Foreign Bank Account Reporting

Foreign Bank Account Reporting

Foreign Bank Account Reporting: The Foreign Bank Account Reporting rules are complex. And, with the IRS taking an aggressive position on matters involving foreign accounts compliance, it is important for U.S. persons to stay compliant. The Internal Revenue Service has developed several international information reporting forms which requires the filer to report offshore accounts, assets investments, and income. If these forms are not filed, the taxpayer may become subject to offshore fines and penalties, such as the infamous FBAR penalty. These penalties can be avoided, minimized or abated with FBAR amnesty and other amnesty programs — collectively referred to as voluntary disclosure.

Foreign Bank Account Reporting

The IRS enforces Foreign Bank Account Reporting with an iron fist. When a person has Foreign Bank Accounts, they will often have an Offshore Reporting Requirement (in order to avoid IRS Offshore Penalties).

It is important to make sure you are in IRS Offshore Compliance, in order to avoid excessively high fines and penalties.

Common International Tax Forms include:

  • FBAR
  • Form 8938
  • Form 8621

Learn Your Options Before Acting Hastily

Before making any decision to proactively make a statement to the IRS, please be sure to speak with an experienced offshore voluntary disclosure lawyer first. There is a horrible misinformation on the internet, designed to scare unsuspecting filers without providing any context about hoe the penalties are issued, and how to minimize and avoid them.

Which Forms do I Report?

There are many different international reporting forms. Here are some of the most common:

FBAR (FinCEN Form 114)

We start off with the FBAR, because it is one of the IRS International Reporting forms that receives the most amount of press. The FBAR is used to Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts on an annual basis.

The form has a relatively low threshold requirement of $10,000. In other words, if you have an annual aggregate total of foreign accounts (including life insurance or retirement funds) that on any day of the year exceeds $10,000, then you are required to report this form. It does not matter if the money is in one account or spread over numerous accounts. And, it does not matter if the account is in your home country of citizenship or if you opened the account before relocating to the United States.

The US government does not look into the semantics that deeply; rather, if you meet the threshold requirement then you have to file the form. Starting in 2017 (to report 2016 maximum balance), the due date coincides with your tax return filing date (including extension).

When it comes to the FBAR, one of the main concerns are the FBAR Penalties.

FBAR Penalties

A penalty for failing to file FBARs. United States citizens, residents and certain other persons must annually report their direct or indirect financial interest in, or signature authority (or other authority that is comparable to signature authority) over, a financial account that is maintained with a financial institution located in a foreign country if, for any calendar year, the aggregate value of all foreign financial accounts exceeded $10,000 at any time during the year. The civil penalty for willfully failing to file an FBAR can be as high as the greater of $100,000 or 50 percent of the total balance of the foreign financial account per violation. See 31 U.S.C. § 5321(a)(5). Non-willful violations that the IRS determines were not due to reasonable cause are subject to a $10,000 penalty per violation.

Form 8938

Form 8938 is a byproduct of FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act). It is a form that is required to be filed with the tax return each year when a person meets the threshold requirements for filing. Unlike the FBAR, which is an electronic form which is submitted directly to the Department of Treasury (The FBAR is not submitted with your tax return), Form 8938 is part of your tax return.

Form 8938 requires you to provide extensive information regarding foreign accounts and specified foreign assets. For example, with the FBAR, reporting is limited to accounts and insurance policies (although those terms can have a very broad meaning). Conversely, with form 8938, the person must report Income — along with assets and accounts.

Therefore, if you were to own stock of a foreign company, that would be considered a Specified Foreign Asset that would need to be reported on a Form 8938 — but would not be reported on an FBAR.

Moreover, with the FBAR, a person is required to report the maximum balance in the account, but is not required to report any income that is generated from the accounts. The 8938 is more depth than that. Rather, with form 8938, a person must report the account balance along with the annual income that is generated from form 8938 accounts or assets.

Additionally, the income must be broken down by type of income earned (such as royalties, dividends, interest, capital gains) and/or whether the income was earned through a custodial or deposit account and/or it was earned through one of the specified foreign assets.

Form 8938 Penalties

Beginning with the 2011 tax year, a penalty for failing to file Form 8938 reporting the taxpayer’s interest in certain foreign financial assets, including financial accounts, certain foreign securities, and interests in foreign entities, as required by IRC § 6038D. The penalty for failing to file each one of these information returns is $10,000, with an additional $10,000 added for each month the failure continues beginning 90 days after the taxpayer is notified of the delinquency, up to a maximum of $50,000 per return.

Form 3520

A Form 3520 is a relatively benign form, save for the fact that the IRS can issue extensive fines and penalties for failing to report it. The form is used to report the receipt of a foreign gift either from a foreign person, foreign business, or foreign trust distribution.

The threshold requirements for having to report the gift vary. For example, if a person receives a foreign trust distribution, then the distribution must be reported despite any threshold requirement. In sharp contrast, a person would not need to report the receipt of a foreign gift from a foreign person unless the value of the gift exceeds more than $100,000 in either one transaction, or a series of transactions within the same tax year.

