What FINCEN Should Do Regarding FBAR Filing Dates and 25 or More Accounts

On March 1st, FINCEN issued a press release noting that they requested comment regarding a proposal such that individuals with 25 or more foreign financial accounts would have to report the details on those accounts rather than just noting they have 25 accounts. Buried in the actual Notice of Proposed Rulemaking was the fact that this rulemaking would include complying with the new law that for 2016 FBARs filed in 2017 the due date would be April 15th with a six-month extension available upon request.

This latter issue (the due date) is key. I can easily see bureaucrats reading the law and saying, “Well, now the deadline is April 15th regardless of whether or not that falls upon a weekend or holiday in the District of Columbia” rather than taking the common sense approach of aligning the FBAR due date to the tax return due date. It’s pretty clear to me that Congress intended the dates to be aligned. I felt it important to submit a comment on the record to note this.

My comments are available here. If you wish to respond to the proposed rulemaking, the deadline is May 9th.

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