From the Desk of Lauran L. Stevenson

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act: Due Date Has Changed

The Foreign Bank Account Reporting (FBAR) now has a new due date. This year, the deadline changed, and a taxpayer with foreign assets who files a personal extension automatically extends FBAR filing to October 15th, granting taxpayers more time to file.

What is the Foreign Account Tax Compliance ACT?

According to the IRS, “The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), which was passed as part of the HIRE Act, generally requires that foreign financial Institutions and certain other non-financial foreign entities report on the foreign assets held by their U.S. account holders or be subject to withholding on withhold-able payments. The HIRE Act also contained legislation requiring U.S. persons to report, depending on the value, their foreign financial accounts and foreign assets.” What FATCA means is taxpayers may have to report information about foreign financial assets and accounts. If you are a taxpayer that must file Form 8938, not doing so may subject you to penalties for failure to file. As a taxpayer, it is always suggested to evaluate and determine the value of your specified foreign financial assets and to know if your total value exceeds the threshold.