In a news release, the IRS reminded individuals and entities who missed the April 15 deadline for filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) to submit their annual report on or before October 17, 2022. (IR-2022-174)
Who needs to file an FBAR? U.S. persons must annually file an FBAR if:
- They have a financial interest in or signature or other authority over one or more accounts, such as a bank account, brokerage account, mutual fund or other financial account located outside the U.S., and
- The aggregate value of all their foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the calendar year 2021.
A U.S. person is a citizen or resident of the United States or a domestic legal entity such as a partnership, corporation, limited liability company, estate or trust.
Note. A U.S. person with any foreign accounts, even relatively small ones, should determine if this filing requirement applies to them.
How to file an FBAR. The FBAR must be filed electronically with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) using the BSA E-Filing System. The FBAR is not filed with the IRS.
Note. Individuals who are unable to file their FBAR using the BSA E-Filing System must contact FinCEN at (800) 949-2732 or FRC@fincen.gov to request an alternative filing method. FBAR filers who are outside the U.S. can contact the FBAR filing helpline at (703) 905-3975.
Late-filing and accuracy penalties. Anyone who is required to file an FBAR should file no later than October 17 to avoid late-filing penalties. In addition, the filed FBAR should include all the required information. Failure to file an accurate FBAR may also result in civil and criminal penalties.
For more information about the requirement to file an FBAR, see Checkpoint’s Federal Tax Coordinator ¶ S-3650.
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