FINCEN Form 114 – The #FBAR Basics – Who, What, Why? – Part 1 http://t.co/SU5vKQQc2i @RachelMillios
— US Taxation Abroad (@TaxationAbroad) December 8, 2014
The FBAR (“Foreign Bank Account Report”) has been in existence since 1970. In general, any “U.S. Person” with a total of more than $10,000 USD in non-U.S. bank or brokerage accounts must report the existence of the account and the maximum balance annually to the U.S. Treasury. The penalties for failure to report are absolutely draconian. The law of FBAR is difficult to understand and is a combination of the Statute, the Regulations made pursuant to the statute (which do allow for the exemption of Americans abroad) and the Form itself. (Incredibly this information is required to be disclosed electronically which raises many issues of privacy and potential theft).
The above tweet references a good FBAR summary by Rachel Millios. I suggest that you read it in its entirety.
Highlights include:
Who Must File the 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. …
I recommend the rest of the post to you …