Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
Who and Why should file FBAR?
The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) gave the Department of Treasury authority to collect
information from United States persons who have financial interests in or
signature authority over financial accounts maintained with financial
institutions located outside of the United States. This provision of the BSA
requires that a FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)
be filed if the aggregate maximum values of the foreign financial accounts
exceed $10,000 at any time during the calendar year. Even an account at a US
bank branch located outside USA(for example: India is considered as foreign
account.
Objective
Overseas financial accounts are maintained by U.S. persons for a variety of
legitimate reasons, including convenience and access. The FBAR is required
because foreign financial institutions may not be subject to the same reporting
requirements as domestic financial institutions. The FBAR is also a tool used by
the United States government to identify persons who may be using foreign
financial accounts to circumvent United States law. Information contained in
FBARs can be used to identify or trace funds used for illicit purposes or to
identify unreported income maintained or generated abroad.
Who must file FBAR?
A United States person must file an FBAR if that person has a financial interest
in or signature authority over any financial account(s) outside of the United
States and the aggregate maximum value of the account(s) exceeds $10,000 at any
time during the calendar year.
Penalties
Where to file FBAR?
The FBAR is not to be filed with the filer’s Federal tax return. Electronic
filing of FBARs became mandatory on July 1, 2013. FBARs are filed through the
BSA E-Filing System. Filers will receive an acknowledgment of each submission.
On December 16 2016, IRS extended the deadline to file FBAR to April 15, 2018 (FinCEN
Notice 2016-1).
You can File FBAR as far as 6 years back.
For more info and filing FBAR contact ABAC Consulting.
Anjali Phone: (678)-836-7739
Email: anjali@abacconsulting.com
Nov-11-2017