Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts Reporting(FBAR)

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is a product of United States' efforts to combat offshore tax evasion. U.S. expats of all income levels with foreign accounts and assets need to be conscious of its impact. FinCEN Form 114 must be filed by "U.S. persons" if the person has an interest in, or signatory authority over a foreign financial account, and the aggregate value of those accounts exceeds $10,000 at any time during the calendar year.

U.S. persons

A U.S. person includes U.S. citizens, as well as permanent legal residents, i.e. green card holders. Anyone who meets the "substantial presence" test of Internal Revenue Code Section 7701(b) is also considered a U.S. person for FBAR purposes, and therefore must file an FBAR.

Reporting Thresholds

U.S. taxpayers with foreign accounts and assets might need to file Form 8938: Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets with their returns

Unmarried taxpayers. If you are not married, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total valueIf filing as single, total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $75,000 at any time during the tax year.

Married taxpayers filing a joint income tax return. If you are married and you and your spouse file a joint income tax return, you satisfy the reporting threshold only if the total value of your specified foreign financial assets is more than $100,000 on the last day of the tax year or more than $150,000 at any time during the tax year.

Form 8938 need to file with your federal tax return, which due on or before April 15th.

New Due Date

President Obama signed the Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 in late July. The new Act modified the due date of several key forms for Americans with foreign income and Americans living abroad. That includes the Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts,, or Form 114, colloquially known as the FBAR. FBAR Deadline Will Move to April 15, 2017 for 2016 Year.The FBAR deadline for calendar year 2015 remains June 30, 2016 (with no extensions allowed).

How do I Report

We will need the name, Address, Account number of each Foreign Bank, Highest Balance you kept in each account during last year, If the account is a joint account, please provide the other party's name, Address, SSN if any.

E-file of FBAR / FinCEN 114

Yes, we can e-file the form 114 on behalf of our client and our fee for this service is $ 50.00 for the 1st 5 Bank accounts and each additional bank/Financial Accounts will cost extra $10.00 per account to be reported

If you like us to authorize to prepare the form 114, please use the attached worksheet and the authorization form to us to prepare and efile the form 114. Foreign Bank Reporting Worksheet

Once we received the Foreign Bank Reporting Worksheet, we will prepare the form 114 and Form 114a ( Authorization to efile the form 114) and send it to you for your approval and once we received the signed form 114a, we will efile the Form 114 ( FinCEN) and will email you the confirmation of Efile acceptance for your record.

If you need any more information regarding the above topic, contact me at 630-663-1500.