FBAR Deadline & Foreign Financial Asset Reporting Form 8938 Update
Blog June 12, 2012. By Robert A. Green, CPA
U.S. tax residents, don't miss the FBAR (TDF 90-22.1) filing deadline of June 29, 2012 for 2011 FBAR reports TDF90-22.1. Otherwise, you may be subject to very large penalties. Non-resident aliens are not subject to these filing requirements if they do not have a green card.
There's also another foreign tax form for 2011 tax returns, Form 8938 Statement of Foreign Financial Assets.
In prior years, many taxpayers overlooked or conveniently did not report their foreign financial accounts. Unfortunately, the IRS lumps all taxpayers into the category of tax cheat, assuming they are hiding money in offshore bank accounts. The IRS famously busted several Swiss banks and extended the busts to banking by Americans in India, Israel, Asia, and many tax havens throughout the world. In our opinion, IRS penalties should be designed for penalizing blatant tax cheats and not taxpayers who inadvertently overlooked quirky filings and did report their foreign income. The law differentiates between negligence and reasonable cause. Inadvertent overlooking is unfortunately usually subject to negligence penalties.
.........The worst thing to do is to ignore this matter and wait for the IRS to bust you and then lower the boom with full penalties and perhaps even criminal charges.
Side note. Per the IRS website, "If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien residing overseas, or are in the military on duty outside the U.S., on the regular due date of your return, you are allowed an automatic 2-month extension to file your return and pay any amount due without requesting an extension. For a calendar year return, the automatic 2-month extension is to June 15." Like other taxpayers, you can request an automatic extension until October 15 (see our Mar 29 blog).
Read the full blog and attend our Webinar on June 13th if you have questions. We don't post our own links since we are not a sponsor, so access from our home page at greentradertax, thanks
Blog June 12, 2012. By Robert A. Green, CPA
U.S. tax residents, don't miss the FBAR (TDF 90-22.1) filing deadline of June 29, 2012 for 2011 FBAR reports TDF90-22.1. Otherwise, you may be subject to very large penalties. Non-resident aliens are not subject to these filing requirements if they do not have a green card.
There's also another foreign tax form for 2011 tax returns, Form 8938 Statement of Foreign Financial Assets.
In prior years, many taxpayers overlooked or conveniently did not report their foreign financial accounts. Unfortunately, the IRS lumps all taxpayers into the category of tax cheat, assuming they are hiding money in offshore bank accounts. The IRS famously busted several Swiss banks and extended the busts to banking by Americans in India, Israel, Asia, and many tax havens throughout the world. In our opinion, IRS penalties should be designed for penalizing blatant tax cheats and not taxpayers who inadvertently overlooked quirky filings and did report their foreign income. The law differentiates between negligence and reasonable cause. Inadvertent overlooking is unfortunately usually subject to negligence penalties.
.........The worst thing to do is to ignore this matter and wait for the IRS to bust you and then lower the boom with full penalties and perhaps even criminal charges.
Side note. Per the IRS website, "If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien residing overseas, or are in the military on duty outside the U.S., on the regular due date of your return, you are allowed an automatic 2-month extension to file your return and pay any amount due without requesting an extension. For a calendar year return, the automatic 2-month extension is to June 15." Like other taxpayers, you can request an automatic extension until October 15 (see our Mar 29 blog).
Read the full blog and attend our Webinar on June 13th if you have questions. We don't post our own links since we are not a sponsor, so access from our home page at greentradertax, thanks