US FBAR reporting deadline June 30
Q. What is an FBAR?
A. An FBAR is a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts. The form number is TD F 90-22.1 (PDF).
Q. Who must file an FBAR?
A. Any United States person who has a financial interest in or signature authority or other authority over any financial account in a foreign country, if the aggregate value of these accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year. See also Notice 2010-23.
Q. What is a United States person?
A. “United States person” includes a citizen or resident of the United States, a domestic partnership, a domestic corporation, and a domestic estate or trust. See Announcement 2010-16.
Q. What is a financial account?
A. A “financial account” includes any bank, securities, securities derivatives or other financial instruments accounts. The term includes any savings, demand, checking, deposit or any other account maintained with a financial institution or other person engaged in the business of a financial institution. Financial account also generally includes any accounts in which the assets are held in a commingled fund, and the account owner holds an equity interest in the fund (including mutual funds). Individual bonds, notes, or stock certificates held by the filer are not a financial account nor is an unsecured loan to a foreign trade or business that is not a financial institution.
Q. What constitutes signature or other authority over an account?
A. A person has signature authority over an account if such person can control the disposition of money or other property in it by delivery of a document containing his or her signature (or his or her signature and that of one or more other persons) to the bank or other person with whom the account is maintained.
Other authority exists in a person who can exercise power that is comparable to signature authority over an account by direct communication to the bank or other person with whom the account is maintained, either orally or by some other means.
Q. A person owns foreign financial accounts X, Y and Z with maximum account balances of $100, $12,000 and $3,000, respectively. Does the person have to file an FBAR and if so, which accounts must be listed on the FBAR?
A. The FBAR instructions require the filing of the FBAR form “ … if the aggregate value of these financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year … ” In this scenario, the person has an FBAR filing obligation because the aggregate value of foreign financial accounts X, Y and Z is $15,100. The person must report foreign financial accounts X, Y and Z on the FBAR even though accounts X and Z have maximum account values below $10,000
Q. A New York corporation owns a foreign company that has foreign accounts. The corporation will file an FBAR for the foreign company’s accounts. Do the primary owners of the U.S. company also have to file?
A. Yes, if any owner directly or indirectly owns more than 50 percent of the total value of the shares of stock, that owner will have to file an FBAR.
Q. When is the FBAR due?
A. The FBAR is due by June 30 of the year following the year that the account holder meets the $10,000 threshold. The granting, by IRS, of an extension to file Federal income tax returns does not extend the due date for filing an FBAR. Filers cannot request an extension of the FBAR due date. See also Notice 2010-23.
Q. Where are FBAR forms available?
A. FBAR forms are available:
- Online via IRS.gov in PDF.
- Online via Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Web site in PDF.
- By calling the IRS at .
Q. Where do I file the FBAR?
A. Send completed forms to:
U.S. Department of the Treasury
P.O. Box 32621
Detroit, MI 48232-0621
If an express delivery service is used, send completed forms to:
IRS Enterprise Computing Center
ATTN: CTR Operations Mailroom, 4th Floor
985 Michigan Avenue
Detroit, MI 48226
The contact phone number for the delivery messenger service is . The number cannot be used to confirm that your FBAR was received.
The FBAR is not to be filed with the filer’s Federal tax return.
Q. What happens if an account holder is required to file an FBAR and fails to do so?
A. Failure to file an FBAR when required to do so may potentially result in civil penalties, criminal penalties or both. If you learn you were required to file FBARs for earlier years, you should file the delinquent FBAR reports and attach a statement explaining why the reports are filed late. No penalty will be asserted if the IRS determines that the late filings were due to reasonable cause. Keep copies of what you send for your records.
FBAR Penalties. The penalties for failure to file an FBAR are worse than tax penalties. Failing to file an FBAR can carry a civil penalty of $10,000 for each non-willful violation. But if your violation is found to be willful, the penalty is the greater of $100,000 or 50 percent of the amount in the account for eachviolation—and each year you didn’t file is a separateviolation.
