1. What is FBAR?
FBAR is the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts which is an annual information return that US persons must file if they have a financial interest or signature authority over a financial account located outside of the US if the total value of all accounts at any point of the calendar year is over USD 10,000.
2. What is deemed a ‘US person’ under this law?
US citizens (including minors), US residents, and entities such as corporations, partnerships, LLCs, trusts and estates
3. What types of accounts are included?
Financial accounts include, but are not limited to, checking, savings, brokerage, securities, commodity futures or options account, certain insurance policies and shares in a mutual fund or pooled fund.
4. What are the due dates?
April 15 for the previous calendar year, and there is a 6-month automatic extension to October 15 each year.
5. How and where do you file?
The FBAR must file electronically through the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) e-filing system.
6. Are there any penalties for filing late or not filing at all?
There are penalties for non-wilful and wilful failures to file. If the failure is non-wilful, this can be up to 10,000 USD per violation. If the failure is wilful, then the penalty is the greater of 100,000 USD or 50% of the account balance. The US Supreme Court is reviewing whether this violation can be done per account or per report.
Our EY Tax team here in Ireland can work with you to determine whether you or your organization have a FBAR filing obligation or an exemption. We can also assist your team in completing the filing.
If you’d like to know more, or discuss if this affects you, contact Amanda Murphy on amanda.murphy@ie.ey.com or Shambhavi Guruprasad on shambhavi.guruprasad1@ie.ey.com.
