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On February 26, 2010, the Internal Revenue Service and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury each issued guidance concerning Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) filings on Form TD F 90-22.1. Generally, U.S. persons or entities having a financial interest in or signatory authority over financial accounts located in foreign countries with an aggregate value greater than $10,000 are required to file an FBAR annually, on or before June 30 of the year following the applicable reporting year (e.g., June 30, 2010, for the 2009 reporting year).
FinCEN's guidance comes in the form of proposed regulations that clarify which persons will be required to file the FBAR and which foreign accounts will in fact be reportable. The proposed rules would also exempt certain persons from the filing requirement and include provisions intended to prevent those who are required to file from avoiding their reporting obligation. The IRS issued its FBAR guidance in the form of Notice 2010-23 and Announcement 2010-16. The latter temporarily suspends the FBAR filing requirement for persons who are not U.S. citizens, U.S. residents or domestic entities, while the former provides FBAR and Form 1040 filing relief for certain persons having a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign financial account.
The IRS Guidance
IRS Notice 2010-23 modifies and supplements Notice 2009-62 (which provided a filing extension until June 30, 2010, to the below categories of filers), by providing the following:
While Notice 2010-23 gives those persons having only signature authority with respect to a foreign financial account a one-year filing extension, it is important to note that U.S. persons having a financial interest in such foreign accounts, including foreign mutual funds, will be required to file an FBAR (and, if applicable, report the existence and location of the foreign financial accounts on their Form 1040 for the 2009 tax year) no later than June 30, 2010.
In Announcement 2010-16, the IRS suspends the FBAR filing requirement for 2009 and prior calendar years for persons who are not U.S. citizens, U.S. residents or domestic entities, even if those persons were in, and doing business in, the United States. This announcement supplements and supersedes Announcement 2009-51, which allowed persons to rely on the definition of "United States Person" found in the July 2000 version of the FBAR form for 2009 and prior calendar years to determine if they had a filing obligation rather than on the definition in the October 2008 revised version of the FBAR form.
The Proposed FinCEN Rules
The proposed FBAR filing regulations provide guidance on the following issues, among others:
It should be noted that the regulations proposed by FinCEN are not yet effective, and there is no indication therein that they may be relied upon pending issuance of a final rule.
On January 19, Heidi Seely and Christopher Voukides presented on the Boston Bar Association webinar, "Trust & Estates Mid-Year Review."
On December 16, Johanna Goulding presented "Introduction to Trusts" at the virtual seminar Estate Planning: MCLE BasicsPlus!
Day Pitney Estate Planning Update
Day Pitney Estate Planning Update
Day Pitney Estate Planning Update
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release
Day Pitney Press Release