FBAR Violations

What Expats Should Know About Their U.S. Tax Obligations

September 25, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

Expats may decide to leave the U.S. due to work, retirement, or other reasons. Tax reduction may also be a motivation for moving to a foreign country, but the United States uses citizenship-based taxation. Therefore, the taxpayer still has a continuing obligation to file and pay U.S. taxes (although they may be eligible for some exclusions, such as the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion).

Tax Mistakes Expats Should Avoid

First, expats need to continue to file and pay their taxes. Many other countries use territorial-based taxation, which only taxes income earned inside the country. The United States, on the other hand, taxes citizens on all worldwide income.

Are Dual Citizens Required to File FBARs?

September 21, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

Dual citizens, along with all other “United States persons”, must file a Report of Foreign Bank Accounts (FBAR) if the aggregate value of their foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the year. This requirement applies to U.S. citizens, residents, green card holders, and those who must file taxes because they are substantially present in the United States. It also applies to legal entities, including corporations, partnerships, and trusts.

While other countries only tax their citizens on income earned within the country’s borders, the United States taxes its citizens—and other individuals who have a filing requirement—on all worldwide income from any source. This requirement, along with the FBAR filing requirements, can create problems for expatriates, immigrants, and anyone else with offshore bank accounts.

Expats who move abroad are still responsible for complying with U.S. tax law as long as they remain U.S. citizens. Even if you live abroad for the entire year, and none of your income would be taxable, you may still have to file a tax return. If you open a bank account in a foreign country, and the aggregate value of all of your foreign accounts exceeds $10,000 during the year, you must file an FBAR.

What is a “Financial Interest” in a Foreign Accounts for FBAR Purposes?

September 19, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

Any United States person with a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign financial account, where the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year, must file a Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR). These terms can be difficult to apply in some situations, and can lead to FBAR compliance issues for those that are unaware that they have a filing requirement.

“Financial Interest” in a Foreign Account

If you are the owner of record for a foreign account, you have a financial interest, even though the account is maintained for the benefit of another person. Spouses are not required to file separate FBARs if all the foreign accounts that the non-filing spouse is required to report are owned jointly with the filing spouse, and filing spouse files an FBAR for all of the accounts, along with an Authorization to Electronically File FBARs.

The Tax Consequences of Inheriting Foreign Assets

September 18, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

U.S. taxpayers who inherit foreign assets must handle the tax consequences of their inheritances with great care. In addition to taxing all worldwide income, the U.S. also includes foreign assets in the gift and estate tax calculation, which determines whether estate tax will be assessed. Heirs who receive foreign assets also have to consider their Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) and other foreign account reporting requirements, or risk facing significant penalties.

What Happens When You Inherit a Foreign Account?

If you are a “United States person”—including citizens, permanent residents,(individuals who hold green cards) or must file taxes due to their substantial presence in the United States—you may suddenly have an FBAR filing requirement if you inherit a foreign financial account. If the aggregate of all of your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the year, you must file an FBAR.

What Is the Statute of Limitations for FBAR Penalties?

September 15, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

The IRS has six years from the due date of the FBAR to assess the FBAR penalty. In addition, the IRS can assess a separate penalty for each unreported account for each tax year that an FBAR has not been filed, causing the total amount of penalties to add up quickly for some taxpayers.

The current civil FBAR penalties are $12,459 per violation for non-willful violations and the greater of $124,588 or 50 percent of the balance in the account at the time of the violation, for each willful violation. An individual with five foreign financial accounts who has not filed any required FBARs for the past six years could then face a penalty of over $373,000, and that is assuming that the violations are considered to be non-willful.

These penalties can be reduced in certain cases if the IRS believes that penalty mitigation is appropriate. Taxpayers will no previous history of criminal tax violations who cooperate with IRS examiners may receive reduced penalties. If you need assistance negotiating a reduced FBAR penalty, contact a tax attorney with FBAR experience.

How Does the IRS Collect FBAR Penalties?

September 14, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

The IRS imposes severe penalties on taxpayers who fail to file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Those who are required to file an FBAR and fail to do so can face the following penalties:

a civil penalty not to exceed $12,459 per violation for non-willful violations that are not due to reasonable cause
a penalty equal to the greater of $124,588 or 50 percent of the balance in the account at the time of the violation, for each willful violation

Swiss Banker Pleads Guilty to Defrauding the United States with Tax Scheme

September 1, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

A former employee of Credit Suisse bank has pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States. Susanne D. Rüegg Meier admitted to a tax scheme that allowed U.S. taxpayers to hide their assets in Swiss bank accounts. The plea agreement states that Credit Suisse went to great lengths to assist their clients in evading their U.S. tax obligations, including reporting their foreign income on their tax return and filing accurate FBARs.

Some components of the scheme include the following:

all mail related to the accounts were retained in Switzerland

California Resident Indicted for Hiding Foreign Accounts

August 25, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

A Beverly Hills resident has been indicted on several charges for failing to disclose foreign accounts and then allegedly lying to the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) unit. The charges faced by Teymour Khoubian include the following:

corruptly endeavoring to impede the internal revenue laws
filing false tax returns

What are Foreign Asset Reporting Requirements?

August 8, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

Taxpayers with foreign financial accounts may have several different reporting requirements, depending the type of account and the amount of funds in the accounts. The first of these requirements comes from the 1040 tax return, specifically Schedule B.

Schedule B requires the disclosure or any interest or dividends received by the taxpayer, including interest from foreign accounts. Part III specifically asks about foreign accounts, including whether the taxpayer had an interest in signature authority over any foreign financial accounts, and whether the taxpayer has a Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) filing requirement or received a distribution from a foreign trust. A failure to answer these questions honestly could result in tax fraud penalties, and possibly lead to other penalties related to a failure to file FBARs.

Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs)

Repatriating Funds: What to Do if You Have Delinquent FBARs

August 1, 2017 | by Dennis N. Brager

Taxpayers with funds in offshore accounts may wish to repatriate their funds by bringing them back to the U.S. and avoid any future Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) compliance issues. While this may prevent any future offshore bank account problems, it does not stop the IRS from discovering any past delinquent FBARs and assessing severe civil and/or criminal penalties.

A transfer of funds from overseas into a domestic account can easily be traced, and may raise suspicion that will cause an investigation into whether the funds have been properly reported on the taxpayer’s return, and whether all necessary FBARs have been filed. An attempt to repatriate funds could also be seen as evidence of willful FBAR non-compliance, if the accounts were not properly reported in previous tax years. Rather than attempting to bring funds back to the U.S. and hoping no one will notice, taxpayers should use one of the delinquent FBAR submission procedures to mitigate the risk of substantial penalties and possible criminal prosecution.

Do You Have Delinquent FBARs?