People that have a financial account or are a signature authority over a financial account in another country that exceed certain thresholds are required by law to report these accounts to the Department of Treasury by submitting a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) electronically every year. For 2015, the FBAR deadline is June 30th, 2016 which is right around the corner.
Failure to file an FBAR report will result in financial penalties that will be handed down by the IRS. The financial penalties apply to individuals, financial institutions, and non-financial businesses for all the years that they failed to file the FBAR report.
Penalty for Willful FBAR Report Violations
For violations that occurred after October 22, 2004, the maximum penalty is the highest amount between $100,000 or 50 percent of the balance left in the financial institution at the time of the violation.
Individuals and businesses have until June 30th of this year to file an FBAR report, if the report is not filed by the end of the day, it means the individual or institution has committed a violation.
Penalty for Non-Willful FBAR Violations
For FBAR violations that occur after October 22, 2004, a penalty, which will not exceed $10,000 for each violation, may be imposed on anyone that violates or causes the violation of the FBAR requirements.
A penalty will not be imposed if the individual or institution provides a reasonable reason for the violation. A penalty will also not be imposed if the individual or institution files a delinquent FBAR report and reports the unreported account.
The account examiners have the power to determine how much of a penalty the individual or institution should pay, and they have to use the mitigation guidelines before they come to their decision.
The examiners are also required to take the circumstances and facts of each case into consideration before coming to a decision. According to the Treasury Department, the total amount of penalties for non-willful FBAR violations will never exceed 50 percent of the combined balance of the unreported international financial accounts for the years being examined.
If you are in penalty of FBAR requirements it is better to voluntarily disclose versus getting caught by the IRS. If you need to file a Foreign Bank Account Report, or not sure whether you need to file, give us a call. At Rosillo & Associates, we take care of your tax needs for long term financial success.