Regarding the earlier thread about whether Rock Capital may not qualify as a PFIC until later in their business cycle, and whether one should treat it as a PFIC preemptively:
I found an interesting post yesterday:
Under very limited circumstances—and only when the taxpayer fails to file the election based on a reasonable belief that the investment was not a PFIC—the taxpayer may file a retroactive QEF election as described in Regs. Sec. 1.1295-3.
That regulation is available from the following link. Without a bit of sarcasm, it’s very much worth your while to read it if you are following this topic:
The gist of it is that you may file a “protective statement” starting with the first tax year of ownership, stating under penalty of perjury that you believe in good faith that the investment is not a PFIC. A declaration by the fund to that effect, plus a sniff test rationalization that the active line of business does not match the passive income template for a PFIC, seems (from my armchair amateur perspective) like a reasonable basis for such a statement.
This article covers similar ground: