Do you have a bank account in a foreign (non-US) country?
If so, there's a good chance you may need to file an FBAR (Foreign Bank Account Report) each year. This report is filed with FINCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), not the IRS.
This is an annual report US citizens need to make, if they had over $10,000 or equivalent in foreign currency, in a foreign account. This amount is reportable even if it was spread between a few accounts, and the sum equaled $10,000 or more.
In fact, there is much more to it than just reporting bank accounts.
Other kinds of accounts also need to be reported, such as:
Amounts accumulated in a foreign pension fund.
Israeli "Keren Hishtamlut (education/study)" fund.
Accounts the US citizen has "signature authority" on. This includes accounts with power of attorney.
Many trustees of nonprofits, or CFO-type persons, also end up with this requirement, as they have signature authority on bank accounts.
Once the filing threshold has been met, all foreign accounts need to be reported.
Penalties for non-compliance:
Non-willful penalty for not filing: $10,000, per account, per year.
Willful failure to file: $100,000 or 50% of the balance of the account at the time of the violation, whichever is higher, for each year that a required FBAR wasn’t filed.
In some cases, willful failure to file could even result in a prison sentence.
Besides for the FBAR report, IRS Form 8938 may be required as well, if certain thresholds have been met.
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