The June 30th deadline to file your Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, also know as FBAR’s with the IRS is rapidly approaching. If you are a US person and have more than $10,000 in any foreign financial account (or are a signatory authority) then you need to file these by the deadline. These accounts include; bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund, trust, or other type of foreign financial account.
The Bank Secrecy Act requires US persons to report annually to the IRS any foreign financial accounts and their dollar amounts, however, under FATCA, those US persons who have not been doing so, will have their information reported for them by Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI’s) to the IRS and the penalties can be quite large.
FBAR’s can be reported to the IRS through Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR).
Unsure if you need to file FBAR’s to the IRS?
If you are an US person, then you are required to submit this filing if;
• US citizen;
• US resident based on the number of days spent in the US during the year;
• US green card holder (even if the green card has expired);
• US created corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies which were created or organized in the US or are owned by US persons;
• US created partnership;
• US estates and trusts – formed under the laws of the US or created by US persons;
• Virtually everyone born in the US;
These rules also catch those with dual nationality, even if such persons are registered taxpayers in a non-US country (the US considers you “foreign” and asks you to complete a Form W8-BEN) These regulations also can include individuals who were born outside the US but who have at least one US parent.
Worried yet? So now you probably want to know more about when the FBAR’s are due.
The FBAR is due by June 30th of the year following the year that the account holder meets the $10,000 threshold. There are no extensions as there are for US personal tax returns. Filers cannot request an extension of the FBAR due date.
If a filer does not have all the available information to file the return by June 30, they should file as complete a return as they can and amend the document when the additional or new information becomes available.
If you need help filing the FBAR’s you can reach the IRS Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, at 313-234-6146 for callers outside the US, or send an email to the IRS at FBARquestions@irs.gov. The email system does not accept actual FBAR reports.
Once completed, the FBAR’s are sent 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 313-234-1062. 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.
Alternatively, a FBAR filing verification request may be made in writing and must include the filer’s name, taxpayer identification number (TIN) and the filing period. There is a $5 fee for verifying five or fewer FBARs and a $1 fee for each additional FBAR. A copy of the filed FBAR can be obtained at a cost of $0.15 per page. Check or money order should be made payable to the United States Treasury.
The request and payment should be mailed to:
IRS Enterprise Computing Center/Detroit
ATTN: Verification
P.O. Box 32063
Detroit, MI 48232
It is also possible to amend previously filed FBAR’s. It can be done by;
- Checking the Amended box in the upper right-hand corner of the first page of the form;
- Making the needed additions or corrections;
- Stapling it to a copy of the original FBAR; and
- Attaching a statement explaining the additions or corrections.
Beginning July 1st, 2013, Mandatory Electronic filing of FBAR forms!
E-filing is a quick and secure way to file FBAR’s and filers receive an acknowledgement of each submission right away.
So if you were required to file FBAR’s and failed to, the consequences can be quite alarming!
Failure to file a FBAR when required to do so may potentially result in civil penalties, criminal penalties or both.
If, as is the case for many Canadians who were not aware of the requirement to file US tax returns, you learned that you were required to file FBARs for earlier years, then 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”.
Otherwise, cumulative FBAR penalties can actually exceed the amount in a taxpayer’s foreign accounts under the penalty provisions found in 31 U.S.C. 5314(a)(5).
Keep copies of what you have sent to the IRS, and the supporting documentation, for a period of five years. Failure to maintain required records may result in civil penalties, criminal penalties or both.
The IRS allows filing of FBAR’s back to 2008 on their current form (revised October 2008), and anything older than 2008 can be reported on the FBAR form revised in July 2000.
A spouse having a joint financial interest in an account with the filing spouse should be included as a joint account owner in Part III of the FBAR. The filer should write “(spouse)” on line 26 after the last name of the joint spousal owner. If the only reportable accounts of the filer’s spouse are those reported as joint owners, the filer’s spouse need not file a separate report. If the accounts are owned jointly by both spouses, the filer’s spouse should also sign the report. It should be noted that if the filer’s spouse has a financial interest in other accounts that are not jointly owned with the filer or has signature or other authority over other accounts, the filer’s spouse should file a separate report for all accounts including those owned jointly with the other spouse.
If you are a US person with substantial foreign financial assets, you should know that in 2013, the IRS introduced Form 8938 for you to report with your FBAR’s.
Taxpayers with specified foreign financial assets that exceed certain thresholds ($50,000) must report those assets to the IRS on Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets. The new Form 8938 filing requirement does not replace or otherwise affect a taxpayers requirement to file FBAR. The IRS has provided a chart comparing Form 8938 and FBAR requirements, here.
If you need helping getting compliant, or trying to determine your IRS / FATCA plan of action, all you need to do is reach out to us at Intaxicating Tax Services. With 17-years of Canadian tax experience and 30-years of US tax filing, our team will ensure you provide only what you are required to provide.
Related articles
- FBAR filing requirements (irsmedic.com)
- Time is Running Out: Verify Your Clients’ FBAR Obligations Now (aicpa.org)
- Internal Revenue Service – Expat Information – FBAR Form TD F 90-22.1 (nanlevin.wordpress.com)
- Mandatory Electronic Filing for FBARs Coming Soon (intltax.typepad.com)
- FBAR Audit (irsmedic.com)
- FBAR Due Date – 2013 (fiduciaryincometax.wordpress.com)
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