Gregory J. Cook, EA, CPA of Cook & Co. Tax Advisors today reminded U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including those with dual\ncitizenship, that if they have a foreign bank or financial account, April 15,\n2019, is the deadline to file their annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial\nAccounts (FBAR). They should also check to see if they have a U.S. tax\nliability and a federal tax return filing requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is a rundown of key points to keep in mind:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deadline for reporting foreign accounts<\/strong> In general, the filing requirement applies to anyone who had an interest in,\nor signature or other authority, over foreign financial accounts whose\naggregate value exceeded $10,000 at any time during 2018. Because of this\nthreshold, the IRS encourages taxpayers with foreign assets, even relatively\nsmall ones, to check if this filing requirement applies to them. The form is\nonly available through the BSA E-Filing<\/a> System website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taxpayers with foreign financial accounts that report their accounts to the\nU.S Treasury Department should also visit the FBAR Fact Sheet<\/a> posted on IRS.gov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n IRS ends Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP)<\/strong> Most people abroad need to file<\/strong> A special extended filing and payment deadline applies to U.S. citizens and\nresident aliens who live and work abroad. For U.S. citizens and resident aliens\nwhose tax home and abode are outside the United States and Puerto Rico, the\nincome tax filing and payment deadline is June 17, 2019. Taxpayers have two\nextra days because the normal extended deadline\u2014June 15\u2014falls on a Saturday\nthis year. The same applies for those serving in the military outside the\nU.S. and Puerto Rico on the regular due date of their tax return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interest, currently at the rate of 6 percent per year, compounded daily,\nwill apply to any payment received after the regular April 15 deadline. See U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Abroad<\/a> for details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nonresident aliens who received income from U.S. sources in 2018 also must\ndetermine whether they have a U.S. tax obligation. The filing deadline for\nnonresident aliens is April 15. See Taxation of Nonresident Aliens<\/a> on IRS.gov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Special income tax return reporting for foreign accounts and assets<\/strong> Also, separate from the foreign accounts reporting requirements above,\ncertain taxpayers may also have to complete and attach to their return Form 8938<\/a>, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets.\nGenerally, U.S. citizens, resident aliens and certain nonresident aliens must\nreport specified foreign financial assets on this form if the aggregate value\nof those assets exceeds certain thresholds. See the instructions for this form\nfor details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Specified domestic entity reporting<\/strong> For more information on specified domestic entity reporting, as well as the\ntypes of specified foreign financial assets that must be reported, see Do I need to file Form 8938, \u201cStatement of Specified Foreign\nFinancial Assets\u201d<\/a>? and its instructions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Report in U.S. dollars<\/strong> Both FinCen Form 114 and IRS Form 8938 require the use of a December 31\nexchange rate for all transactions, regardless of the actual exchange rate on\nthe date of the transaction. Generally, the IRS accepts any posted exchange\nrate that is used consistently. For more information on exchange rates, see Foreign Currency and Currency Exchange Rates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expatriate reporting<\/strong> Gregory J. Cook, EA, CPA of Cook & Co. Tax Advisors today reminded U.S. citizens and resident aliens, including those with dual citizenship, that if they have a foreign bank or financial account, April 15, 2019, is the deadline to file their annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). They should also check […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2019-04-04T20:25:57Z","apple_news_api_id":"0b93a4fb-e862-43a9-9f7e-e5b8d96681a3","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2019-04-04T20:25:58Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AC5Ok--hiQ6mffuW42WaBow","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"middle","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/74d71b26-dfe2-3cf6-9b79-55911f8259f1"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tax"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe deadline for filing the FBAR is the same as for a federal income tax\nreturn. This means that the 2018 FBAR, Form 114, must be filed electronically\nwith the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) by April 15, 2019.\nFinCEN grants filers missing the April 15 deadline an automatic extension until\nOct. 15, 2019, to file the FBAR. Taxpayers don\u2019t file the FBAR with individual,\nbusiness, trust or estate tax returns. Taxpayers who want to paper-file their\nFBAR must call the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network\u2019s Regulatory Helpline\nto request an exemption from e-filing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe IRS will continue to use tools besides voluntary disclosure to combat\noffshore tax avoidance, including taxpayer education, whistleblower leads,\ncivil examination and criminal prosecution. The IRS continues to use\nstreamlined filing compliance procedures that will remain in place and be\navailable to eligible taxpayers. But, as with OVDP, the IRS said it may end the\nstreamlined filing compliance procedures at some point. Full details of the\nOVDP and streamlined procedures are available at Options Available for U.S. Taxpayers with Undisclosed Foreign\nFinancial Assets<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAn income tax filing requirement generally applies even if a taxpayer qualifies\nfor tax benefits, such as the Foreign Earned Income exclusion or the Foreign\nTax credit, which substantially reduce or eliminate U.S. tax liability. These\ntax benefits are only available if an eligible taxpayer files a U.S. income tax\nreturn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIn addition to the annual Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR)\nrequirements outlined above, federal law requires U.S. citizens and resident\naliens to report any worldwide income, including income from foreign trusts and\nforeign bank and securities accounts. In most cases, affected taxpayers need to\ncomplete and attach Schedule B to their tax return. Part III of Schedule B asks\nabout the existence of foreign accounts, such as bank and securities accounts,\nand usually requires U.S. citizens to report these items for the country in\nwhich each account is located.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nCertain domestic corporations, partnerships and trusts that are considered\nformed for the purpose of holding (directly or indirectly) specified foreign\nfinancial assets must file Form 8938 if the total value of those assets exceeds\n$50,000 on the last day of the tax year or $75,000 at any time during the tax\nyear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nAny income received, or deductible expenses paid in foreign currency must be\nreported on a U.S. tax return in U.S. dollars. Likewise, any tax payments must\nbe made in U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nTaxpayers who relinquished their U.S. citizenship or ceased to be lawful\npermanent residents of the United States during 2018 must file a dual-status alien<\/a> tax return, attaching Form 8854<\/a>, Initial and Annual Expatriation Statement. A\ncopy of the Form 8854 must also be filed with Internal Revenue Service,\nPhiladelphia, PA 19255-0049, by the due date of the tax return (including\nextensions). See the instructions for this form and Notice 2009-85<\/a>, Guidance for Expatriates Under Section\n877A, for further details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"