Mackenzie Investments says it will now make important U.S. tax information about their funds available to those who need to complete American returns.
This follows a similar announcement from Fidelity earlier this week.
Read: Fidelity will list U.S. tax info for its funds
For U.S. tax filers, Canadian mutual funds are viewed as passive foreign investment companies (PFIC), which means they are subject to prescribed tax rules intended to curb the extent to which U.S. persons can defer tax in the US through foreign investments.
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Mackenzie will provide detailed U.S. ordinary earnings, net capital gains and distribution information that’s customized to each investor on its PFIC annual information statements. It also enables investors considered U.S. persons under American tax law to make an election to treat each of the Mackenzie Funds as a Qualified Electing Fund. This will help investors file U.S. federal income taxes for 2013 and beyond.
To make it even more convenient for US taxpayer clients and their advisors, Mackenzie Investments will provide information on a per-unit/share basis, and the date and amount of distributions per unit/share, in US dollars.
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“PFIC rules affect many US persons, including those who reside in Canada,” says Carol Bezaire, vice president, tax and estate planning, at Mackenzie Investments. “Making a QEF election may, in certain circumstances, mitigate the adverse aspects of holding a PFIC investment. We’re making it both easier and more cost-effective for our US taxpayer clients to complete their US tax filings.”
This personalized tax reporting is available on all series of all Mackenzie Funds. Advisors can request information on behalf of their clients for each account containing mutual funds upon which they may wish to make a QEF election.