Code of Federal Regulations Title 26. Internal Revenue § 26.1.853–2 Effect of election

(a) Regulated investment company.A regulated investment company making a valid election with respect to a taxable year under the provisions of section 853(a) is, for such year, denied both the deduction for foreign taxes provided by section 164(a) and the credit for foreign taxes provided by section 901 with respect to all income, war-profits, and excess profits taxes (described in section 901(b)(1)) which it has paid to any foreign country or possession of the United States. See section 853(b)(1)(A). However, under section 853(b)(1)(B), the regulated investment company is permitted to add the amount of such foreign taxes paid to its dividends paid deduction for that taxable year. See paragraph (a) of § 1.852–1.

(b) Shareholder.Under section 853(b)(2), a shareholder of an investment company, which has made the election under section 853, is, in effect, placed in the same position as a person directly owning stock in foreign corporations, in that he must include in his gross income (in addition to taxable dividends actually received) his proportionate share of such foreign taxes paid and must treat such amount as foreign taxes paid by him for the purposes of the deduction under section 164(a) and the credit under section 901. For such purposes he must treat as gross income from a foreign country or possession of the United States (1) his proportionate share of the taxes paid by the regulated investment company to such foreign country or possession and (2) the portion of any dividend paid by the investment company which represents income derived from such sources.

(c) Dividends paid after the close of the taxable year.For additional rules applicable to certain distributions made after the close of the taxable year which may be designated as income received from sources within and taxes paid to foreign countries or possessions of the United States, see section 855(d) and paragraph (f) of § 1.855–1.

(d) Example. This section is illustrated by the following example:

Example. (i) Facts. X Corporation, a regulated investment company with 250,000 shares of common stock outstanding, has total assets, at the close of the taxable year, of $10 million ($4 million invested in domestic corporations, $3.5 million in Foreign Country A corporations, and $2.5 million in Foreign Country B corporations). X Corporation received dividend income of $800,000 from the following sources:  $300,000 from domestic corporations, $250,000 from Country A corporations, and $250,000 from Country B corporations. All dividends from Country A corporations and from Country B corporations were properly characterized as income from sources without the United States. The dividends from Country A corporations were subject to a 10 percent withholding tax ($25,000) and the dividends from Country B corporations were subject to a 20 percent withholding tax ($50,000). X Corporation's only expenses for the taxable year were $80,000 of operation and management expenses related to both its U.S. and foreign investments. In this case, Corporation X properly apportioned the $80,000 expense based on the relative amounts of its U.S. and foreign source gross income. Thus, $50,000 in expense was apportioned to foreign source income ($80,000 x $500,000/$800,000, total expense times the fraction of foreign dividend income over total dividend income) and $30,000 in expense was apportioned to U.S. source income ($80,000 x $300,000/$800,000, total expense times the fraction of U.S. source dividend income over total dividend income). During the taxable year, X Corporation distributed to its shareholders the entire $645,000 income that was available for distribution ($800,000, less $80,000 in expenses, less $75,000 in foreign taxes withheld).

(ii) Section 853 election. X Corporation meets the requirements of section 851 to be considered a RIC for the taxable year and the requirements of section 852(a) for part 1 of subchapter M to apply for the taxable year. X Corporation notifies each shareholder by mail, within the time prescribed by section 853(c), that by reason of the election the shareholders are to treat as foreign taxes paid $0.30 per share of stock ($75,000 of foreign taxes paid, divided by the 250,000 shares of stock outstanding). The shareholders must report as income $2.88 per share ($2.58 of dividends actually received plus the $0.30 representing foreign taxes paid). Of the $2.88 per share, $1.80 per share ($450,000 of foreign source taxable income divided by 250,000 shares) is to be considered as received from foreign sources. The $1.80 consists of $0.30, the foreign taxes treated as paid by the shareholder and $1.50, the portion of the dividends received by the shareholder from the RIC that represents income of the RIC treated as derived from foreign sources ($500,000 of foreign source income, less $50,000 of expense apportioned to foreign source income, less $75,000 of foreign tax withheld, which is $375,000, divided by 250,000 shares).

(e) Effective/applicability date. Paragraph (d) of this section is applicable for RIC taxable years ending on or after December 31, 2007. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, for a taxable year that ends on or after December 31, 2007, and begins before August 24, 2007, a taxpayer may rely on this section as it was in effect on August 23, 2007.