Our regular readers know that in our previous blog post, we wrote about looming June deadlines for expatriates. Monday, June 15 is tax-filing day and Tuesday, June 30, is FBAR day. Unfortunately, the latter is no more of a holiday than the former. It’s simply the day on which those with qualifying overseas accounts must file a FBAR -- Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts.
Some people have never filed a required FBAR, while some others have only done so sporadically. The important takeaway is that the IRS has become increasingly serious in pursuit of the information the reports are supposed to contain.
Five years, ago FATCA was enacted, a law requiring overseas financial institutions to divulge information about U.S. account holders, enabling the IRS to track down the individuals, back taxes (and interest) and penalties. In some cases, criminal tax charges have been filed against taxpayers.
The rules for the FBAR forms and filing are complex, the Wall Street Journal says. Some funds that appear to be tax-exempt (they look like retirement or education plans in the U.S.) are not, in fact, recognized as such by the Internal Revenue Service. That means investment growth is taxed. That's merely one example of FBAR pitfalls that people can fall into without realizing it. You can discuss protection of your assets with an experienced Ohio tax attorney.
The tax attorneys at Robert J. Fedor, Esq., L.L.C. have the depth of knowledge and experience clients appreciate when facing disputes and negotiations with the IRS.
