Tomorrow – Nov. 2nd – the U.S. Supreme Court will begin to hear arguments in a closely-watched case that's expected to result in clarification, at last, as to how the penalties in so-called "non-willful Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR)" cases should be determined.

In what many tax lawyers and others have long hoped it would do, the U.S. Supreme Court has at last agreed to consider a so-called "non-willful FBAR penalty" case, which is expected to result in clarification as to how the penalties in such non-willful FBAR matters should be determined.

Alexandru Bittner, who has been one of the most visible challengers of the United States' notoriously persecutory FBAR penalty regime in recent years, has now become the latest FBAR litigant to urge the U.S. Supreme Court to rule, once and for all, on the way non-willful FBAR penalties should be determined. 

...citing disproportionate penalties, pan-EU capital movement infringement 

Europe's top court has ruled against Spain's Modelo 720 "foreign asset law", declaring that its disproportionate penalties and potentially restrictive effects on the free movement of capital and payments across EU borders were violations of European regulations. 

Foreign Bank Account Report-watchers have long wondered when an FBAR case would finally reach the Supreme Court, and in so doing, at last begin settling questions having to do with the scope of FBAR penalties, which can be draconian.

But as Monday's Supreme Court announcement denying Alice Kimble the writ of certiorari that she had petitioned for back in June showed, the wait for the great, long-awaited FBAR showdown is set to run a little longer than some might have hoped it  would...

In the latest in a series of cases that experts say has potentially major repercussions for expatriate Americans, a U.S. District Court in California has ruled that the penalty for a so-called "non-willful" failure to file foreign bank account reports (FBARs) should be calculated on a "per-FBAR", annual form basis, rather than for each bank account held by the American taxpayer in question outside the U.S.

The introduction of the Foreign Bank Account Report (FBAR) requirement in 1970, as a result of the Bank Secrecy Act of that year, may well be one of the most enduring legacies of the Nixon administration, says John Richardson, a Toronto-based lawyer who helps Americans with citizenship issues. Here, he reveals a little-known aspect of what the fine print of the FBAR legislation actually says, with respect to non-Americans who travel to the U.S., and who happen to have bank accounts back home...

Editor's note: The news about the date when FBARs for the year ending on Dec. 31, 2019 are due has changed.
Please see our most recent report on this subject.

As U.S. tax experts will tell you, today, Oct. 15, is the extended deadline for all U.S. expats to have their 1040 tax returns filed; and, until yesterday, it was also "FBAR Day." Which is to say, the day when FBARs for the year ending Dec. 31, 2019 were also due. 

As of yesterday, though, FBAR Day has been pushed back to Dec. 31, 2020, according to a notice posted on the website of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, which oversees FBARs, (even though the IRS handles tax returns).... 

As American expats and their tax preparers come down to the final stretch of the Oct. 15 Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBAR) deadline, concerns are emerging over whether the data they’re about to send to the U.S. could, at some point, fall into the wrong hands.

In a case experts say has potentially major repercussions for expatriate Americans, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has ruled that the penalty for so-called "non-willful violations" of the U.S. Foreign Bank Account Reporting regulations should be calculated on a "per-FBAR", rather than per account, basis.