In a notice posted to its website on Wednesday, Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced that this year’s deadline to e-file FinCEN Form 114, Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), on the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) E-Filing System had been extended from Oct. 15, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2020 (all FBARs must be e-filed).
However, by late Thursday afternoon, that notice was no longer available on the FinCEN website and FinCEN had posted a notice clarifying that the extension is only available to victims of recent natural disasters.
The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015, P.L. 114-41, changed FinCEN Form 114’s due date to April 15 to coincide with the due date for filing federal income tax returns. The act changing the FBAR due date also allows for a six-month extension of the filing deadline. Under this provision, FinCEN grants filers an automatic extension to Oct. 15 each year.
— Sally P. Schreiber, J.D., (Sally.Schreiber@aicpa-cima.com) is a Tax Adviser senior editor.
