Do I still need to file Form 8891 for my RRSP?

No, and the form no longer exists: Rev. Proc. 2014-55 made it obsolete as of 31 December 2014. The relief also reaches back further than it usually gets described, to taxable years beginning on or after 1 January 2003. If someone is telling you to file one for an RRSP, they’re working from superseded guidance. What matters far more is what the same relief did not cover. It removed Form 8891, Form 3520 and Form 3520-A for these plans, and it says in terms that it leaves your other reporting obligations alone.

What did Form 8891 used to do?

It was the RRSP information return, and it carried the treaty election. The IRS released it in 2004 for US citizens and residents holding an interest in an RRSP or RRIF, and it did two jobs at once: it reported distributions, contributions and undistributed earnings, and it was where you made the Article XVIII(7) election to defer US tax on the plan’s internal growth if you had not already elected under Rev. Proc. 2002-23.

“In 2004, the IRS released Form 8891, U.S. Information Return for Beneficiaries of Certain Canadian Registered Retirement Plans, for U.S. citizens or residents who hold an interest in an RRSP or an RRIF to report distributions received from their RRSP or RRIF, contributions to their RRSP or RRIF, and undistributed earnings of the RRSP or RRIF. U.S. citizens or residents who have not previously made an election pursuant to Revenue Procedure 2002-23 to defer U.S. income tax on income that has accrued in an RRSP or an RRIF, but that has not been distributed, may make the election to apply Article XVIII(7) on Form 8891.” Rev. Proc. 2014-55, section 2.07

That dual role is why the form’s disappearance confuses people. Losing a reporting form and losing an election are very different things, and only one of those happened.

So when did it stop being required?

Further back than the usual answer. Two provisions do different work, and the broader one is the one to start from: it relieves beneficiaries and annuitants generally, whether or not they are “eligible individuals”, and it runs from taxable years beginning on or after 1 January 2003.

“Subject to any future guidance that may be issued by the Treasury Department and the IRS, beneficiaries (regardless of whether they are ‘eligible individuals’ within the meaning of section 4.01 of this revenue procedure) and annuitants are not required to report contributions to, distributions from, and ownership of a Canadian retirement plan under the simplified reporting regime established by Notice 2003-75 (Form 8891) or pursuant to the reporting obligations imposed by section 6048 (Form 3520).” Rev. Proc. 2014-55, section 5.01

Section 9 sets that provision’s reach: “section 5.01 is effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2003”. Section 8 then retires the form outright, “Form 8891 is obsolete as of December 31, 2014”, and supersedes the guidance that created it. A narrower rule in section 4.05 is the one most write-ups quote, and it applies to someone who already holds a prior or deemed election.

“A beneficiary who has previously made an Article XVIII(7) election with respect to a Canadian plan on Form 8891 or under the procedures set forth in Revenue Procedure 2002-23 (or an eligible individual who is treated as having made the election pursuant to section 4.02 of this revenue procedure) is not required to file Form 8891 or a similar statement for taxable years ending after December 31, 2012.” Rev. Proc. 2014-55, section 4.05

The election half is handled separately in section 4.02, which treats an eligible individual as having made the Article XVIII(7) election, so no form is needed to hold the deferral. Read “eligible individual” before relying on that. Section 4.01 is a four-part test, and the limbs are joined by ”; and”, so all four have to hold. (A) is or at any time was a US citizen or resident while a beneficiary of the plan. (B) “Has satisfied any requirement for filing a U.S. Federal income tax return for each taxable year during which the individual was a U.S. citizen or resident”. (C) is a negative limb: “Has not reported as gross income on a U.S. Federal income tax return the earnings that accrued in, but were not distributed by, the plan during any taxable year in which the individual was a U.S. citizen or resident”. And (D) is the reporting limb: “Has reported any and all distributions received from the plan as if the individual had made an election under Article XVIII(7) of the Convention for all years during which the individual was a U.S. citizen or resident”.

