Form 990 Filing Tips: Reporting Foreign Activities (Schedule F)

 

Schedule FPDF requires the reporting of activities outside of the United States or foreign investments valued at $100,000 or more. Questions have arisen regarding the new foreign activity reporting requirements, including how passive and related organization investments should be reported on Schedule F.

These FAQs do not address or modify the reporting requirements that might apply to your organization in the case of certain foreign activities, such as  Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (commonly referred to as FBAR reporting), Form 5471, Information Returns of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign CorporationsPDF, or Form 926, Return by a U.S. Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation, or PersonPDF.

  1. What is the threshold for reporting on Schedule F?
  2. What kind of foreign activities need to be reported in Part I of Schedule F?
  3. Does an organization report expenses on Schedule F if it sends Board members to Board meetings or to attend and speak at seminars and conferences outside the United States?
  4.  What expenditures are required to be reported in Part I, column (f) and how are such expenditures required to be tracked? Should a payment that our organization made to a foreign government's representative or agency that is located in the United States be reported in Part II of Schedule F?
  5. Should payments to U.S. citizens living abroad be reported in Part II of Schedule F? If so, do we need to list the names of recipients?
  6. Should grants reported in Parts II and II of Schedule F be reported on the cash method of accounting?
  7. How should foreign investments be reported in Part I?
  8. How should foreign program-related investments be reported in Part I?
  9. Are foreign investments that are required to be reported on Schedule F also required to be reported on Schedule R?
  10. Does the Form 990-EZ contain similar reporting requirements regarding an organization's foreign activities?

Additional information