Most US citizens, entities, and resident aliens with a foreign bank or financial account have seen their IRS reporting deadline come and go. But for some taxpayers, one more deadline remains to file their 2019 Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts, or FBAR.
Most FBAR filings were due by October 31, 2020.
The bulk of FBAR filings came on Oct. 31. Originally slated for the April 15 tax filing deadline, FBAR filing of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network Form 114 was automatically extended to Oct. 15 due to the coronavirus pandemic, then extended again to Oct. 31.
But taxpayers got a further reprieve if they were affected by one of the following federally recognized natural disasters:
These FBAR filers have until Dec. 31, 2020 to file their forms. At present, the relief for FBAR filers applies only to those within the federally declared disaster areas.
FBAR filers who live outside the affected areas seeking assistance in meeting their filing obligations (including workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization), should contact the FinCEN Regulatory Support Section at 800.767.2825 or electronically at [email protected].
Who needs to file?
This requirement to file applies to, among others, U.S. citizens and anyone with dual citizenship. It also applies to legal entities, such as corporations, partnerships, limited liability companies, estates and trusts.
In addition, U.S. citizens, entities and resident aliens should check to see if they have a U.S. tax liability and a federal tax return filing requirement. Those required to file should make sure all income is reported and federal tax return filing requirements are met regarding the reported accounts.
In general, the requirement to file applies to anyone who had an interest in, or signature or other authority, over foreign financial accounts with an aggregate value of over $10,000 at any time during 2019.
Because of the threshold, the IRS encourages U.S. individuals or entities with foreign accounts—even relatively small ones—to check if the filing requirement applies to them.
The FBAR, FinCEN Form 114, is only available through the BSA E-Filing System website.
The IRS reminds taxpayers that the FBA should never be filed with individual, business, trust or estate tax returns.
Source: IR-2020-247