2022 – 06/22 The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) will take up a controversial issue affecting owners of certain foreign financial accounts. A holder of a foreign account worth more than $10,000 in the preceding year must file a “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts” (FBAR). For a non-willful failure to file, the penalty is limited to $10,000. The issue before the SCOTUS is whether the penalty is chargeable per account or per report on which multiple accounts can be listed. The U.S. 5th Circuit Appeals Court has assessed the penalty per account, while U.S. 9th Circuit Appeals Court and others have assessed the penalty per report. No hearing date has been set for the SCOTUS case.
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