What to do with your First Eagle Fund settlement check
If you receive a settlement check in the coming days ranging from $10-$40 from FEF Settlement Fund you were identified as a shareholder of a First Eagle Fund during the time which administrative investigations were conducted and proceedings founded by the SEC. You have two options with these checks.
- You may deposit them back into the account to which the shares derived, which will be marked as a 60-day Rollover. This will carry no taxable impact.
- You may cash the checks or deposit them to your checking account. If you choose this method, any shares derived from a retirement account will be taxable as income and any derived from non-retirement will be capital gains.
In either case, you should receive a 1099 from FEF at the beginning of next year. If you choose to roll them over please keep copies for your tax preparer.
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Comments 5
Guest - Janet L. Westbrook
on Sunday, 04 February 2018 13:27
I received five checks from the FEF settlement fund, ranging from $10.00 to $47.89. I did not know that I could roll them over, so I cashed them. Today I found out from Ms. Stone's (AIM's) blog that I could have rolled them over, but now it is too late. I am trying to do my 2017 tax return, but the FEF settlement fund Web site provides no information whatsoever about how to handle the money from the checks, other than to define the three components of the distribution: fee, forgone appreciation, and interest. This is gobbledygook to me. The FEF settlement fund tells us to check with our tax advisors for handling the tax implications, but I have two problems with that. First, I have a financial advisor, but he gives only limited advice with regard to taxes. I will certainly ask him, but he may not willing to tell me how to proceed. If I have consult a tax professional, then I would certainly have to pay him for his advice....which would reduce or even exceed the effective amount I received from the settlement. In all fairness, the FEF settlement fund should pay for advice that a check recipient has to obtain in order to handle this out-of-the-ordinary income, but of course they wouldn't do so. I believe that the FEF settlement fund should hire several top-notch tax advisors to handle tax inquiries by E-mail or phone, because FEF created the problem.
Athena Stone, MS, MPAS, CRPC, AIF®
on Wednesday, 21 March 2018 13:31
Hi Ms. Westbrook;
Thank you for commenting on our blog. We wrote it in hopes to lessen some of the confusion regarding these checks from First Eagle Funds. Unfortunately, we don't have all the answers and actually found out later that 1099's would not be issued. I would suggest you call First Eagle Funds directly 212-632-2886. I would hate for these checks to cause anyone issues with their taxes. Hope that things work out for you. Thank you again.
Athena Stone
Guest - Pamela M. Weaver
on Tuesday, 20 March 2018 19:47
I received a check from FEF Settlement back in Nov. check is dated 11-3-17. i thought it was a scam. i held on to it and now decided to look it up and find that its legit. It expired on 3-3-18. Should I trash it or wait for another. Its for $10.
Thank you, pam
Athena Stone, MS, MPAS, CRPC, AIF®
on Wednesday, 21 March 2018 13:28
Hi Ms. Weaver; I'm glad you found our little blog - although a little late I suppose. You could try to cash it, you might get lucky with your institution, otherwise, I would suggest you call First Eagle Funds directly 212-632-2886. I'm unsure what your recourse may be, but hopefully they would be able to help.
Athena Stone
Athena Stone, MS, MPAS, CRPC, AIF®
on Monday, 12 November 2018 17:07
Visit FEF Settlement website for more details! https://www.fefsettlementfund.com/contact.cfm