Form 3520 Penalties

A Penalty for failing to file Form 3520, Annual Return to Report Transactions With Foreign Trusts and Receipt of Certain Foreign Gifts. Taxpayers must also report various transactions involving foreign trusts, including creation of a foreign trust by a United States person, transfers of property from a United States person to a foreign trust and receipt of distributions from foreign trusts under IRC § 6048. This return also reports the receipt of gifts from foreign entities under IRC § 6039F. The penalty for failing to file each one of these information returns, or for filing an incomplete return, is the greater of $10,000 or 35 percent of the gross reportable amount, except for returns reporting gifts, where the penalty is five percent of the gift per month, up to a maximum penalty of 25 percent of the gift.

Form 3520-A

Form 3520-A is a bit different than form 3520. Form 3520-A is required to be filed by a US person if the US person owns a foreign trust. A foreign trust with a U.S. owner must file Form 3520-A in order for the U.S. owner to satisfy its annual information reporting requirements under section 6048(b).

Each U.S. person treated as an owner of any portion of a foreign trust under the grantor trust rules (sections 671 through 679) is responsible for ensuring that the foreign trust files Form 3520-A and furnishes the required annual statements to its U.S. owners and U.S. beneficiaries.

The problem with this form is that if the owner/trustee of the trust does not report the form, then technically the trust may be subject to fines and penalties, which can be very substantial, depending on the facts and circumstances of the reporting.

Form 3520-A Penalties

A Penalty for failing to file Form 3520-A, Information Return of Foreign Trust With a U.S. Owner. Taxpayers must also report ownership interests in foreign trusts, by United States persons with various interests in and powers over those trusts under IRC § 6048(b). The penalty for failing to file each one of these information returns or for filing an incomplete return, is the greater of $10,000 or 5 percent of the gross value of trust assets determined to be owned by the United States person.

Form 5471

Form 5471 is generally used when a person has ownership in a foreign corporation. There are various threshold requirements regarding ownership versus control and voting rights as to when a person has to file, but generally a person will file a form 5471, when they own at least 10% of the foreign corporation.

This can become a serious problem for individuals who own foreign corporations in countries in which the purpose of the foreign corporation is more of an estate planning tool than a business tool. This is very common in many countries that utilize the Sociedad Anonima.

For example, many of our clients in Costa Rica may have formed one or multiple Sociedad Anonimas for the purpose of holding rental property instead of putting the property under their own name, because it eases estate planning transfers. Unfortunately, from a US perspective this type of corporation cannot be disregarded and therefore (even if it is dormant), the 5471 may need to be filed in part or whole.

Form 5471 Penalties

A penalty for failing to file Form 5471, Information Return of U.S. Persons with Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations. Certain United States persons who are officers, directors or shareholders in certain foreign corporations (including International Business Corporations) are required to report information under IRC §§ 6035, 6038 and 6046. The penalty for failing to file each one of these information returns is $10,000, with an additional $10,000 added for each month the failure continues beginning 90 days after the taxpayer is notified of the delinquency, up to a maximum of $50,000 per return.

Form 5472

Form 5472 is a bit different from form 5471. A form 5471 is filed when a US person has an interest, ownership or control in a foreign corporation. A form 5472 is used (generally) when a US corporation has more than 25% ownership by individuals who are not considered US persons.

This is typical when a foreign corporation, or group of foreign investors, come together to create a US corporation wherein in at least 25% of the corporation is owned by non-US shareholders.

These types of businesses are usually created to function solely in the United States regarding US source income and limited liability or tax liability on a bigger scale.

Form 5472 Penalties

 A penalty of $25,000 will be assessed on CAUTION ! any reporting corporation that fails to file Form 5472 when due and in the manner prescribed. The penalty also applies for failure to maintain records as required by Regulations section 1.6038A-3. Note. Filing a substantially incomplete Form 5472 constitutes a failure to file Form 5472.

Each member of a group of corporations filing a consolidated information return is a separate reporting corporation subject to a separate $25,000 penalty and each member is jointly and severally liable. If the failure continues for more than 90 days after notification by the IRS, an additional penalty of $25,000 will apply. This penalty applies with respect to each related party for which a failure occurs for each 30-day period (or part of a 30-day period) during which the failure continues after the 90-day period ends. Criminal penalties under sections 7203, 7206, and 7207 also may apply for failure to submit information or for filing false or fraudulent information.

Form 8621

IRS Form 8621 (Information Return by a Shareholder of a Passive Foreign Investment Company or Qualified Electing Fund) is an IRS Form required to be filed by individuals who have any interest in a Passive Foreign Investment Company — whether or not they received an Excess Distribution, as long as they are not otherwise exempt from filing.

Unlike IRS Form 5471, there is no minimum ownership requirement. Technically, even if you have “fractional ownership,” of a PFIC you are still required to file — unless you meet one of the very limited exemptions/exclusions.

Moreover, the mere ownership of Foreign Mutual Funds and other foreign passive investments (that you do not technically own in a PFIC company) requires you to file the form.

