Personal Pension Options for Self-Employed US Citizen

I am a self-employeed US citizen living in the UK. I'm having problems finding pension plans because of how complicated it is with US tax reporting. What options are out there for self-employed US citizens to start a pension? And what should I keep in mind in terms of reporting it to the IRS?

No UK pension fund will be US qualified. Consequently, if you invest you not be creating a qualified pension fund, but instead will be creating a foreign grantor trust with additional annual 3520 and substitute 3520-A filing requirements.  This annual reporting is deeply painful.

The rules seem to have changed for 2020 - this is from the Form 8938 instructions:

What’s New
Rev. Proc. 2020-17, available at IRS.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-20-17.pdf, exempts foreign trust information reporting requirements on Forms 3520 and 3520-A, for certain U.S. individuals’ transactions with, and ownership of, certain tax-favored foreign trusts that are established and operated exclusively or almost exclusively to provide pension or retirement benefits, or to provide medical disability or educational benefits. This does not affect any reporting obligations under section 6038D. For more information about section 6038D information reporting, see IRS.gov/Businesses/ Corporations/Basic-Questions-and- Answers-on-Form-8938

The rules seem to have changed for 2020 - this is from the Form 8938 instructions:

What’s New
Rev. Proc. 2020-17, available at IRS.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-20-17.pdf, exempts foreign trust information reporting requirements on Forms 3520 and 3520-A, for certain U.S. individuals’ transactions with, and ownership of, certain tax-favored foreign trusts that are established and operated exclusively or almost exclusively to provide pension or retirement benefits, or to provide medical disability or educational benefits. This does not affect any reporting obligations under section 6038D. For more information about section 6038D information reporting, see IRS.gov/Businesses/ Corporations/Basic-Questions-and- Answers-on-Form-8938

No-one - absolutely no-one thinks that 2020-17 helps a jot with UK pension plans. This is deeply disappointing but until the IRS change the wording nothing has changed for us in the UK.

I am by no means and expert or an accountant but I believe if you currently have a U.S. IRA you can contribute to this and it will be tax deductible in both the U.S. and U.K.