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FBAR filing due today!

June 30, 2009

Today is the deadline for Form 90-22.1, the foreign financial account report -- otherwise known as the "FBAR" filing. There are severe penalties for failing to file this report on time, up to 50 percent of the value of the account for each year of non-reporting. Criminal penalties can apply to wilful violations.

As if to encourage the rest of us to file, the Justice Department last week announced a guilty plea for FBAR non-compliance by a client of Swiss bank UBS. The TaxProf has a roundup of coverage.

As this plea shows, offshore account secrecy seems to be crumbling. The IRS is offering an amnesty of sorts for those who haven't reported these accounts in the past, and it is very attractive compared to the consequences of getting caught for non-reporting. The amnesty runs through September 23, 2009.

The IRS has unilaterally extended today's deadline for new FBAR filers who have reported all of their foreign-source income but who did not know they had an FBAR filing obligation. Those taxpayers may file without penalty through September 23, but they need to follow special procedures.

If you are filing today, spend the extra four bucks or so and file Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested. The IRS doesn't save the postmarks, so you need to.

Tags: certified mail.FBAR.TaxProf.