Foreign nongrantor trusts for US beneficiaries: dos and don’ts

Abstract The throwback tax is the US tax law’s main tool for discouraging tax-free accumulation of income by foreign non-grantor trusts for US beneficiaries. Its complex rules are a dangerous minefield that should be avoided. This article reviews the operation of the throwback tax rules, and assesses the effectiveness of this trust anti-deferral regime in various fact patterns. It also discusses how the trust anti-deferral regime interacts with the US law’s foreign corporation anti-deferral regime, another minefield.