Under the federal Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. taxpayers who own offshore accounts with an aggregate value of $10,000 or more in any tax year are required to disclose their offshore accounts using FinCEN Form 114, Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR). Taxpayers must file FBARs annually with the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), and failing to do so can lead to steep penalties.

The requirement for U.S. taxpayers to file FinCEN Form 114, Report Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR), exists under the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). This statute was enacted in order to aid in the federal government’s fight against money laundering and other financial crimes, and violations of the BSA are taken very seriously. As a result, while it might not seem like a big deal if you failed to file an FBAR, the consequences can be substantial—and in some cases, FBAR violations can lead to criminal prosecution. Here, Boston offshore tax lawyer Kevin E. Thorn, Managing Partner of Thorn Law Group, explains the penalties for failing to file an FBAR:  

The Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Voluntary Disclosure Practice affords U.S. taxpayers the opportunity to avoid substantial liability in the event that they have failed to timely disclose their offshore accounts—as required by federal law. The Voluntary Disclosure Practice is not available to all taxpayers in all circumstances, and it does not afford the ability to completely avoid liability in most cases, but it can help taxpayers avoid tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in IRS penalties in many circumstances.