If you thought FBAR penalties were more bark than bite, a recent U.S. District court case is sure to change your mind.
In United States v. August Bohanec et ux, USDC CD Ca., No. 2:15-cv-04347 (December 2016), the Court found that the taxpayer’s failure to file the FBAR was willful and affirmed the IRS’s enhanced FBAR civil penalty, i.e., a fine equal to the greater of $100,000 or 50% of the balance in their unreported accounts.
I suspect that history will show that that the growth in renunciations of U.S. citizenship (and abandonment of Green Cards) continued in 2016. Absent a change in the way that the United States treats its “U.S. Persons Abroad”, I suspect that the growth in renunciations of U.S. citizenship will continue.
The purpose of this post and a short summary:
It has been widely reported that American actor Steven Seagal has joined American boxer Roy Jones in becoming a citizen of Russia. By becoming Russian citizens, Mr. Seagal and Mr. Jones are now subject to Russia’s Currency laws, which include the requirement to report their non-Russian bank accounts to the Kremlin. Messrs Seagal and Jones may admire Russia. That said, it’s clear that the Kremlin admires the U.S. Treasury in general and Mr. FBAR – America’s most important citizen – in particular.
The IRS announced that over 100,000 taxpayers have now participated in its disclosure programs, which have been available to delinquent filers since 2009. More specifically, according to the IRS, 55,800 taxpayers have used the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP) to resolve their tax obligations, paying more than $9.9 billion in taxes, interest and penalties, while an additional 48,000 taxpayers have used the Streamlined Procedures, paying approximately $450 million.
The primary story is of a U.S. professor who pleaded guilty to an FBAR violation and was subjected to a 100 million FBAR penalty. Notably the “tax loss” was 10 million dollars and the FBAR penalty was 100 million dollars. It appears that Mr. FBAR is becoming an important tool in the arsenal used by the United States Treasury.
FINCEN114 due June 30th for the 2015 taxation year, reporting beneficial interest or signature authority in non-U.S. financial accounts where the annual aggregate highest balance is greater than $10K U.S., may have to be filed by Canadian taxpayers.
The IRS has just issued a reminder to taxpayers that the FBAR filing deadline of June 30th is fast approaching. Unlike other tax forms, extensions for filing the FBAR are not allowed, so June 30th remains a hard deadline.
We get all sorts of fascinating questions from established US taxpayers in addition to those experiencing internationalism for the first time. It seems, regardless of the degree of sophistication in US income tax filing obligations, most people are out to lunch when it comes to arcane acronyms and filing requirements.
I looked up my last blog post and realized I have not posted here since January! What a tax season it was, and how did time get away from me? Oh wait…I know how!
The past few years have seen a steady growth of a client base that has foreign accounts: no complaints there! Most clients have very routine FBAR filing requirements but then sometimes things are a little out of the ordinary and that gets me all excited…yes, I know..it does! That either tells you about my lack of a life during tax season or we should just notch it up to tax nerd-iness!
Is This Canadian Baby An American Tax Cheat?
A Canadian baby is learning about taxes, banking and activism at a tender age. The eight month old girl received a “Dear Valued Customer” letter from her Canadian bank when she was six months old advising her that her account information may be provided to Canada Revenue Agency to pass on to IRS. The wee “Valued Customer” was directed to complete, sign and mail forms to the bank.
Baby Elle (not her real name) and her Canadian parents were Read More
The IRS published a News Release on March 15, 2016 entitled, Foreign Account Filings Top 1 Million; Taxpayers Need to Know Their Filing Requirements that readers of this blog might find interesting.
Below are some snippets:
WASHINGTON — Strong and sustained growth of taxpayers Read More
Many people make purchase decisions based on cost, and little else. “Motor oil is motor oil,” they insist. In the minds of many, it is pure folly to pay X dollars per month for auto insurance when another company provides the same service for a mere Y dollars. Or, they ask rhetorically, what moron would pay X dollars per gallon for gasoline when the station a quarter-mile down the road only charges Y dollars?
But, as the corporate shills at Valvoline were quick to remind Earl, cost is only one element in a purchase decision. As many of us Read More
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