The form can be daunting, especially when the filer also has a tax liability in accordance with form 8621.

Form 8621 Penalties

Notwithstanding Excess Distribution calculations, the “main non-numerical” penalty associated with form 8621 is completely unfair (you can read here about the sheer horror of the “Excess Distribution calculation“).

Why? Because technically, while there is no specific numerical penalty included regarding non-filing of Form 8621, a tax return is still considered to be “open” until the 8621 is filed. In other words, the statute of limitations countdown for the IRS to audit your tax return (usually 3 years) does not even begin to tick if the 8621 hasn’t been filed.

*Even if you try to argue the return only remains open as to the 8621, but in reality, the IRS will most likely take you to task as to the whole return. Even if you could convince the agent that a post statute audit should be contained to 8621 issues, the IRS would just need to show some relation from the 8621 to other parts of your return to avoid that issue. 

Form 926

A Form 926 is required to be filed when a person transfers property to a foreign corporation. The purpose of this this is so the U.S. can track assets that are being moved offshore, and help determine (now or in the future) whether those assets have previously been reported for tax purposes in the United States or are not subject to taxation (due to the relocation being deemed a “sale”)

For example, does the asset already have a BIG (Built-in-Gain) or other inherent tax liability that the company may be attempting to circumvent or sidestep by shifting the asset offshore.

Form 926 Penalties

A penalty for failing to file Form 926, Return by a U.S. Transferor of Property to a Foreign Corporation. Taxpayers are required to report transfers of property to foreign corporations and other information under IRC § 6038B. The penalty for failing to file each one of these information returns is ten percent of the value of the property transferred, up to a maximum of $100,000 per return, with no limit if the failure to report the transfer was intentional.

Form 8865

A Form 8865 is similar to a Form 5471, except that the form 8865 is used to report foreign partnership interest, whereas form 5471 is used to report ownership of foreign Corporation. If you know anything about partnerships, you know that the reporting requirements such as basis and proportionate shares is a very complex undertaking. That is because unlike the Corporation which has its own entity, a partnership is not an entity to the same degree that, for example, a corporation is an entity.

As such, as with a partnership the individuals still directly owned the assets, even though they are being owned through the partnership (in other words, there is no entity that distinguishes between the owners and the partnership aside from the “partnership” which is a pass-through for tax purposes, but is reported separately.)

The reporting requirements for a partnership can the intense and therefore it is very important to understand these reporting requirements when submitting a form 8865.

Form 8865 Penalties

A penalty for failing to file Form 8865, Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Partnerships. United States persons with certain interests in foreign partnerships use this form to report interests in and transactions of the foreign partnerships, transfers of property to the foreign partnerships, and acquisitions, dispositions and changes in foreign partnership interests under IRC §§ 6038, 6038B, and 6046A. Penalties include $10,000 for failure to file each return, with an additional $10,000 added for each month the failure continues beginning 90 days after the taxpayer is notified of the delinquency, up to a maximum of $50,000 per return, and ten percent of the value of any transferred property that is not reported, subject to a $100,000 limit.

Golding & Golding, Board-Certified Tax Law Specialist

We specialize exclusively in international tax, and specifically IRS offshore disclosure.

We have successfully represented clients in more than 1,000 streamlined and voluntary offshore disclosure submissions nationwide and in over 70-different countries. We have represented thousands of individuals and businesses with international tax problems.

We are the “go-to” firm for other Attorneys, CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Accountants, and Financial Professionals across the globe.

We are the “go-to” firm for other Attorneys, CPAs, Enrolled Agents, Accountants and Financial Professionals worldwide.

Less than 1% of Tax Attorneys Nationwide Are Certified Specialists

Sean M. Golding is one of less than 350 Attorneys (out of more than 200,000 practicing California Attorneys) to earn the Certified Tax Law Specialist credential. The credential is awarded to less than 1% of Attorneys.

Recent Golding & Golding Case Highlights

  • We represented a client in an 8-figure disclosure that spanned 7 countries.
  • We represented a high-net-worth client to facilitate a complex expatriation with offshore disclosure.
  • We represented an overseas family with bringing multiple businesses & personal investments into U.S. tax and offshore compliance.
  • We took over a case from a small firm that unsuccessfully submitted multiple clients to IRS Offshore Disclosure.
  • We successfully completed several recent disclosures for clients with assets ranging from $50,000 – $7,000,000+.
How to Hire Experienced Streamlined Counsel?

How to Hire Experienced Streamlined Counsel?

How to Hire Experienced Offshore Counsel?

Generally, experienced attorneys in this field will have the following credentials/experience:

  • Board Certified Tax Law Specialist credential
  • Master’s of Tax Law (LL.M.)
  • Dually Licensed as an EA (Enrolled Agent) or CPA
  • 20-years experience as a practicing attorney
  • Extensive litigation, high-stakes audit and trial experience

Interested in Learning More about Golding & Golding?

No matter where in the world you reside, our international tax team can get you IRS offshore compliant. 

Golding & Golding specializes in FBAR and FATCA. Contact our firm today for assistance with getting compliant.