(D) is the limb that catches people who did everything else right, and it is narrower than it looks. Section 6 puts a distribution, including the previously untaxed accrued income in it, into gross income “in the manner provided under section 72, subject to any applicable provision of the Convention”. Section 72 is the ordinary basis-recovery rule, so recovering a real investment in the contract is part of that routing and not a failure of (D), and section 4.01 opens by applying itself “only to income accrued in a Canadian retirement plan and not to any contributions to the plan”. The worked example’s “the entire amount of each distribution will be subject to U.S. Federal income tax” is that example’s outcome on its own facts. What (D) tests is whether the plan’s previously untaxed accrued income reached the return, and a withdrawal left off it is the clear failure. Someone with unfiled US years fails (B) instead. Someone who reported the plan’s undistributed income fails (C), and section 4.04 does not hand that person an equivalent route: they “will remain currently taxable on the undistributed income” and “must seek the consent of the Commissioner” if they want to elect, which is a request the IRS decides. Separately, revoking a prior election also requires the Commissioner’s consent.

What did the relief NOT cover?

Form 8938 and the FBAR, and the revenue procedure says so directly rather than leaving it to inference. This is the sentence to read twice, because it’s the difference between a simplification and a licence to stop reporting.

“This revenue procedure does not, however, affect any reporting obligations that a beneficiary or annuitant of a Canadian retirement plan may have under section 6038D or under any other provision of U.S. law, including the requirement to file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), imposed by 31 U.S.C. § 5314 and the regulations thereunder.” Rev. Proc. 2014-55, section 5.01

Section 6038D is Form 8938, and the FBAR is not merely an illustration: it is named inside that carve-out sentence itself. The worked example repeats the split, saying the taxpayer “is not required to report his interest in the RRSP on Form 8891, Form 3520, or Form 3520-A” but “may need to report his interest in the RRSP under section 6038D”.

Form	Still required for an RRSP or RRIF?
Form 8891	No. Obsolete as of 31 December 2014, and relief runs from tax years beginning on or after 1 January 2003
Form 3520	No, for these plans, and the relief runs from tax years beginning on or after 1 January 2003
Form 3520-A	No, and custodians are not required to file it either, on the same 1 January 2003 reach
Form 8938 (section 6038D)	Unaffected by this relief, applies on its own thresholds
FinCEN Form 114 (FBAR)	Unaffected by this relief, named inside the carve-out sentence itself

There’s a historical wrinkle worth knowing if you’re looking at old returns. Under the pre-2014 rules, timely filing Form 8891 could exempt you from section 6038D reporting for that plan, provided you reported the 8891 filing on Form 8938. That interaction is gone along with the form: the regulation that eliminates duplicative reporting, 26 CFR 1.6038D-7(a)(1)(i)(E), now lists Form 8891 only “for taxable years beginning after March 18, 2010, and ending on or before December 31, 2013”.

Why does this still come up?

Because the form existed for roughly a decade and a lot of published material predates 2014. If a checklist, a memo or a preparer’s intake asks for Form 8891, that is a reliable sign the source has not been revisited in over a decade, and it’s worth asking what else on it is the same vintage.

• How RRSP and TFSA accounts are treated after a move
• What TFSA reporting actually costs on a US return
• Whether a TFSA is a foreign trust for Form 3520, a different account with a different answer

Worth stating the limit of this page. It settles that Form 8891 is not required and that the relief does not reach section 6038D or the FBAR. It does not work out whether you personally cross the Form 8938 or FBAR thresholds, which depend on your own account values.

What should I do next?

Take Form 8891 off your list and leave the RRSP on it. There’s no missing 8891 to catch up on. If you never elected, whether your deferral survives without a filing turns on section 4.01’s four-part test and not on your filing history alone; if you already elected, section 4.05 is your provision. How you reported past RRSP withdrawals is its own limb of the four-part test, and a withdrawal left off the return is the clear way to fail it. Then check your aggregate values against the Form 8938 and FBAR thresholds, which this relief left standing.

This guide is general information, not tax advice for your specific situation. Which points apply, and how, depends on your facts.