Both FBAR and FATCA impose compliance requirements for certain offshore accountholders. However, FBAR and FATCA are not the same. The forms that are required under FBAR and FATCA are different forms, are filed to different entities, and the requirements of who must file will vary between the two forms.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Justice have been working hard to crack down on tax evasion. U.S. affiliated individuals and business entities are supposed to report the existence of all offshore accounts and are required to pay taxes on offshore income. For a long time, the Swiss banking industry made it easy for U.S. investors not to comply with the rules. However, after diplomatic negotiations with Switzerland, a program called the Swiss Bank Program was launched to ensure U.S. taxing authorities could get the information needed to find tax evaders.

The United States government has been aggressively pursuing undeclared revenue by cracking down on offshore bank accounts. There are numerous tools that the U.S. government has been using to find out details on accounts kept offshore that have not been properly declared, including a program by which Swiss banks were offered amnesty from crimes related to facilitating tax evasion if they came forward, reported accountholders and provided details about transactions.

Authorities throughout the United States have been aggressively pursuing individuals suspected of tax evasion, along with the institutions that helped them. Among recent criminal cases include convictions against individuals who helped clients to file fraudulent tax returns; convictions against individuals who ran a fraud ring and collected refunds inappropriately using information from deceased individuals; and a conviction against a man who embezzled $3 million from clients and failed to report the income to the IRS.

The IRS has been aggressive in trying to identify hidden funds and collect back taxes. In response to intense offshore investigations which adversely impacted accountholder privacy, many individuals began trading in virtual currencies instead of investing funds offshore.  Now, however, the IRS is aggressively investigating currency trading platforms and is pursuing legal means to obtain information on accountholders.