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IRS Extends FBAR Filing Date for 2008 Filings

By Alistair M. Nevius, J.D.

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2009. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

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The IRS announced in Notice 2009-62 that it is extending for certain taxpayers the due date for filing calendar-year 2008 Form TD F 90-22.1, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Because Treasury is still working out various FBAR filing issues, it has decided to give certain taxpayers until June 30, 2010, to file FBARs for 2008 and earlier calendar years.

The extension applies to persons with signature authority over a foreign financial account but no financial interest in the account, and persons with a financial interest in or signature authority over a foreign financial account in which assets are held in a commingled fund.

Normally, FBAR filings for a given calendar year are due by June 30 of the following year. Therefore, 2008 filings were due by June 30, 2009. (June 30, 2010, remains the deadline for calendar-year 2009 filings.)

The FBAR was revised in 2008 to require more taxpayers to file, and then the IRS temporarily suspended the filing requirements for various persons and provided other relief as part of a voluntary disclosure program. (For more on recent FBAR changes, see p. 667 in the Tax Clinic and Pasmanik and Sullivan, “Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts: Significant Revisions and Severe Penalties,” 40 The Tax Adviser 462 (July 2009).)

Treasury also announced that it is interested in receiving comments on various FBAR issues, including:

  • When should persons with signature authority but no financial interest in a foreign account be relieved from filing an FBAR?
  • In what circumstances should officers and employees with only signature authority over an employer’s foreign financial account be excepted from the FBAR filing requirements?
  • When should interests in a foreign entity be subject to FBAR reporting?

Comments can be submitted to Notice. Comments@irscounsel.treas.gov with a copy to regcomments@fincen.gov and should include “Notice 2009-62” in the subject line. The deadline for making comments is October 6, 2009.