

How the paid assessment works

  1. 1

    Start the intake.

    Tell me the broad facts of your situation without uploading sensitive tax documents through the public form.

  2. 2

    I review the inquiry.

    I personally review the intake to determine whether a FileAbroad consultation appears appropriate.

  3. 3

    Book the consultation.

    If the situation fits, you'll receive the scheduling and payment link for the $100 30-minute consultation.

  4. 4

    We review the situation together.

    We use the call to identify the relevant filing questions, missing information, and next practical step.

  5. 5

    Preparation is separate.

    If FileAbroad can accept preparation work, you receive the written scope and price before preparation begins.

Before you book

Questions we'll use to map your foreign gift

Which tax year and recipient are involved, what was the recipient’s U.S. citizenship or residency status, and on what dates was each amount or item received, titled, controlled, or made available?
Who legally and economically owned the transferred property, what were the donor’s citizenship, residence, relationship, and U.S. expatriation history, and did any related person, company, partnership, trust, joint account, nominee, or platform transmit it?
Was the transfer intended as a gift, or could it relate to services, employment, repayment, a loan, support, reimbursement, a sale, debt forgiveness, a dividend, an owner distribution, a capital contribution, or another exchange?
What cash, real estate, securities, funds, business interests, digital assets, or other property moved, what were the original-currency values and valuation records, and can the donor provide adjusted basis, acquisition, gift-tax, and holding-period documents?
What later income, sale, rental, conversion, account or entity ownership occurred, and which Forms 3520, 708, 8938, FBARs, income returns, extensions, prior corrections, or notices already exist for the transfer and asset?
Do I need a paid assessment before hiring FileAbroad?

Not for every engagement. Start with a brief intake to discuss needs, timing, process, and pricing. Straightforward preparation can proceed directly to an accepted written scope. A paid assessment is offered when substantive review is needed, with the fee explained before you decide.

What should I send before the consultation?

Start with the public intake and describe the broad facts of your situation. Do not send Social Security numbers, tax returns, bank statements, or other sensitive tax documents through the public intake form. If documents are needed later, I will provide secure upload instructions.

Will you tell me exactly what I need to file?

The consultation is designed to identify the filing issues that need attention and the information required to determine the next step. Some questions can be resolved during the call; others may require records, additional research, or preparation work outside the consultation.

Do I have to hire FileAbroad afterward?

No. The consultation stands on its own. If FileAbroad can accept preparation work, you can decide whether to proceed after the scope and price are confirmed.

Can you review documents during the consultation?

Limited document review may be possible when agreed in advance, but the consultation is not a substitute for a full document review or tax-preparation engagement.

Related paths

If this is not the right starting point

Foreign gift reporting thresholds

Review why donor identity, related persons, filing year, and transfer path matter before applying a threshold.

Form 3520 foreign gifts overview

See the distinct gift, bequest, trust-transaction, and trust-distribution branches after the guide is corrected.

Foreign inheritance consultation

Use the inheritance path when death, a foreign estate, succession, date-of-death value, or inherited basis is central.

Foreign trust consultation

Use the trust path when governing documents show a trust made the distribution, loaned property, or holds the interest.

Foreign accounts consultation

Use the account path after the gift creates a bank, brokerage, payment-platform, ownership, or authority question.

PFIC consultation

Use the PFIC path after records establish that the gifted investment may be a foreign fund or PFIC.

Amended expat return consultation

Use the correction path when a filed income return or international form may need review and conduct risk is not primary.

Expat tax filing

Review broader U.S. preparation only after the gift, asset, income, and information-reporting scope is accepted.

Moving money to the U.S. guide

Review whether wiring or transferring the funds to the U.S. creates income, gift, or account-reporting questions.

Start here

Tell me what's going on.

You don't need to know which form, filing procedure, or service you need. Start with the broad facts, and I'll review whether intake or a paid assessment is the appropriate next step.

Start My Foreign Gift Intake

Prefer email? info@fileabroad.com

Do not send sensitive tax documents through the public intake form or ordinary email.