Hi, I?m a naturalized US citizen with foreign parents (living abroad) who passed away recently. I understand that I need to declare the inheritance as a foreign gift on form 3520, but the IRS really doesn?t give you much detail on how to do so in their instructions. Specifically:

1. Do I understand it correctly that both real estate and cash / securities should be reported here?
2. Assuming real estate should be included, how should the FMV be determined? Can I estimate it myself based on comparable sales in the area and/or free valuation services or does the valuation need to be certified in some way? If/when I finally sell the property, will this value be used as the basis?
3. How detailed should the reporting on line 54 be? Is total sum of all assets enough, or should it be itemized? If so, what level of itemization is appropriate? (E.g. should each account / security be specified separately?)
4. What date should be used to determine the time and value of the gift / inheritance? Is it the date that the deceased passed away or the date when I received the funds from the estate or perhaps the date when the inheritors were legally acknowledged?
5. What date should be used to determine the exchange rate to USD for reporting purposes? The same date as in 4 or the end of the year?
6. Finally, my mother had a flat in a housing association (coop). Technically, the coop owns the physical real estate, but she, or now rather her Estate, owns a ?share? in the coop with rights to reside in ?her? flat. This ?share? can be freely sold on the open market, but any buyer has to be approved by the coop before they can take possession. I am the only inheritor, but I can?t take possession of it unless I apply for membership in the coop and they approve me. None of this has happened yet. Do I include the FMV of her flat on my 3520 now, or do I wait until I either become a member and take possession of it or the Estate sells the flat and passes the proceeds on to me?

Thank you, any advice would be much appreciated. I tried to call the IRS, but apparently none of their phone agents are trained on this form, so they can't answer any questions regarding it.