What it is
A way for individuals to claim corporate-only benefits
U.S. shareholders of a controlled foreign corporation must include their share of the CFC’s Subpart F income and GILTI / NCTI each year — whether or not any cash is distributed. By default, an individual pays tax on that income at ordinary rates and gets none of the relief a corporation would.
Who is a U.S. shareholder? Generally a U.S. person who owns 10% or more of the vote or value of a foreign corporation. A CFC is a foreign corporation more than 50% owned (by vote or value) by such U.S. shareholders.
A §962 election lets an individual U.S. shareholder (and certain trusts and estates) elect to be taxed at corporate rates on Subpart F and GILTI / NCTI inclusions — as if the income passed through a hypothetical domestic C corporation.
That fiction is what unlocks the value: the electing individual can claim the §250 deduction against GILTI / NCTI and a deemed-paid (indirect) foreign tax credit under §960 for the income taxes the CFC already paid abroad — credits that are otherwise unavailable to an individual filing directly.